A Timeline of Canadian Constitutional History

Imperial proclamation reserving lands west of the Appalachians for Indigenous peoples and recognising Aboriginal title — referenced as the foundation of Crown-Indigenous relations.

Recognised French civil law for private matters in Quebec, English criminal law, and Catholicism. Foundation of Canadian bijuralism.

Confederation. Created Canada as a federal union of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Source of the s.91/s.92 division of powers.

Created by federal statute. Initially appeals could still be taken to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.

Privy Council reverses the SCC and holds that 'persons' in s.24 BNA Act includes women. Articulates the living-tree doctrine.

SCC becomes Canada's final court of appeal, no longer subject to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

SCC holds that Premier Duplessis's direction to revoke a liquor licence in retaliation was an abuse of statutory power. Foundation of the modern rule-of-law principle.

Federal statute introducing limited rights protections. Limited reach (federal only, not entrenched). Replaced practically by the Charter in 1982.

SCC recognises Aboriginal title at common law independent of the Royal Proclamation. Catalyses comprehensive land-claims policy.

SCC's 1978 trilogy (Andrews / Thornton / Lindal) introduces the cap on non-pecuniary damages and structures personal-injury damages doctrine.

SCC holds federal unilateral patriation legally permissible but contrary to constitutional convention requiring substantial provincial consent. Forces the November 1981 Kitchen Accord.

Canada acquires full constitutional independence. The Charter and amending formula are entrenched. Quebec does not formally consent.

First major Charter decision. Establishes purposive interpretation and the s.8 reasonable-expectation-of-privacy framework.

Lord's Day Act struck down for religious purpose. Establishes the purpose-or-effect test for Charter violations.

Principles of fundamental justice in s.7 are substantive, not just procedural. Absolute liability + imprisonment unconstitutional.

All Manitoba's English-only laws unconstitutional. Court invokes rule-of-law principle to suspend declaration of invalidity.

Section 1 proportionality framework articulated. The most-cited Canadian constitutional decision.

Criminal Code abortion provision struck for breaching security of the person. Federal Parliament has not legislated since.

French-only commercial signage struck under s.2(b). Quebec invokes s.33 (notwithstanding clause) to re-enact.

Foundational s.15 case: substantive equality + analogous grounds framework.

First major s.35 case: existing rights survive in unencumbered form; Crown must justify infringement.

Battered woman syndrome admissible to support self-defence. Watershed for gender-based violence law.

Crown duty to disclose all relevant information to defence. Reshapes Canadian criminal procedure.

Charter values inform development of common law in private litigation; no transplant of US Sullivan rule.

Content and proof of Aboriginal title articulated. Oral histories admissible on equal footing.

No unilateral secession, but a clear majority on a clear question creates a duty to negotiate. Identifies four unwritten constitutional principles.

Sexual orientation read into Alberta's human-rights statute. Validates reading-in as a Charter remedy.

Mi'kmaq treaty right to fish and trade for moderate livelihood. Triggers Burnt Church confrontation.

Five Baker procedural fairness factors. Unimplemented treaties inform statutory interpretation.

Sentencing must consider unique factors affecting Indigenous offenders and culturally appropriate sanctions.

Modern Anns/Cooper framework for novel duties of care.

Métis are a distinct rights-bearing people under s.35; modified test based on effective European control.

Crown's duty to consult arises before Aboriginal rights are proven, triggered by knowledge of a potential right.

Same-sex marriage extended nationally following the 2004 Reference.

Two standards (correctness, reasonableness) — patent unreasonableness retired.

Directors' fiduciary duty owed to corporation; oppression remedy framed by reasonable expectations.

New three-factor test for excluding evidence under s.24(2).

Good faith recognised as organising principle of Canadian contract law; duty of honest performance.

First declaration of Aboriginal title to a specific tract of land. Territorial occupation suffices.

Senate reform requires constitutional amendment; abolition needs unanimous consent.

Criminal prohibition on physician-assisted dying unconstitutional. Reverses Rodriguez (1993).

Right to strike constitutionally protected by s.2(d). Reverses 1987 trilogy on this point.

Presumptive ceilings on trial delay (18/30 months). Forces systemic change in criminal justice administration.

Métis and non-status Indians within s.91(24). Federal Crown is the constitutional negotiating partner.

Restated standard-of-review framework: reasonableness presumed; correctness in five categories.

Sentencing for child sexual offences elevated to reflect contemporary understanding of harm.

Federal carbon pricing intra vires under POGG's national-concern branch. Reinvigorates POGG.

Criminal Code s.33.1 unconstitutional. Parliament responds with Bill C-28.

Quebec introduces parental union regime providing some property and support rights to cohabiting parents — a partial response to Quebec v A (2013).