Confederation

Question 1

Confederation: what is it? why does it matter?

Answer 1

• process of British North American colonies uniting into the Dominion of Canada
• in the 1860s, leaders (“Fathers of Confederation”) met up and decided to unite the various provinces in British North America
• Wrote up a constitution - the BNA Act: brought together the provinces and described the structure and main laws of the new country, as well as the division of powers between the new provinces and the federal government
• BNA Act had to be passed by parliament of UK
• on July 1, 1867, Dominion of Canada was created, and 4 years later, Canada’s boundaries stretched westward to include BC -> creating the Canada we know today