Reflections on the Kitchen Accord

It is, indeed, an honour to be a part of the Patriation Negotiations Conference, sponsored by the Centre for Constitutional Studies, exploring the method and substance of Canada’s most significant constitutional development since Confederation. I want to say a word about why this conference matters.  Canada’s search to understand its dynamics and its values was an important step in national self-awareness.  To my mind, Patriation reflects both a point of constitutional maturity and a point of sophisticated intergovernmental process.