The sovereignty of Canada is, in legal terms, the power of Canada to govern itself and its subjects; it is the ultimate source of Canada's law and order. Sovereignty is also a major cultural matter in Canada. Several matters currently define Canadian sovereignty: the Canadian monarchy, telecommunication, the autonomy of the provinces, and Canada's Arctic border.
Canada is a democratic monarchy. Though unitary, the Canadian Crown is also "divided" equally among the country's 11 jurisdictions: one federal (wherein the sovereign is represented by the governor general) and 10 provincial (the monarch being represented in each by a lieutenant governor). The greater autonomy of each province and territory within the construct of Canadian federalism is also important to Canadian sovereignty. Québec has twice voted on seceding from Canada. Sovereignty has also been an issue for some of Canada's indigenous peoples.
Canada's Telecommunications Act "specifies the need for national ownership and control of Canadian carriers".
Since 2005, arctic ice melting in Northern Canada has caused issues affecting Canadian sovereignty, as some arctic countries have come in conflict over who owns certain areas in the oil-rich Arctic.
History
The origins of Canada's sovereignty lie in the constitutional English and British crowns and the absolute French crown establishing, in the 17th and 18th centuries, governmental institutions in areas that today comprise Canada. As such, Canada was affected by the conflicts in England in the 17th century, between monarch and parliament, over which was the ultimate authority, culminating in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Bill of Rights, 1689, which is today part of Canadian law. With the enactment of the British North America Act, 1867, the modern polity of Canada was founded and was granted self-government. Sovereignty was "carried over" into Canadian constitutional law, but the country's government and legislature were still under the authority of the monarch in her British Council and parliament at Westminster and the final court of appeal was the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. According to the Supreme Court of Canada, Canadian "sovereignty was acquired in the period between its separate signature of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and the Statute of Westminster, 1931", which brought the Balfour Declaration of 1926 into law and its enactment is considered to be moment when the separate Canadian monarchy was established. The Constitution Act, 1982, removed the final few reliances Canada had on the British Parliament, making Canada a completely sovereign nation.
Canadian monarchy
Charles III, King of Canada, as well as of the United Kingdom and 13 other Commonwealth realms, is the country's monarch and, as such, is the focus of the Oath of Allegiance taken by various government officials, civil servants, military members, and new citizens.
The King is constitutionally vested with legislative, executive, and judicial power. However, sovereignty in Canada has never rested solely with the monarch, due to the constitutional theories of Edward Coke, refined by Albert Venn Dicey, and the Bill of Rights 1689, later inherited by Canada, establishing the principle of parliamentary sovereignty; the British model of legislative sovereignty vesting in the king-in-parliament. This was later superseded by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (within the Constitution Act, 1982), which brought into Canada the American notion of the supremacy of the law. Nonetheless, the monarch is still the sovereign of Canada.
The term the Crown is used to represent the power of the monarch and the royal authority is symbolized by elements included in the insignia of various government institutions, the main one being the crest of the royal coat of arms of Canada—a gold lion standing on a wreath of the official colours of Canada, wearing the royal crown, and holding a red maple leaf in its right paw—a symbol of Canadian sovereignty. The King's coat of arms themselves are considered a symbol of Canada's sovereignty. The authority of the monarch is also communicated through the names of various government institutions, such as Court of King's Bench and King's Printer.
In Canada's federal system, the head of state is not a part of either the federal or provincial jurisdictions; the King reigns impartially over the country as a whole, meaning the sovereignty of each jurisdiction is passed on not by the federal viceroy or the Canadian Parliament, but through the Crown itself. Thus, the Crown is "divided" into 11 legal jurisdictions, or 11 "crowns"—one federal and 10 provincial—and the monarch similarly is the personification of each provincial state. The Fathers of Confederation viewed this system of constitutional monarchy as a bulwark against any potential fracturing of the Canadian Confederation. As the institution from which the power of the state flows, the terms the Crown in Right of Canada, His Majesty in Right of Canada, and the King in Right of Canada or any of those terms with the name of a province replacing Canada, may also be used to refer to the entire executive of the government in each jurisdiction.
This division of sovereignty, with the federal and provincial parliaments each having the sovereign ability to make law, as granted by the Constitution Act, 1867, can lead to conflicts over jurisdiction, which the courts resolve by ruling on which source of sovereign power trumps the other.
Per the convention of sovereign immunity, the monarch, whether in his federal or provincial jurisdictions, is free from the scope of foreign courts. Domestically, the Crown in each sphere within Canadian Confederation is also taken to be immune from the Crown in the other spheres; though, the degree to which has changed with the enactment of certain laws and changes in legal thinking.
Aboriginal peoples
British colonial policy in what is today Canada acknowledged Indigenous tribes as sovereign nations. After Confederation in 1867, the federal approach moved toward the earlier, absolute French Crown's desire for cultural assimilation and Canadian government policy continued that way for approximately a century, until policy shifted to self-determination for Indigenous peoples, to be achieved through treaties and self-government agreements.
Unlike in the United States, Indigenous peoples in Canada are not considered to be sovereign; rulings by the Supreme Court of Canada reinforced the notion that the Crown holds sovereignty throughout the country. A still burgeoning jurisprudence developed by the court, however, is the monarch's duty to consult with and accommodate First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, where their rights and interests may be at stake. This derives "from the Crown's assertion of sovereignty in the face of prior Aboriginal occupation", with the honour of the Crown at stake.
It has been argued that, by international law, the concept of domestic sovereignty should apply to Indigenous nations within Canada. Contrary to the Supreme Court's rulings, some aboriginal groups have taken to using names that suggest sovereignty on the part of their members, such as the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations in Saskatchewan, which changed its name from the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations in 2016, while others, like the Chiefs of Ontario and the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, claim First Nations are sovereign.
Canada in 2016 endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Arctic border
Under international law, no country currently owns the North Pole or the region of the Arctic Ocean surrounding it. The five Arctic states—Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Norway, Russia, and the United States (via Alaska)—are limited to a economic zone around their coasts.
Upon ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a country has a 10-year period to make claims to extend its 200-nautical-mile zone. Due to this, Norway (ratified the convention in 1996), Russia (ratified in 1997), Canada (ratified in 2003) and Denmark (ratified in 2004) launched projects to base claims that certain Arctic sectors should belong to their territories. The United States has signed, but not yet ratified this treaty.
The status of the Arctic sea region is in dispute. While Canada (since 1925), Denmark, Russia, and Norway all regard parts of the Arctic seas as "national waters" or "internal waters", the United States and most European Union countries officially regard the whole region, including the Northwest Passage, as international waters. The Canadian government considers the Northwest Passage to be Canadian Internal Waters.
Canada has orchestrated certain events to assert its sovereignty in the Arctic area, such as when, in 1970, the federal Cabinet advised the Queen of Canada, Elizabeth II, along with her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and two of her children, Prince Charles (now King Charles III) and Princess Anne, to tour Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, in the Northwest Territories, the latter being on the coast of the Northwest Passage. To emphasise the point, Charles returned the following year to scuba dive under the Arctic ice. In 1969, the SS Manhattan, an American oil tanker, became the first commercial vessel to transit the passage, prompting much debate about Canada's claims to that body of water. In August 2007, Canada's claims in the Arctic were challenged after a Russian underwater expedition to the North Pole.
Telecommunications
Telecommunications play an essential role in the maintenance of Canada's identity and sovereignty.Government of Canada, Department of Justice Canada. "Telecommunications Act ( 1993, c. 38 )". 27 July 2008. Department of Justice Canada. Accessed 26 August 2008. Note: Republished by Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII). "Telecommunications Act". 23 June 1993. Lexum . Accessed 26 August 2008, 17:47 The Parliament of Canada created the Canada's Telecommunications Act to govern the use of telecommunications. Some of its objectives are "to facilitate the orderly development throughout Canada of a telecommunications system that serves to safeguard, enrich, and strengthen the social and economic fabric of Canada and its regions [...] Promote the use of Canadian transmission facilities for telecommunications within Canada and between Canada and points outside Canada [...] To respond to the economic and social requirements of users of telecommunications services [...] And to contribute to the protection of the privacy of persons."
Furthermore, the Telecommunications Act references the Broadcasting Act, which prescribes that broadcasting has an important role in Canadian sovereignty. The Canadian broadcasting system is legislated to be owned and controlled by Canadians.Government of Canada, Department of justice. "Broadcasting Act - Broadcasting Policy for Canada - 3.(1)a". 1 February 1991. Department of Justice Canada. Accessed 26 August 2008. In this case, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, inaugurated 2 November 1936, has had the role of representing Canadians. CBC was established by the Broadcasting Act, which received royal assent on 23 June 1936, following "a royal commission that was concerned about the growing American influence in radio." Radios, television, and the CBC have significantly helped reunite Canadians and build its sovereignty.Contempra telephone". [Photo of a museum information plaque]. 31 Aug. 2008. The Museum of Science and Technology (Ottawa).
Provincial sovereignty Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act