Abstract

The tortuous process of patriation of the Canadian Constitution, which led to the Constitution Act of 1982, finally clarified how the federal State's processes of constitutional revision should involve all the institutional components of the Federation. Ranging from the silence of the British North America Act on the procedures for its revision to the failed accords of Charlottetown and Meeck Lake, the author analyses both the innovative aspects of the Constitution Act and the difficulties that often arise from a lack of consensus among federated bodies on the procedures to follow when defining new constitutional provisions.