What is the Canadian constitution?

Answer 1

We don't have a constitution in the sense that the United States does. But we do have some important documents that you might find comparable. Our country was confederated (meaning it got started) with a document called the British North America Act. It essentially outlined our role in the British Monarchy, but also how we would be governed (just like England- with a "parliamentary system"), and what parts of North American were, in fact, British owned. Today all British owned parts of North America are known as Canada. We are self-governed, but techincally (really it's a formality), part of the British kingdom.

The parts of the American Consititution which are typically held in the highest esteem, those which outline individual rights and freedoms, are not explicitly found in the BNA. In the early 1980's, it was widely felt in Canada that certain human rights needed to be expressly written. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms followed, and that document allows all of us our personal human rights.

How it differs quite a bit from the United States is that the emphasis is not so heavily on the rights of the individual. For example, the coveted First Amendment of the American Constitution regards freedom of speech and religion. In Canada, we do allow freedom of speech and religion (it is explicitly written in the Charter), however, the hate-speech law overrides freedom of speech. This is a fairly significant cultural difference. In Canada, you can say what you want to say, unless it is intended to victimize an individual based on attributes they may have which ARE protected by the charter (ex: protesting gay marriage is permissible; protesting gay PEOPLE is not).