Patriation Reference
Reference Re Resolution to amend the Constitution – also known as the Patriation Reference – is a historic Supreme Court of Canada reference case that occurred during negotiations for the patriation of the Constitution of Canada. The court affirmed the existence of an unwritten dimension to the constitution and the majority held that by constitutional convention, amendments to the constitution require a substantial degree of provincial consent. However, a differently-constituted majority of the court held that there was no legal barrier to the federal government seeking a constitutional amendment without any provincial consent. Political debate over patriating the Constitution Under the leadership of Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the federal government of Canada sought to patriate the constitution. Specifically, the aim of the government was to make a request to the United Kingdom Parliament—then the only body with the appropriate legal authority—to amend the Constitution of Canada, adding to it a domestic amendment formula (permitting Canada to henceforth modify the constitution itself) and entrenching the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. "Canada would have its own constitution, with a procedure for making future amendments to it, and with a Charter of Rights." Initially, the federal government did not have support