Trudeau's Constitution Document Analysis

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In 1982, Canada had almost gained its long awaited goal of complete independence from Britain. However, the British still had control over their most important document; the Constitution. By 1982, Trudeau believed that he had achieved enough goals as Prime Minister in order to convince the British to sign over the Constitution to Canada. This would be an extremely controversial and beneficial agreement for Canada, as they would have the power to govern themselves completely without being ordered by other parties. However, many Canadian leaders tried and failed in the past to patriate the Constitution, and trying to do so would be a huge political risk. Despite the strong benefits that would come from patriating the Constitution, 8 out of the …show more content…

First of all, the federal government was now able to deal with language and other rights issues more effectively. Since Canada now had control over the constitution, the federal government was now able to ease tensions created by French and English relations. Moreover, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was entrenched in the Constitution. This meant that it was firmly established in Canadian law, and that it would be extremely hard for it to be removed or changed in any significant way. Likewise, the rights of Aboriginals were entrenched in the Constitution. This would mark the first time that this occurred, and would also ease previous tensions that flared up between the federal government and the Aboriginals. In addition, women were not entrenched in the Constitution. This meant that they were not guaranteed the rights and freedoms included in the Charter, enraging women across Canada. Finally, had its historical veto power removed by the other premiers of Canada. As a result of this, Quebec was now not able to change the outcome of federal issues alone. However, many Quebecers saw it as a betrayal, and this sparked new separatist movements that were previously non-existent. Thus, the Constitution that Canada fought so hard to patriate for had a variety of drastically important

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