Welcome to PrimaryDocuments.ca
ANNOUNCEMENT: Les Débats sur la Confédération dans la Province du Canada, 1865
We are pleased to announce the launching of a new project: the long-awaited republication of Les Débats sur la Confédération dans la Province du Canada, 1865, which is now available on the PrimaryDocuments.ca website as a book-in-progress. We hope this new volume of this important and foundational text will serve the French-speaking community of Canada’s legal and historical community.
The Confederation Debates are among the most cited confederation-era primary sources in Canadian constitutional jurisprudence. Lawyers, judges, and students, as well as the general public, will undoubtedly welcome the French republication of the Confederation Debates, which has been long overdue.
This new edition updates the archaic formatting of the original publication that appeared in 1865, facilitating access to this original. Our goal is to publish a first edition eBook of this volume in 2026, and a print edition in 2027.
NEW COMMENTARY ON SECTION 1 “REASONABLE LIMITS”:
IMPORTANT RE SCC CASE English Montreal School Board v. Attorney General of Quebec
As mentioned in the Runnymede Newsletter, in anticipation of English Montreal School Board, et al. v. Attorney General of Quebec, et al., PrimaryDocuments.ca is releasing an extended commentary on the documentary history of the limitations of the notwithstanding clause: “Mapping the Limitations of the Notwithstanding Clause: The PrimaryDocuments.ca Drafting History for Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms” (2025), by Charles Dumais, Michael Scott, & Charlie Buck. Footnote 26 was updated on November 12, 2025 as we noticed a small mistake–attributing the telex to BC, when it was from NFLD (discussing BC).
NEW BOOK IN PROGRESS: THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT:
including several never-published preliminary drafts of the British North America Act 1867, and the London Resolutions
WHAT IS A BOOK IN PROGRESS?
A “Book in Progress,” quite simply, is a publication that we at PrimaryDocuments.ca are working on, but which is not yet complete. However, due to the importance of the material both to the field of scholarship and law, we felt an obligation to release the book in this imperfect format. It is our intention to publish this book, once complete, in an eBook and print edition. In the meantime, we will be updating this book in the near future—both quantitatively and qualitatively.
This Book in Progress contains never-before-published drafts of the London Resolutions and British North America Act, 1867 drafts.
THE QUEBEC RESOLUTIONS, SECOND EDITION IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD
Charles Dumais, The Quebec Resolutions: Including Several Never-Published Preliminary Drafts by George Brown and John A Macdonald and a Collection of All Previously-Published Primary Documents Relating to the Conference, October 10, 1864 – October 29, 1864, Second Edition (Calgary: Canadian Constitution Foundation, 2025).
PrimaryDocuments now has over 5,600 documents.
About Us
We seek to be the most complete word-searchable electronic repository of documents relating to the Canadian constitution.
Our aim is to make it possible for anyone —whether student, teacher, lawyer, or judge— to easily access the entire documentary record of what Canada’s leaders—as well as reasonable, well-informed Canadians—were thinking when they adopted the constitutional provisions that govern us today. Only by knowing this, can present-day Canadians know the meaning of our constitutional law.
You can see the documents in our collection, arranged either by Dates or by Keywords, in the corresponding section of the navigation bar.
