Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982)

The Constitution Act of 1982, which contained the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, was proclaimed by Queen Elizabeth II in Ottawa on 17 April 1982. The charter was a more comprehensive version of the Canadian Bill of Rights, which had been adopted in August 1960 to guarantee that the rights of all citizens would henceforth be respected. The charter would have far more impact on Canadian law and society than even its principal architect, Prime Minster Pierre Elliott Trudeau, had anticipated.