Canada's Constitutional Revolution

From 1960 to 1982 Barry L. Strayer was instrumental in the design of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the patriation of Canada's Constitution. Here Dr. Strayer shares his experiences as a key legal advisor with a clear, personal voice that yields an insightful contribution to Canadian history and political memoir. He discusses the personal philosophies of Pierre Trudeau and F.R. Scott in addition to his meticulous accounts of the events and people involved in Canada's constitutional reform, and the consequences of that reform, which reveal that it was truly a revolution. This is an accessible primary source for experts and non-specialists interested in constitutional history studies, political history of patriation and The Charter, interpretation of The Charter, and the nature of judicial review. The Honourable Barry L. Strayer's political memoir on Canadian constitutional reform, 1960–1982. From 1960 to 1982 Barry L. Strayer was instrumental in the design of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the patriation of Canada's Constitution. Here Barry Strayer shares his experiences as a key legal adviser with a clear, personal voice that yields an insightful contribution to Canadian history and political memoir. He discusses the personal philosophies of Pierre Trudeau and F.R. Scott in addition to his meticulous accounts of the events and people involved in Canada's constitutional reform, and the consequences of that reform, which reveal that it was truly a revolution. This is an accessible primary source for experts and non-specialists interested in constitutional history studies, political history of patriation and the Charter, interpretation of the Charter, and the nature of judicial review. The Honourable Barry L. Strayer, OC, QC, BA, LLB (Sask.), BCL (Oxon.), SJD (Harvard) was Assistant Deputy Minister of Justice from 1974 to 1983. He was involved in the constitutional reform process in Canada for over 22 years and was an early adviser to the Government of Canada on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He is a retired Judge of the Federal Court, both Trial Division and Court of Appeal; a former Chief Justice of the Court Martial Appeal Court; an Officer of the Order of Canada; and the author of a book on judicial review, published in three editions, and numerous periodical articles on public law subjects. Barry Strayer lives in Ottawa. 11 B&W photographs, notes, index "The Hon. Barry L. Strayer was instrumental in designing Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the 1982 repatriation of the Constitution. In Canada's Constitutional Revolution, the retired federal court judge recalls his involvement as a legal adviser during the period of constitutional reform from 1960 to '82." Quill & Quire "[On April 27, 1982, Queen Elizabeth signed the Constitution Act on Parliament Hill.] For nearly 15 years [Barry Strayer] had toiled mightily in the labyrinthine structures of federal constitutional planning and in the chambers of federal-provincial negotiations to get to just this moment. In Ottawa that day Canada's sovereignty was formalized; it gained untrammelled authority over its own constitution and it declared its subscription to human rights. Strayer was crucial to the federal government's constitutional endeavours, from policy consulting with the prime minister to reassuring parliamentarians, to preparing court cases, to organizing strategic planning and the writing of constitutional drafts. He was at the very centre of Canada's modern constitutional moment." John D. Whyte, Literary Review of Canada, May 2013 "...a cogent, thorough, and diverting narrative of his time as a top-level constitutional advisor to the Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau Liberal governments.... In broad terms, the book is a meditation on the intellectual and political complexity of the transition, in a federal system, from a regime of legislative supremacy to one of constitutional supremacy..... The tone of the book is