Aboriginal is the collective term used in the Constitution to describe the original peoples of North America and their descendants and includes First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. See also: Indigenous.

The rules for changing the Constitution. Most parts of the Constitution require the agreement of the Senate and House of Commons, and at least two-thirds of the provinces representing 50% of the population for an amendment.

Someone who speaks English as their first or primary language; or, as an adjective, “English-speaking.”

Canada is officially bilingual, which means that “English and French have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada”. Official bilingualism began in Canada when Parliament passed the Official Languages Act in 1969. It is included in the Official Languages section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a left-wing, socialist, provincial and federal party founded in 1933. It was replaced by the present-day New Democratic Party in 1961.

An attempt, in 1992, to revise the Constitution to gain the endorsement of Québec, after the death of the Meech Lake Accord in 1990. Along with several of the provisions of Meech, it had a “Canada Clause” setting out a general view of the nation (including Québec as a “distinct society”), as well as a Social Charter, meant to articulate collective principles and goals not included in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (on health care, education, labour rights and other matters), and a recognition of the Indigenous right to self-government. It was brought to public referendum — one in Québec and another in the rest of Canada — on October 26, 1992, and was defeated. 

The Charter sets out the rights and freedoms that are officially guaranteed by the Canadian Constitution, “subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.” It is Part 1, sections 1-34 of the Constitution Act, 1982. 

The Conservative Party of Canada, formed in 2003 through the amalgamation of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance (formerly the Reform Party of Canada). It is a generally right-wing party associated with provincial parties which have several different names.

Equalization is a federal program that transfers federal funds to provinces with below average capacities to raise revenues. Equalization payments (sometimes called transfer payments) are intended to ensure that all provinces are able to provide comparable levels of services, such as health care and education, at reasonably comparable levels of taxation. This principle is enshrined in the 1982 Constitution. 

A system of government in which a country includes both a central government and a set of regional governments, which are not subservient to the central government but have their own separate powers. 

The leaders of the ruling parties in the federal, provincial and territorial governments, including the Prime Minister and the premiers of each province and territory. Canada has fourteen first ministers. 

Someone who speaks French as their first or primary language; or, as an adjective, “French-speaking.”

The eight provincial premiers who opposed Pierre Trudeau’s plan for patriation of the Canadian Constitution in 1980-81, both politically and in court actions — that is, all of the provinces except for Ontario and New Brunswick. Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan were the last to join what was originally a “gang of six.”

The Special Joint Committee on the Constitution, chaired by Senator Harry Hays and MP Serge Joyal, in 1980 and 1981. It held three months of hearings (many televised) and took written submissions from more than 900 individuals and organizations on the federal government’s proposals for constitutional patriation.

The “lower” legislative assembly of Parliament (relative to the Senate’s “upper” house) in the Canadian Parliament. The House is composed of the popularly elected representatives of ridings (electoral districts) across Canada. 

Indian is a term historically used by governments to describe the original peoples of North America - Indigenous and Aboriginal - but it is not considered respectful or accurate. It remains in section 91(24) of the Constitution and the “Indian Act”. 

Indigenous is the collective term for the original peoples of North America and their descendants, and includes First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. See also: Aboriginal, which is found in the Constitution. The Government of Canada has officially changed “Aboriginal” to “Indigenous” in its ministries, legislation and documents. Canada has made it clear that the term “Indigenous” covers the legal definitions of “Aboriginal” and “Indian” for most constitutional purposes. 

The proposal for Constitutional compromise worked out by federal Minister of Justice Jean Chrétien, Saskatchewan Attorney General and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Roy Romanow, and Ontario Attorney General Roy McMurtry on the final afternoon of negotiations at the 1981 constitutional patriation conference in Ottawa. It had seven points, roughed out on a piece of paper in a small kitchen at the conference centre. 

A set of proposed changes to the Constitution agreed upon by the first ministers at a meeting called by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and held at Meech Lake in Gatineau, Québec, in April, 1987. It was an effort to gain the endorsement of Québec to the Constitution that was lacking earlier in the decade. Measures included naming Québec a “distinct society” in the Constitution, and altering the amending formula to give Québec more power with respect to any proposed changes. Pierre Trudeau came out in opposition, as did Indigenous groups and others who were angry about a lack of consultation. Ultimately, it was not approved by all provinces in time to meet the agreed deadline - it expired on June 23, 1990, which was perceived as another betrayal by many in Québec. 

Also called the 'override clause', allows Parliament or provincial legislatures to override or ignore certain sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when they are crafting legislation. It allows legislation to exist notwithstanding that it is in breach of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Notwithstanding Clause can only be used in reference to section 2 (fundamental freedoms), sections 7 to 14 (legal rights) and section 15 (equality rights), and it can only be invoked for 5 years at a time.

If a party has an outright majority of seats in the provincial legislative assembly or in the federal House of Commons, it forms a majority government — meaning that it can easily pass legislation and cannot be defeated by a non-confidence vote, unless some members of that party join with the opposition. 

Member of the House of Assembly (Newfoundland and Labrador).

A general term for the rights guaranteed to (or demanded by) the speakers of the non-majority official language in any region of Canada, primarily francophones in English Canada or anglophones in Québec. Most often it refers to rights to access education and other government services in the official language of the minority.  

When the ruling party in a legislative assembly or the House of Commons has more seats than any other party but falls short of a majority, it forms a minority government (sometimes with the support of one or more smaller parties). 

Member of Legislative Assembly (most provinces and territories).

Member of the National Assembly (Québec). 

Member of Parliament (federal). 

Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario). 

Formed to succeed the CCF in 1961, the New Democratic Party is the main left-wing, social-democratic federal and provincial party in Canada. It has never formed a federal government, but has won office many times at the provincial level, particularly in western Canada, but also in Ontario and Nova Scotia. 

A scornful name for the final night of the 1981 constitutional patriation conference, used most often in Québec to signify its sense of betrayal by the rest of Canada as no one from Québec was present during the final hours of the constitutional negotiations. (It is a reference to a notorious 1934 incident during the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany.)

The Liberal Party of Canada, a federal and provincial political party formed in 1867. Along with the Conservatives (formerly Progressive Conservatives), it is one of the two parties that has governed Canada since Confederation. Generally a centrist party.

The second largest party in a Canadian legislature is given Official Opposition status, which usually allows it special privileges in debate, public funding and office space, for example.  

Within limits, provinces have the right to choose not to participate in (that is, to “opt out of”) shared federal-provincial programs, or constitutional amendments that transfer responsibility from provinces to the federal government in educational or cultural areas. They may also demand financial compensation from Ottawa for costs associated with opting out. 

The capital city of Canada, where the federal Parliament buildings, the House of Commons and the Senate are located. For this reason, “Ottawa” is sometimes used as a synonym for the federal government, as in a phrase such as, “Ottawa refused any further negotiations.” 

The principle that elected legislatures should have the ultimate power to make decisions, rather than appointed officials or the judiciary. Also known as “Parliamentary sovereignty” or “legislative supremacy.” 

A sovereignist or pro-independence provincial party in Québec, founded in 1968 under the leadership of René Lévesque. The PQ has won several elections and initiated the 1980 and 1995 referenda on Québec’s place in Confederation. 

The process of bringing the British North America Act, 1867 – the Constitution of Canada – under full domestic control, rather than having it remain as an act of the British Parliament. After decades of effort, patriation was completed with the 1982 passage of the Canada Act in Britain and the Constitution Act in Canada. It includes a means of amending the Constitution in Canada. The new Constitution was not endorsed by the government of Québec. 

The plan for unilateral patriation announced by Pierre Trudeau on television on October 2, 1980, and subsequently brought to Parliament as the Canada Bill. It proposed going directly to the British Parliament with a request for patriation, as well as the entrenchment of a charter of rights without the approval of provincial legislatures, to be followed in two years by a national referendum on an amending formula. It also invited citizens’ groups to provide input through legislative committee hearings. The resolution was initially opposed by six and eventually eight provincial governments leading to the Patriation Reference.

In 1980, three provincial governments — Québec, Newfoundland, and Manitoba — asked their provincial Courts of Appeal to rule on the constitutionality of the federal government’s patriation resolution. (Such a request for a legal opinion from a court is known as a “reference case.”) The results were split, so the provinces appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Court’s 1981 ruling in the Patriation Reference Case was that while the government’s attempt at unilateral action was not strictly illegal, it contradicted unwritten constitutional conventions (standard practices) in Canada that favoured agreement of the provinces.  

Pierre Trudeau’s expression for the parts of his 1980 patriation resolution that included his vision for constitutional renewal, patriation itself, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and a plan to settle on an amending formula through a referendum. 

Pierre Trudeau’s term for the parts of the Constitution that would define provincial and federal powers and responsibilities, which he believed could be negotiated after patriation and the “people’s package” had been passed. 

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was the name of the main centre-right federal party between 1942 and 2003. It was formed from an alliance of the Conservative and Progressive Parties. It was succeeded by today’s Conservative Party of Canada. Many provincial parties retain the name Progressive Conservative. It was the Official Opposition party during most of the constitutional debates of the 1970s and early 1980s, but the governing party in a majority of the provinces. 

A general term for the social upheavals and reforms in Québec in the 1960s. The period saw a significant diminishing of the power of the Catholic Church in provincial affairs and brought a self-consciously French-speaking majority into political control. It included drastic changes in social order and in Québec’s vision of its place within (or potentially outside of) Canadian federalism. 

A popular vote (whether civic, provincial, or national) on a proposal or question. The patriation of the Constitution became a more urgent matter after the 1980 Québec referendum on sovereignty. Pierre Trudeau and others proposed several different possible national referenda to resolve constitutional issues. 

The “upper house” of the Canadian Parliament, which reviews and approves all federal legislation initiated in either House. (It does not usually initiate legislation, although it has that power.) The Senate is comprised of 105 senators, who are appointed until the age of 75 by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister. Senate seats are proportioned by region, in an attempt to balance the population-based membership of the House of Commons and improve regional equality in government. 

A sometimes economically populist, usually socially conservative party (also known as the Socreds), founded in the 1930s and now all but defunct. It was a minor force nationally, but formed provincial governments first in Alberta (1935-1971) and then British Columbia, (1952-1972, 1975-1991). The federal party elected MPs from Western Canada and Québec until the 1980 federal election.

The Parti Québécois term (souveraineté-association) for a desired arrangement in which Québec would become a separate country, but one in a political and economic “association” with Canada, including for instance a monetary union, or a common passport. 

The rights negotiated between Indigenous Peoples and the British Crown and/or the Canadian government. There are historic treaties, notably the 11 “numbered treaties” signed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and modern treaties, signed in the 1970s and beyond. Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution states, “Aboriginal and treaty rights are hereby recognized and affirmed,” but does not define those rights more specifically. 

The amending formula model, first proposed by Alberta in 1980, that was adapted and finally adopted as the primary constitutional amending formula in 1982. The formula treated provinces equally and had an opting-out clause. It requires that most constitutional changes be approved by the House of Commons and Senate, as well as the legislatures of two-thirds of the provinces, which must comprise at least 50 per cent of the population of Canada. 

This amending formula model was proposed as part of the failed Victoria Charter constitutional package in 1971, and remained part of negotiations for the following decade. It required that constitutional changes be approved by the federal government and a majority of the provinces, including at least two in Western Canada and two in Atlantic Canada. It also granted vetoes to the two largest provinces, Ontario and Québec. 

The area of Central London, UK, where the British Parliament is located. Therefore, “Westminster” is sometimes used as a synonym for the British Parliament, as in a phrase such as, “Trudeau threatened to appeal unilaterally to Westminster.”