Patriation is the political process that led to full Canadian sovereignty, culminating with the Constitution Act, 1982. The process was necessary because, at the time, under the Statute of Westminster, 1931, and with Canada's agreement, the British Parliament retained the power to amend Canada's British North America Acts and to enact, more generally, for Canada at the request and with the consent of the Dominion. That authority was removed from the UK by the enactment of the Canada Act, 1982, on March 29, 1982, by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, as requested by the Parliament of Canada.
Pierre Trudeau (far left) with Elizabeth II (centre) at Buckingham Palace, 1977
Premier of Ontario Bill Davis
The Supreme Court of Canada
Pierre Trudeau (left) and Jean Chrétien (right) at a session of the 1981 constitutional talks
Statute of Westminster 1931
The Statute of Westminster 1931 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets the basis for the relationship between the Dominions and the Crown.
King George V surrounded by the prime ministers of the various dominions at the 1926 conference
The Big Picture, opening of the Parliament of Australia, 9 May 1901, by Tom Roberts
Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (left) and his British counterpart Stanley Baldwin (right), 1926
