FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Entitled to a British passport if born in canada?
Old Aug 12, 2006, 9:58 pm
  #13  
YVR Cockroach
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Originally Posted by clarence5ybr
It is not now, but it was until 1982, when they were granted sovereignity. Although they are now a sovereign nation, they are still a monarchy, and the Queen of Canada happens to be the Queen of Britain.
I hate to point out your error but Canada had sovereignty way before 1982. Self-governing since 1867 and gradually became more independent until 1937 when the Statute of Westminster formalised earlier Imperial Conferences which gave equal footing to all Dominions (namely, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) with the British parliament. These Dominions were free to do as they pleased from that date (militarily and as far as foreign affairs went). As an example, the U.K. was humiliated during the Suez crisis of 1956 when Canada and Australia refused to support its invasion and occupation of the Suez canal. The Canadian "foreign minister" of the day, Lester B. Pearson (who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts and later became a much-respected Prime Minister) proposed the United Nations sent peacekeeping troops to Egypt (Pearson in effect created U.N. peacekeeping).

What happened in 1982 was the formal repatriation of the Canadian constitution. It was the British North America Act (1867) that governed the basic laws before that and it bought Upper Canada (Ontario), Lower Canada (Quebec), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into confederation. The BNA Act was repatriated with only the consent of 9 provinces which causes problems to this day.

Last edited by YVR Cockroach; Aug 12, 2006 at 10:05 pm
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