00:00The Constitution Act of 1867, formerly known as the British North America Act of 1867, in English, the Constitution
00:07The British North America Act of 1867 created Canada.
00:13The culmination of the Canadian Confederation process, the day it came into effect, July 1, 1867, is commemorated every
00:20year by Canada Day.
00:22This law defines the functioning of the country, particularly federalism, by establishing a division of powers between two levels of government.
00:28government.
00:28It creates a federal parliament, consisting of the governor general, the Senate, and the House of Commons.
00:34It establishes an integrated judicial system by assigning shared responsibilities between the federal government and the provinces.
00:41In the provinces, the law creates a parliament composed of a legislative assembly and a legislative council.
00:46The Constitutional Law of 1867 was the result of negotiations undertaken from 1864 onwards by the Fathers of the Constitution.
00:53Confederation, representing the colonies of British North America.
00:57The act was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also served as parliament for the entirety of the
01:02'British Empire, March 8, 1867.
01:05The British Prime Minister at that time was Edward Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, and the Secretary of State for the Colonies,
01:11Richard Temple Grandville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos.
01:14The law received Queen Victoria's assent on March 29th.
01:19It came into effect on July 1, 1867.
01:22On the same day, Charles Monk, 4th Viscount Monk, took office as the first Governor General of Canada and
01:28John Alexander MacDonald, as Canada's first prime minister.
01:31Adopted under the sole English name of British North America Act, 1867, 1, an official title in French is
01:38awarded for the first time in 1982 during the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution.
01:43Only the English version in its entirety and some provisions of the French version, for example, article 92a, have
01:50an official value.
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