Question

How old is the country of Canada?

Answer 1

“There are multiple timelines in Canadian history. One begins 150 years ago, with Confederation creating the country of Canada in 1867. Another begins much earlier – archaeologists have unearthed a settlement on Triquet Island in British Columbia dating back 14,000 years ago.

The date that gives us the national age of 152 is July 1, 1867. That was the day that the British North America Act came into effect, a.k.a. "Confederation".

A confederation is basically a union. In Canada's case, Confederation joined together Ontario and Quebec (also known then as the provinces of Canada) with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to form the Dominion of Canada. Not only were these British colonies united, as Canada they were given their own federal government to oversee all their domestic affairs.

In other words, they no longer had to check with Britain about how they ran their own space.

Yes, Canada gained a ton of independence in 1867. But Britain wasn't willing to let go of its old colonies that easily.

It still controlled Canada's foreign affairs, or how it interacted with other countries around the world. One of the best examples of this? When Britain entered World War I, so did Canada. As in immediately. It had no choice.

So was Canada really its own country? Kind of, sort of? Yes, it had its own government and handled its own affairs. But to the outside world, Canada was still very much a part of the British Empire.

It wasn't until 1931 that this changed. This was when Canada got full control over their foreign affairs, thanks to the Statute of Westminster.

This was a huge deal. Now Canada got to make all of its own choices, at home and aboard.

Proof? When Britain declared war on Germany on September 1, 1939, Canada waited to enter World War II. Sure, they only waited eight days. But the government was allowed to come to this important decision on its own.

So 1931 was the year Canada became truly independent, right? Practically speaking, yes.

But the country still had one bizarro tie to Britain. The Parliament of Canada could request that British Parliament change the Canadian Constitution. Yeah, we don't get it either.

Anyway, it wasn't until 1982 that Pierre Trudeau's government signed the Constitution Act that this British power was removed. Finally, their country had full sovereignty.