Canada's Constitutional Democracy: The 150th Anniversary Celebration

Forewords from the Former Governor General of Canada, The Right Honourable David Johnston, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, the Right Honourable Beverly McLachlin.

A landmark constitutional law and history text, as evidenced by the words of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Governor General of Canada, in the forewords to the text, which celebrates the 150th anniversary of Canada's Confederation through a range of perspectives from Canada's leading legal minds on constitutional law.

Insightful perspectives

• Illustrates how historical, legal and political events shaped the development of Canada's Constitution over the past 150 years
• Examines overarching constitutional, political and historic themes that had a profound impact on how Canada evolved over 150 years, and how these developments set the agenda for the coming years and decades

Chapters are divided chronologically into eras and five overarching themes of the 150 years since Confederation.
The first part of the text is divided chronologically into eras spanning the past 150 years. Each era is written by a different contributor with a speciality in this period and/or subject matter.

• PRE-CONFEDERATION (1763- 1867)
  • 150 Years of Canadian Confederation: Is There Reason for Indigenous People to Celebrate? – The Honorable Justice Harry S. LaForme
• POST-CONFEDERATION (1867-1900)
  • The Post-Confederation Era – Matthew P. Harrington
• WORLD WAR I (1900-1920)
  • Canada's Constitutional Coming of Age – Eric M. Adams
• POST-WORLD WAR I / THE QUIET REVOLUTION (1920-1970)
  • Through the Lenses of Legal Interpretation and International Law – Stéphane Beaulac
• ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS (1970-1985)
  • Trialogue for Lived Rights: Canadian Women's Constitutional Activism in the Era of Patriation – Senator Marilou McPhedran
• THE EARLY CHARTER YEARS (1985-2000)
  • Pioneering the Charter – Jamie Cameron
• THE MILLENNIUM (2000- 2017)
  • Canada, its Constitution and its Peoples Enter the 21st Century: A Peaceful Global Template, but with Challenges Still to Overcome – Errol P. Mendes
• THE EVOLUTION OF THE RULE OF LAW IN CANADA
  • The Canadian Rule of Law: Past, Present, Future – Mary Liston
• THE CANADIAN CONSTITUTION'S ROLE IN CHALLENGING AND PROMOTING THE RIGHTS OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES
  • Canada's Diversity: Reflections on the Constitution, Rights and Equality at the Sesquicentennial of Confederation – Yasmeen Abu-Laban
• ABORIGINAL RIGHTS TODAY
  • Have Recent Efforts to Enliven Aboriginal and Treaty Rights Given a Reason to Celebrate? – Bradford W. Morse
• POLITICAL PARTIES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE CANADIAN CONSTITUTION
  • Politics & the Canadian Constitution – Lorne Sossin
• THE INFLUENCE OF THE CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS ON THE CONSTITUTION ACT, 1867 AND THE DIVISION OF POWERS
  • Merging Public Law Silos and Canada's Evolving Constitutional Landscape – A. Wayne MacKay

Add this to your library

• Canadian lawyers, academics, students and historians that seek to place many current day issues in many areas of law in their historical and constitutional context
• Canadian academics, students and practitioners of disciplines beyond law that seek to understand the development of our constitutional democracy and its future
• Canadians studying or interested in the history of Canada that are interested in how the past has influenced the present and will affect the future in Canada's 150th anniversary year
• Public and Law Libraries – A valuable addition to historical and constitutional collections
• Government officials, Indigenous and civil society groups across Canada that seek to understand how their present and future work and goals are influenced by the historical evolution of our constitutional democracy
• Judges – for their task of reflecting on the historical, social and political evolution of our constitutional democracy in Canada's 150th anniversary year for purposes of articulating or formulating decisions