Re: Secession of Quebec
| Reference Re Secession of Quebec | |
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| Hearing: February 16–19, 1998 Judgment: August 20, 1998 |
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| Citations | [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217; 1998 CanLII 793 (S.C.C.); (1998), 161 D.L.R. (4th) 385; (1998), 55 C.R.R. (2d) 1 |
| Docket No. | 25506 |
| Holding | |
| Quebec cannot secede from Canada unilaterally; however, a clear vote on a clear question to secede in a referendum should lead to negotiations between Quebec and the rest of Canada for secession. However, above all, secession would require a constitutional amendment. | |
| Court Membership | |
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Chief Justice: Antonio Lamer Puisne Justices: Claire L'Heureux-Dubé, John Sopinka, Charles Gonthier, Peter Cory, Beverley McLachlin, Frank Iacobucci, John C. Major, Michel Bastarache |
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| Reasons given | |
| Unanimous reasons by | The Court |
Reference Re Secession of Quebec [1998] 2 SCR 217 is a landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the legality, under both Canadian and international law, of a unilateral secession of Quebec from Canada.
Both the Quebec government and the Canadian government stated that they were pleased with the Supreme Court's opinion, pointing to different sections of the ruling.
Following the election of a majority of Parti Québécois (PQ) Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) with 41.37% of the popular vote in the 1976 provincial election, the party formed a government and, in 1980, held a referendum. The government of the Province of Quebec asked the province's population if it should seek a mandate to negotiate sovereignty for Quebec coupled with the establishment of a new political and economic union with Canada. The referendum resulted in the defeat of the sovereignty option with 59.56% voting no on sovereignty. The PQ was nevertheless re-elected in 1981, this time promising not to hold a referendum.
In 1982, the federal government petitioned the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London to amend Canada's constitution so that in the future, all further amendments would take place by means of a process of consent involving only the Parliament of Canada and the legislatures of the provinces (several provinces objected). Up until this point, all amendments had taken place by means of Acts of the Parliament at Westminster, since the Canadian constitution was, strictly speaking, a simple statute of that Parliament.
Colloquially, the switch to a domestic amendment procedure was known as patriation. The particular formula for amendments that was adopted in 1982 was opposed by the then-government of Quebec, which also opposed the adoption of other constitutional changes made at the same time, such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms—although this opposition was not necessarily based on a rejection of the content of these changes, as opposed to the manner of their adoption, and the failure to include amendments specific to Quebec in the package. Also, Quebec had already at that time a more complete Charter that was adopted in 1975.
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