ABSTRACT
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms will always be associated with the name of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, not only because he was its principal political proponent, but also because, without his steel-willed determination, the charter would never have happened. The procedure for amendment was that the Parliament of the United Kingdom would pass any amendment to the British North America Act of 1867 on the mere receipt of a joint address of both Houses of the Canadian Parliament. The precedents were ambiguous, and the federal view was that this procedure gave exclusive legal amending power to the Parliament of Canada, whether there was provincial consent or opposition. Prime Minister Trudeau accordingly agreed to a final First Ministers conference beginning 2 November 1981 before taking further action. This was the conference which ultimately led to the agreement of all the governments except that of Quebec.
