User:Mr Serjeant Buzfuz/Section 10 of the Constitution Act, 1867

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Royal Proclamation which brought the Act into force on July 1, 1867

Section 10 of the Constitution Act, 1867 (French: article 10 de la Loi constitutionnelle de 1867) is a provision of the Constitution of Canada relating to the powers of the Governor General of Canada and authorising an administrator to act on behalf of the Governor General.

The Constitution Act, 1867 is the constitutional statute which established Canada. Originally named the British North America Act, 1867, the Act continues to be the foundational statute for the Constitution of Canada, although it has been amended many times since 1867. It is now recognised as part of the supreme law of Canada.

Constitution Act, 1867[edit]

Main article: Constitution Act, 1867

The Constitution Act, 1867 is part of the Constitution of Canada and thus part of the supreme law of Canada.[1][2] The Act sets out the constitutional framework of Canada, including the structure of the federal government and the powers of the federal government and the provinces. It was the product of extensive negotiations between the provinces of British North America at the Charlottetown Conference in 1864, the Quebec Conference in 1864, and the London Conference in 1866.[3][4] Those conferences were followed by consultations with the British government in 1867.[3][5] The Act was then enacted in 1867 by the British Parliament under the name the British North America Act, 1867.[6][7] In 1982 the Act was brought under full Canadian control through the Patriation of the Constitution, and was renamed the Constitution Act, 1867.[2][6] Since Patriation, the Act can only be amended in Canada, under the amending formula set out in the Constitution Act, 1982.[8][9][10]

Text of section 10[edit]

Section 10 reads:

Application of Provisions referring to Governor General
10 The Provisions of this Act referring to the Governor General extend and apply to the Governor General for the Time being of Canada, or other the Chief Executive Officer or Administrator for the Time being carrying on the Government of Canada on behalf and in the Name of the Queen, by whatever Title he is designated.[11]

Section 10 is found in Part III of the Constitution Act, 1867, dealing with the federal executive power.

Legislative history[edit]

Governor General[edit]

There was no provision in either the Quebec Resolutions or the London Resolutions to define the office of Governor General. Instead, Resolution 4 of the Quebec Resolutions provided that the executive power would be vested in the British sovereign, to be administered by "the Representative of the Sovereign duly authorized". Resolution 4 of the London Resolutions repeated this provision. After that, the "Governor General" and "Governor" are regularly mentioned in both set of Resolutions, outlining the powers of the office.[12][13]

Administrator[edit]

There was no provision for an administrator in either the Quebec Resolutions or the London Resolutions.[12][13]

The position of an administrator was mentioned in the rough draft of the British North America bill, in the proposed interpretation clause. The provision was continued in the interpretation clauses of the third and fourth drafts. It took final form in the bill introduced in Parliament.[14]

Section 10 has not been amended since the Act was enacted in 1867.

Purpose and interpretation[edit]

Administrator[edit]

The position of an administrator was well-established in pre-Confederation British North America. The governor of a province, as head of the government, had to have someone who could act for him if he was out of the province, away from the seat of government, indisposed due to illness, or in extreme cases, had died in office.

The death of Lord Sydenham, the Governor General of the Province of Canada in 1841, was an example of a deputy, and then an administrator, exercising the duties of the position, which would have been well-known to the Fathers of Confederation. Sydenham was badly injured in a riding accident and developed tetanus. The Parliament was sitting, but its session was nearing completion. Sydenham appointed the commander of the local British military forces, General John Clitherow, as his deputy. In that capacity, Clitherow granted royal assent to the bills which had been passed in the parliamentary session, and then prorogued Parliament. Sydenham died the next day. The commander-in-chief of all the British forces in British North America, Sir Richard Downes Jackson, then acted as administrator, from September 24, 1841 to January 12, 1842, when the new governor general, Sir Charles Bagot, took office.[15][16][17][18]

Related provisions[edit]

Section 14 of the Act provides for the appointment of deputies of the Governor General.

Section 67 of the Act provides for the appointment of administrators to act in place of provincial lieutenant governors.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Peter Hogg and Wade Wright, Constitutional Law of Canada, 5th ed. (Toronto: Thomson Reuters (looseleaf; current to 2022), para. 1:4.
  2. ^ a b Constitution Act, 1982, s. 52, s. 53, and Schedule, item 1.
  3. ^ a b Donald Creighton, The Road to Confederation (Toronto: Macmillan Publishing, 1864; revised ed., Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012) online
  4. ^ Christopher Moore, 1867 — How the Fathers Made a Deal (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1997).
  5. ^ Ben Gilding, "The Silent Framers of British North American Union: The Colonial Office and Canadian Confederation, 1851–67", Canadian Historical Review, Vol. 99, No. 3 (2018), pp. 349–393.
  6. ^ a b Hogg and Wright, Constitutional Law of Canada, para. 1:2.
  7. ^ British North America Act, 1867, 30 & 31 Vict. (UK), c. 3.]
  8. ^ Hogg and Wright, Constitutional Law of Canada, para. 4:1.
  9. ^ Constitution Act, 1982, Part V.
  10. ^ Canada Act 1982 (UK) 1982, c. 11, s. 2.
  11. ^ Constitution Act, 1867, s. 10.
  12. ^ a b Quebec Resolutions.
  13. ^ a b London Resolutions.
  14. ^ G.P. Browne (ed.) Documents on the Confederation of British North America (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2009; reprint of the 1969 edition, with introduction by Janet Ajzenstat): "Rough Draft of the British North America Bill", clause 67 (Document 78 (undated), p. 246); "Third Draft of the British North America Act" , clause 2 (Document 84 (February 2, 1867), p. 265); "Fourth Draft of the British North America Act", clause 2 (Document 85 (undated), p. 279); "Final Draft of the British North America Act", clause 10 (Document 86 (February 9, 1867), p. 304).
  15. ^ Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, 1st Parliament of the Province of Canada, 1st session, p. 645.
  16. ^ J.M.S. Careless, The Union of the Canadas — The Growth of Canadian Institutions, 1841–1857 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1967), pp. 56–58.
  17. ^ Elinor Kyte Senior, "Clitherow, John", Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. VIII (1851–1860), University of Toronto / Université Laval.
  18. ^ Norman Hillmer and O. A. Cooke, "Jackson, Sir Richard Downes", vol. VII (1836–1850), University of Toronto / Université Laval.
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