Canada's Constitution is Weird 

We need a livestream of JJ just reading out the entire constitution

So, in conclusion, it's possible for the government to torture, the victim just needs to scream in both English and French...

How many articles do you want in your constitution? Canada: Yes

"Canada has one of the strangest constitutions in the western world." Me, currently at law school in new Zealand studying the mess that is our constitutional law; "oh really." my conclusion is Britain just fucked up constitutions for all of us

So how many articles do you want in your constitution? Canadian Government: *ALL OF THEM*

Fun fact: because the preambule in the 1867 constitutional act says so, all British unwritten constitutional principles are now part of the modern Canadian constitution as well, making the constitution even larger (and weirder)! These principles include stuff like ministerial responsibility and the fact there is a prime minister that’s different from other ministers. It also means that documents like the UK Bill of Rights from 1689 and the Magna Carta are technically part of the Canadian constitution as well.

JJ: What other country or place has a really weird constitution? The UK: Hold my tea.

Learning about the Canadian constitution makes me really glad as an Australian that the colonial authorities had a test run to figure everything out before our federation.

Section 33 sounds like the most loophole-y of any loopholes in law I've heard about.

I mean Ireland’s constitution is interesting in the sense that every single amendment has to be passed by popular vote in a national referendum. So far there have been 32 amendments approved by the electorate since the constitution’s adoption in 1937. There were 11 amendments rejected by the electorate, so this has lead to the weird situation where the list of amendments skips some numbers. For example, there is no 24th or 25th amendment because they were rejected in a referendum. So it just goes from 23rd to 26th amendment.

Britain's Constitution has basically one clause: Parliament is supreme† † just don't touch the act of union

I think we Australians learnt from Canada when we made our constitution in 1901. The Australian constitution ALWAYS had a domestic ammending provision through referenda. Any UK changes to the Constitution Act would be invalid and have no effect in Australia. The referendum provision has made amendments rare but we do have a much "cleaner" constitutional history than Canada as a result. In 1986 the Australian and UK parliaments passed the "Australia Act" which removed any authority for the UK to legislate for the States. Until then the Australian States were technically still separate colonies of Britain while the Federal Government was legislatively independent since the Statute of Westminster, It was a bit confusing. The Australia Act also specified that it was "An Act to bring constitutional arrangements affecting the Commonwealth and the States into conformity with the status of the Commonwealth of Australia as a sovereign, independent and federal nation". So our High Court has interpreted it as a final declaration of independence. Also no Charter/Bill of Rights here. It is a constant debate. Some rights such as "Freedom of political communication" and a right to vote in a representative democracy have been ruled to be "implied" in the constitution by the High Court though. It is interesting how different yet similar the Australian and Canadian constitutional histories are.

Uuuuuunliiiiiimiteeeeed (constitutional) poooooower! According to the Canadian supreme court.

I love this - it’s so perfectly Canadian having both a British-style refusal to have a single constitutional document and a ridiculously elaborate system to amend it like they have in the US 😂😂😂

I learned more Canadian history from this video then from five years of High School in Canada and a history degree.

You are the 1st Canadian I have ever heard say "a boot".

One of the strange side effects is that it would be easier for the UK to abolish their monarchy than for Canada to abolish ours.

JJ a few weeks ago: "I'm so happy the election is over finally I can talk about something other than Canadian politics." JJ now:

Wow JJ, I will never again look at the U.S. constitution as complicated. That is a long and convoluted trail of legislation. Thanks for the education !

Canada: We're a progressive, constitutionally protected Western democracy Also Canada: freedom of speech is more of a suggestion than a rule, right?

Ooh boy, Section 33 is a wild story just waiting to happen. Thank you, Canada, for implanting this tiny little time bomb into your constitution

It’s always a good day when JJ uploads!

12:55 jeez, the grinch would have a lot of work to steal the christmas in Canada

you forgot something very important: Quebec never signed it, the other provinces did and got some nice gifts from Trudeau

"South Saskatchewan." Chuckles in 'Murican.

Britain’s constitution, if it can be called that, is even more vacuous.

The Canadian Constitution is some spaghetti code if I've ever seen some.

Being a law student in Canada must be hard

As usual, great stuff J.J. You distinguish yourself from a lot of political commentary because your material is more often than not based on really fundamental as well as relatable aspects of Canadian politics and culture. You don't just focus on commenting on current events; you ask broad questions, and you do it while also being really fun and interesting. :)

I must say...Im really impressed on how you kept this all together in your head!!

Excellent summary. One minor thing: the Union of Canada was actually that merger of Quebec and Ontario from 1840 to 1867. Britain had recently forced a merger of itself with Ireland to block Irish independence. Seeing as there were independence rebellions in Canada in the 1830s the Brits thought, why not force mergers with them too? But it was a disaster that everyone in both provinces hated. Schools teach that the 1867 confederation was motivated by the railroad or the worry about an American invasion but it was mostly an attempt to get the British to scrap the 1840 Union of Canada and let Ontario and Quebec be their own provinces again.

5:05 seeing QE like 'k wtf am i signing here???? its about canada? k sure idgaf i thought this was done already lol'

Implying Canada as a whole isn't weird?

Meanwhile we here in the US have the oldest written one still in use and it's only been modified 17 times since the Bill of Rights(the first 10 Amendments) were ratified in 1791. Albeit that's because it's intentionally made extremely difficult to amend but still.

nothing on La nuit des long couteaux, when Renée Levesque was left out of the last minute negotiation about the constitutional law

The "no less MPs than Senators" rule isn't weird, it's a reasonable concession that kept the 3 Maritime provinces from separating or joining the US in the 1930s. It's not like PEI having 4 MPs instead of one is going to tip the balance of power in a 338-seat House of Commons.

The weekend with pizza, soda, and JJ sounds like a good time.

The king of educational content has uploaded! All hail J.J.!

The video omits Canada's most difficult form of constitutional amendment. To change the Statute of Westminster requires the unanimous consent of all 16 Crown realms. Those are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Jamaica, etc. This is also Canada's most recent constitutional amendment. In 2011, all 16 Crown realms unanimously agreed to amend the Statute of Westminster so that male and female persons have equal accession as Sovereign.

I was raised in Canada and studied this at school. When I try to explain the Canadian Constitution to my wife, she becomes confused. Great video.

Trudeau's face under the restroom sign = perfection.

Another weird constitution might be the Dutch one. Article 120 states: ‘The constitutionality of Acts of Parliament and treaties shall not be reviewed by the courts.’ That basically means that a judge cannot overrule an unconstitutional law. Which basically means that the constitution has no real power and can easily be undermined if the parliament wants to. I don’t know if that has caused any weird situations but maybe it’s interesting for you to dig into 😊

That Notwithstanding Clause has really come in handy during COVID, I bet. Lots of rights violations in the name of public health, and they have 4 more years til they have to ask themselves hard questions about it.

Alabama State Constitution: "Finally! A worthy opponent! Our battle will be epic!"

I, for one, had no idea that Canada even had a constitution. I was 100% sure that everyone looked like South Park depictions. Go figure lol.

Having a very long Constitution kind of defeats the purpose of a constitution

This sounds like an old Reform Party tape back in the 90's.

Thanks for this man. This American is really glad to learn more about Canadian government. This is very interesting.

Thanks to South Park this is how I thought a Canadian Impeachment would go... Mister, Prime Minister, you're out, Bubby... I don't think so, Guy... I'm not your Guy, Friend... I'm not your Friend, Buddy... I'm not your Buddy, Guy!

It’s sounds really weird but that’s what happens when you don’t have full legal status until the 80s

I just realised in all your lists, you didn't include Newfoundland and Labrador. We voted to join Canada in 1948 and officially joined in 1949.

I believe there is still a clause in the BNA/Constitution Act of 1867 that allows a Provincial Lt. Governor to instead of giving assent to a provincial legislature's passed bill, to refer it to the Canadian Parliament as a whole. This was used a bit at the start, but last done in Sask. in 1960, but the power still exists. This is one of my favorite hidden items still in effect.

You should do a video on the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords.

The State of Alabama has the longest constitution in the world. I think its because local governments don't have any power in Alabama so if a city wants to raise salaries of its employees, the state legislature has to pass a new amendment. Very weird system but at least Alabama is number one in something.

I love that the Canadian Supreme Court is made up entirely of Santa Claus.

12:55 why are they all dressed like Santa Claus lol

How could you not talk about the fact that Quebec never signed the relevent documents!? That's one of the biggest things motivating Quebec nationalism.

As a Brit I've often wondered why, when the Queen dies, it feels like Australia and New Zealand will opt to become Republics, but Canada won't. One answer, it seems, because it requires unanimous provincial support, inspite of public opinion. Thanks JJ!

As someone who lives in the US, making a constitution that isn’t air-tight and in our case written in good faith...Canada’s is in need of dire overhaul and reorganization. If there should be one maxim/motto/whtvr about law it should be ‘If it can happen, it *will* happen eventually.’.

7:25 I love that the Restrooms sign hangs over Trudeau. Good touch.

A J.J. McCullough video about the Canadian Constitution? You have made this constitutional law scholar's day! 😄

This was a very good video. I was always confused about what "the" constitution was.

Either I already just understand this, or you explained this way better than my first year Political Science professor did in my university’s Introduction to the Canadian Constitution class.

I think it should be noted that the Charter isn’t actually guaranteed. It’s guaranteed within reason so the government can break certain areas of the charter if it’s “justified.” I put justified in quotation marks because that’s a matter of opinion. For example, it’s illegal to advertise cigarettes in stores, that’s why they’re always hidden but this goings directly against our charter. However, they determined the benefits of protecting children outweigh the individual rights guaranteed by the charter. That’s why when the US says they’re the only free country, in terms of a constitution, they aren’t lying.

Canada: "Our Constitution is SO weird.: Israel: "Hold my Goldstar."

I'd recommend looking at the joke that is the Australian constitution. In practice it is merely a guideline for the government and it frequently and brazenly gone against. And the reason for its creation wasn't that altruistic anyway, as it was originally just a means for Britain to better guard the Pacific from German expansion by having a more formidable Australia in the region.

Nice video, but just one quibble: there were not four but three colonies (Province of Canada, NS, NB) that came together in 1867.

PLEASE become prime minister i PROMISE to vote for you. I’m more liberal than you but you are intelligent and educated and I believe you would be beneficial towards our country

In Romania constitution is strange but not because is enormous like the canadian one. Romanian constitution is inspired from the french constitution. France is a semi-presidential republic and we choose to be like them.The problem is that we modified it to give power to the government and now we are a semi-presidential republic in which the president is unable to do what it was supposed to do.For example in France,a president can dismiss a prime minister but in Romania not. We say that president need to do diplomacy things but sometimes the foreign affairs minister comes and say:that's my business.We really need to clarify what a president can do and what can't do.

This is why I like your channel JJ. Informing and educating viewers out there with videos like these

I mean, those French protection laws r there for a reason. Quebec still wants to leave in spite of protections lawl.

Wow! I really didn’t know any of this! I think I’m more aware of the “UK” constitution than I ever was Canada’s. For some reason, since Canada is in America I just assumed it had a written constitution similar to all the other nations in the Americas. It kinda sounds like how the US Virgin Islands governs itself with just Acts of Congress being used as the highest legal system (though the USVI has written several constitutions, Congress has thus far rejected them). And I wouldn’t even have known about the USVI’s situation if I didn’t have family residing there as the US territories don’t get talked about much (although I have met many people from each of them, but that is apparently uncommon for most US citizens living in the states I’m told). Next time I hear someone complain about the length of the US Constitution or the Oklahoma Constitution’s length I think I’ll reference Canada’s Constitution to them. Thanks for such an enlightening video! And for the record, I think you’d make a great PM of Canada! (Not that I actually get a say in such things, though, lol)

Canada does have a confusing Constitution. Another strange one is the UK's Constitution. Its not even written. Thats right everyone. the UK has a unwritten Constitution. Also the UK is not a Federal like the U.S, Canada, Mexico and many other Nations. A federal system is were the States give up some powers to the Federal government. The U.K in its Union wanted to be one kingdom, like England, so there is no Federalism. That made a problem for Ireland and other parts of the U.K, so the Idea of home rule came. Ireland never got its home rule, so the South broke free. In the 1999 Scotland received home rule and the Scottish Parliament reopened after 300 years and the Welsh received the Welsh National Assembly. All that being said the UK is confusing. Its Constitution is not made up of articles. No its made up of documents such as the Magna Carta and the English bill of right; hence the reason its unwritten. Not having a written Constitution and Federalism has lead the the British Union being weak. First most of Ireland breaks free; now there is a big moment in Scotland to break free, with the First Minster asking for a new referendum, and a smaller moment in Wales to break free.

The whole protection of concepts in the Canadian constitution reminds me of the necessary and proper clause in the USA constitution

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a joke, too. It starts out like this: "The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law" Or, put another way: "This charter guarantees you rights and freedoms, but the government can limit those rights and freedoms by any law that it thinks is a good idea at the time"

When JJ is prime minister he would ban all candies he hate and make video games mandatory for all kids :D

The constitution is the law of the land except when it isn't.

I really appreciate your channel. I live in Upstate, NY (15 mins from QC), and, for whatever reason, I have always thought of the Rights and Freedoms part of your constitution as the entire thing (・_・ヾ

So in 1982 Canada finally got the car keys despite paying and maintaining it for years now.

This is the first time I've heard someone mention the Tea Party in a while

Note also that quebec is still adament about not signing the constitution.

The sheer absurdity of the Canadian constitution is enough to give most Americans a new found love of their constitution

The term I’m thinking is “Unwieldy”

Switzerland's constitution gets amended up to four times each year by the people, since initiatives and referendums get voted on by the electorate and all approved get added to the constitution. some concerning criminal law go into the Strafgesetzbuch, but most iniatives approved end up in the constitution itself, making the swiss constitution both enourmos and constantly expanding

I think it's cute Canada kept sending us laws for us to pass - kind of like getting a parent to sign your homework or something. Anyway, we (the UK) don't even have a _written_ constitution.

Well, the country with undoubtedly the “weirdest” constitution is of course the UK, because of course we don’t have one, other than an agglomeration of constitutional laws and judicial case law going back some 8/9 centuries. Actually after Canada finally took back full control of its constitution in 1982 it wasn’t until 1986 that Australia did the same. In both cases, at least in recent decades, this was entirely to suit the needs of both those countries’ internal politics. I think most people in the UK were glad when the role of the UK House of Lords judicial committee (the “Law Lords”) finally ended. I am a fervent monarchist, not because I have any particular love for monarchy but because I don’t wish some has-been politician to become our President, nor of course do I wish our Prime Minister to become our Head of State. Technically I understand that those Commonwealth countries which still recognise the British monarch as Head of State would have to be consulted were the UK ever wish to amend the status of its own monarchy. An anomaly certainly, but really it’s of lesser importance than many other issues facing all these countries, including the UK. From a UK perspective, Canada has been much less troublesome to the UK than Australia of course - in 1975 their Governor General dismissed their Prime Minister for purely domestic political reasons in Australia, which apparently caused considerable embarrassment to the Queen. Luckily such nonsense is unlikely ever to happen again. In any case, almost no one in the UK cares what Canada, Australia and New Zealand etc may choose to do in future, other than of course to maintain friendly ties at least partly reinforced by family ties, but of course such ties exist with many other countries & former British territories/dominions/colonies, including with your southern neighbour, the US - that’s just one of the messy, but happy, legacies of history and in the case of Canada those links perhaps include France too.

You touched on this a little bit. But still even today the queen of England still has the power reject or approve laws in canada. Its called royal assent. Mean yes the queen of England (or king) can actually veto a proposed Canadian bill through the Governer General.

The UK has a constitution that isn’t defined as well, but also the government can change it just as they change any other law, with 50% of parliament

I'm beginning to find this out about the Mexican Constitution. Whenever I learned about it, I only ever learned about 3 important articles out of 100+. I might want to read the Mexican Constitution one day. And the Colombian one. This is how I learn Spanish.

We don't have a constitution. We have a law called the constitution act. A constitution is created by the people, not by politicians.

Fascinating, one of best videos that JJ has done, and that's saying something. Canada does not have a single formal constitution as so many of us thought. That the British North America Act 1867 was changed to being called the Constitution Act 1867 by the 1982 Act passed by the British Parliament shows the extent of the 'sleight of hand' that legislators can use under a Westminster system of government. The way that Canada's constitutional structure is built also makes Canada rather like Israel, which has several 'Basic Laws' that comprise its constitution, but no single formal constitution. The development of Israel's constitutional structure of the country also arose from having been governed by Britain - as Palestine, 1918-1948.

The Notwithstanding Clause in the Constitution of Canada is essential to preserve the principle of Parliamentary Supremacy. If it were not to be in the legislation, Canada would be subject to Judicial Supremacy over Parliament. That would conflict with the principle of the 'Westminster' system of government which needs to have Parliamentary supremacy to work effectively.

I have several pocket constitutions - one for each of my purses. Never thought about it like that, but I guess that makes me a Tea Partier :D

American constitution: *simple, outlines the structure and powers of the three branches of government and cites rights for citizens* Canada: *very long and vacuous, Frankenstein monster of British laws passed between 1867-1982, gives government branches too much leeway for a few things*

Today I learned that the supreme court of Canada is run by Santa Clauses.

Anyone remember the first season episode of "The West Wing" where Tobey and Josh are supposed to help some foreign diplomats write a new constitution for their country, and the diplomats say "we just want to copy paste yours", and Toby and Josh respond "that's a terrible idea, there is a reason every other country in the world who has tried to emulate us has collapsed quickly". Maybe the American constitution isn't the only one that works in only the country of its origin. Can you imagine a newly independent Kurdistan saying let's copy paste the Canadian constitution!

Canadian Constitution: Uhh Is this in our constitution? American Constitution: Uhh that’s not in the consideration.

this is the beauty of the American constitution that that the bill of rights protects freedom of speech and rights

If Canada is "fully independent" then why do their politicians and naturalized citizens swear an oath of allegiance to the British Monarch? Why are Canadian passports still issued under the authority of the Queen? Canada is not fully independent. In 1982 they were granted more self governance but not full independence. Canada is a British Commonwealth and a Constitutional Monarchy which recognizes Queen Elizabeth as the Monarch and head of State. I don't live there so I admit I may be completely wrong here but that is my understanding.

Wow, thanks JJ ! I'm learning so much from your channel ! 👌