Page "Constitution of Canada" Paragraph 8

Enactment of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has also fundamentally changed much of Canadian constitutional law.

The Magna Carta, which has constitutional status in Canada, was occasionally called into service in legal argument.

Since 1982, however, the arguments have been easier to make, because lawyers have been able to cite the relevant sections of the constitution rather than rely upon legal abstraction.

The act also codified many previously oral constitutional conventions and has made amendment of the constitution significantly more difficult.

Previously, the Canadian federal constitution could be amended by solitary act of the Canadian or British parliaments, by formal or informal agreement between the federal and provincial governments, or even simply by adoption as ordinary custom of an oral convention or unwritten tradition that was perceived to be the best way to do something.

Since the act, amendments must now conform to certain specified provisions in the written portion of the Canadian constitution.