History
The Senate came into existence in 1867, when the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the British North America Act, uniting the Province of Canada (which was separated into Quebec and Ontario) with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into a single federation, a Dominion called Canada. The Canadian Parliament was based on the Westminster model (that is, the model of the Parliament of the United Kingdom). Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, described it as a body of "sober second thought" that would curb the "democratic excesses" of the elected House of Commons and provide regional representation. As an upper house on the British parliamentary model, it was not meant to be more than a revising body, or a brake on the House of Commons. Therefore, it was deliberately made an appointed house, since an elected Senate might prove too popular and too powerful, and be able to block the will of the House of Commons.
From 1867 to 1916, the Senate sat in the old Senate Chambers. Lost to the fire that consumed the parliament buildings in 1916, it sat in the mineral room of the what is today the Canadian Museum of Nature until 1922. It relocated back to Parliament Hill after 1922.
| Modifying act | Date enacted | Normal total | §26 total | Ont. | Que. | N.S. | N.B. | Man. | B.C. | P.E.I. | Sask. | Alta. | N.L. | N.W.T. | Y.T. | Nu. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constitution Act, 1867 | July 1, 1867 (1867-07-01) | 72 | 78 | 24 | 24 | 12 | 12 | |||||||||
| Manitoba Act, 1870 | July 15, 1870 (1870-07-15) | 74 | 80 | 24 | 24 | 12 | 12 | 2 | ||||||||
| British Columbia Terms of Union | July 20, 1871 (1871-07-20) | 77 | 83 | 24 | 24 | 12 | 12 | 2 | 3 | |||||||
| Prince Edward Island Terms of Union as per §147 of the Constitution Act, 1867 | July 1, 1873 (1873-07-01) | 77 | 83 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||||
| Alberta Act and Saskatchewan Act | September 1, 1905 (1905-09-01) | 85 | 91 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Constitution Act, 1915 | May 19, 1915 (1915-05-19) | 96 | 104 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | ||||
| Newfoundland Act as per ¶1(1)(vii) of the Constitution Act, 1915 | March 31, 1949 (1949-03-31) | 102 | 110 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | |||
| Constitution Act (No. 2), 1975 | June 19, 1975 (1975-06-19) | 104 | 112 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | |
| Constitution Act, 1999 (Nunavut) | April 1, 1999 (1999-04-01) | 105 | 113 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Modifying act | Date | Normal total | §26 total | Ont. | Que. | N.S. | N.B. | Man. | B.C. | P.E.I. | Sask. | Alta. | N.L. | N.W.T. | Y.T. | Nu. |
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—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.”
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“All things are moral. That soul, which within us is a sentiment, outside of us is a law. We feel its inspiration; out there in history we can see its fatal strength.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)