Constitution Act, 1982

The Constitution Act, 1982 (Schedule B of the Canada Act 1982 (UK)) is a part of the Constitution of Canada. The act was introduced as part of Canada's process of patriating the constitution, introducing several amendments to the British North America Act, 1867, and changing the latter's name in Canada to the Constitution Act, 1867. Elizabeth II, as Queen of Canada, brought the act into effect with a proclamation she signed in Ottawa on April 17, 1982.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms forms the first thirty-five sections (counting Section 16.1 and not counting Section 35) of the Constitution Act, 1982.

As of 2016, the government of Quebec has never formally approved of the enactment of the act, though formal consent was never necessary. Nonetheless, it has remained a persistent political issue in Quebec. The Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords were designed to secure approval from Quebec, but both efforts failed to do so.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights. The Charter is intended to protect certain political and civil rights of people in Canada from the policies and actions of all levels of government. It is also supposed to unify Canadians around a set of principles that embody those rights. The Charter was preceded by the Canadian Bill of Rights, which was introduced by the government of John Diefenbaker in 1960. However, the Bill of Rights was only a federal statute, rather than a constitutional document. Therefore, it was limited in scope and was easily amendable. This motivated some within government to improve rights protections in Canada. The movement for human rights and freedoms that emerged after World War II also wanted to entrench the principles enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Hence, the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau enacted the Charter in 1982.

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