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Act (Statute), law passed by Parliament or a provincial legislature (see Provincial Government). A federal Act must pass 3 readings in the House of Commons and 3 readings in the Senate, and must receive royal assent.

The Act of Union was passed by the British Parliament in July 1840. It was proclaimed on 10 February 1841 in Montreal. It created the Province of Canada by uniting the colonies of Canada West (formerly Upper Canada) and Canada East (formerly Lower Canada) into one government. (See also: Act of Union: Timeline; Act of Union: Editorial.)

​Alberta joined Confederation along with Saskatchewan in 1905, when the two new provinces were created out of a section of the Northwest Territories.

Amnesty Act, 1 February 1849, offered a pardon to all those involved in the 1837-38 Rebellions. It originated March 1838, when a conditional pardon was extended to minor participants.

The Balfour Report of 1926 declared that Britain and its Dominions were constitutionally equal to each other. It was a landmark document confirming Canada as a fully independent country, united with Britain and the other Dominions through the Commonwealth.

In the mid-1930s, at the height of the Great Depression, Prime Minister R.B. Bennett's political demise seemed inevitable. Seeking to reverse the tide running against his Conservative Party, in January 1935 he began a series of live radio speeches outlining a "New Deal" for Canada.

Bloody Sunday was a violent confrontation between protesters and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Vancouver police in Vancouver on Sunday 19 June 1938.

Brandy Parliament, an assembly of 20 notables of New France, who on 10 October 1678 were asked their opinion of the sale of brandy to the Indigenous peoples. The title was bestowed in 1921 by historian W.B. Munro.

British American Land Company, chartered 20 March 1834 and promoted by John Galt, Canada Company founder; Edward Ellice, Lower Canada's largest absentee landowner; and others. It purchased 343 995 ha of crown land in the Eastern Townships (Qué) for £120 000.

The colony of British Columbia was founded in 1858 in response to the Fraser River Gold Rush. (See also The Fraser River Gold Rush and the Founding of British Columbia.) The colony established representative government in 1864 and merged with the colony of Vancouver Island in 1866. In May 1868, Amor De Cosmos formed the Confederation League to bring responsible government to BC and to join Confederation. In September 1868, the Confederation League passed 37 resolutions outlining the terms for a union with the Dominion of Canada. The terms were passed by both the BC assembly and the federal Parliament in 1871. The colony joined Canada as the country’s sixth province on 20 July 1871. The threat of American annexation, embodied by the Alaska purchase of 1867, and the promise of a railway linking BC to the rest of Canada, were decisive factors.

Statute enacted 29 March 1867 by the British Parliament providing for Confederation. In April 1982 it was renamed the Constitution Act, 1867, as part of the movement toward "patriation" of the Constitution.

The CAPE BRETON labour wars of the early 1920s represented an intense local episode of class conflict similar to the WINNIPEG GENERAL STRIKE (1919).

The Charlottetown Conference set Confederation in motion. It was held from 1–9 September 1864 in Charlottetown, with additional meetings the following week in Halifax, Saint John and Fredericton. The conference was organized by delegates from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island to discuss the union of their three provinces. They were persuaded by a contingent from the Province of Canada, who were not originally on the guest list, to work toward the union of all the British North American colonies. The Charlottetown Conference was followed by the Quebec Conference (10–27 October 1864) and the London Conference (December 1886–March 1867). They culminated in Confederation on 1 July 1867.

Wars often have many causes. Some are long-standing problems between nations, while others are dangerous sparks that inflame attitudes and push nations to a call to arms.

On 7 December 1863, during the American Civil War, 16 Confederates seized American coastal steamer Chesapeake off Cape Cod and diverted it to Saint John, NB.

The Chinese head tax was levied on Chinese immigration to Canada between 1885 and 1923, under the Chinese Immigration Act (1885). With few exceptions, Chinese people had to pay $50 (later raised to $100, and then $500) to come to Canada.

The Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, known also as the Chinese Exclusion Act, banned the entry of virtually all Chinese immigrants for 24 years. Although migration into Canada from most countries was controlled or restricted in some way, only Chinese people were singled out completely from entering on the basis of race. The four exceptions to the exclusion were students, merchants (excluding laundry, restaurant and retail operators), diplomats and Canadian-born Chinese returning from education in China. The limit on absence from Canada was two years, and the consequence for not returning on time was being barred re-entry. Additionally, every person of Chinese descent, whether Canadian-born or naturalized, was required to register for an identity card within 12 months. The penalty for noncompliance was imprisonment or a fine of up to $500. Though the Act was repealed in 1947, immigration restrictions on the basis of race and national origin were not fully scrubbed until 1967.

Compact Theory of Confederation, see CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY.