Confederation and Canada’s Provinces and Territories

The British North America Act, (renamed the Constitution Act, 1867, at the time of the repatriation of the Constitution in 1982), signed by Queen Victoria on March 29, 1867, allowed for the formation of the Dominion of Canada. The Dominion of Canada, also known as the Confederation, came into effect on July 1, 1867. It should be noted that a federal system of government was established. By federal we mean that the powers of government were divided between the federal government and the provincial governments. Four provinces originally joined the Confederation: Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. However, both Quebec and Ontario were much smaller than they are at the present time and Canada did not spread from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, as it does now.

In 1869, the large tract of land owned by the Hudson=s Bay Company was transferred to Canada. This increased the size of our country by six times! The land, called the Northwest Territories and administered by the federal government, was inhabited by Aboriginals, a few white settlers, and Metis.

The Manitoba Act came into effect on July 15, 1870, and created a new province, Manitoba, although it too was much smaller than the Manitoba we know today.

A year later, on July 20, 1871, British Columbia became the sixth province to enter Confederation. Now, Canada stretched from sea to sea or : A Mari usque ad Mare, as it is said in Latin.

Although Prince Edward Island was the Abirthplace@ of Confederation, it was not until July 1, 1873, that Prince Edward Island decided to join the other six provinces, bringing the union to seven.

In 1905, following the development of the west, the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created as the eighth and ninth provinces respectively. Alberta joined on September 1, 1905, and Saskatchewan joined three days later, on September 4.

In 1912, part of the Northwest Territories was divided between Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, thereby bringing these provinces to their present boundaries.

The area of Labrador did not become part of the Dominion until Newfoundland joined Canada on March 31, 1949.

Our country is now made up of ten provinces and three territories. The territories - the Yukon Territory, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut - created in 1898, 1905 and 1999 respectively, remain under the legal control of the federal government, but are endowed with institutions and responsibilities approaching those of the provinces. Our nation now spans the area from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Arctic Ocean in the north!

Independence

On July 1, 1867, our country did not become an independent nation. The Constitution Act, 1867, limited the powers of all levels of government in Canada to domestic matters, so the conduct of diplomatic relations with foreign countries remained in the hands of the British government. In Canada, unlike our neighbours to the south, there was no war or large scale conflict to gain independence from Great Britain. Rather, independence or sovereignty came in small steps. For example, in 1931 with the Statute of Westminster, we gained the authority to conduct our international affairs. In 1949, the Supreme Court of Canada became our highest court of appeal, replacing the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council. Finally, with the Constitution Act, 1982 the Constitution was repatriated.