Editing Confederation (section)

===Canada===
[[File:Proclamation Canadian Confederation.jpg|thumb|Proclamation of [[Canadian Confederation]]]]
Canada is an unusually decentralized [[federal state]], not a confederate association of sovereign states,<ref name=":0" /> the usual meaning of ''confederation'' in modern terms. In [[Canada]], the word ''confederation'' has an additional unrelated meaning.<ref name=":0">[[Eugene Forsey]], ''[http://publications.gc.ca/pub?id=9.810414&sl=0 How Canadians Govern Themselves]'', 9th ed. (Ottawa: [[Library of Parliament|Library of Parliament / Bibliothèque du Parlement]], Catalogue No. X9‑11/2016E, 2016‑03), {{ISBN|9780660044897}}, pp. 7, 29. French version published as ''Les [http://publications.gc.ca/pub?id=9.810417&sl=1 Canadiens et leur système de gouvernement]'', n<sup>o</sup> de catalogue X9‑11/2016F, {{ISBN|9780660044910}} First edition published in 1980.</ref> "[[Canadian Confederation|Confederation]]" refers to the process of (or the event of) establishing or joining the Canadian federal state. 

In modern terminology, Canada is a federation, not a confederation.<ref>P.W. Hogg, ''Constitutional Law of Canada'' (5th ed. supplemented), para. 5.1(b).</ref> However, to contemporaries of the ''[[Constitution Act, 1867]]'', ''confederation'' did not have the same connotation of a weakly-centralized federation.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Life and Times of Confederation, 1864–1867|last=Waite|first=Peter B.|date=1962|publisher=University of Toronto Press|at=Pages 37–38, footnote 6}}</ref> [[Canadian Confederation]] generally refers to the ''Constitution Act, 1867'', which formed the [[Canada|Dominion of Canada]] from three of the colonies of [[British North America]], and to the subsequent incorporation of other colonies and territories. Beginning on 1 July 1867, it was initially a self-governing [[dominion]] of the British Empire with a [[Federalism|federal structure]], whose government was led by Sir [[John A. Macdonald]]. The initial colonies involved were the [[Province of Canada]] (becoming [[Quebec]] from Canada East, formerly the colony of [[Lower Canada]]; and [[Ontario]] from Canada West, formerly the colony of [[Upper Canada]]), [[Nova Scotia]], and [[New Brunswick]]. Later participants were [[Manitoba]], [[British Columbia]], [[Prince Edward Island]], [[Alberta]] and [[Saskatchewan]] (the latter two created in 1905 as federated provinces from parts of the directly federally administered [[Northwest Territories]], first transferred to the Dominion in 1869 and now possessing [[Devolution|devolved]] governments as itself, [[Yukon]] and [[Nunavut]]), and finally Newfoundland (now [[Newfoundland and Labrador]]) in 1949. A Canadian judicial constitutional interpretation, ''[[Reference Re Secession of Quebec]]'', and a subsequent [[Clarity Act|federal]] law, set forth negotiating conditions for a [[Canadian provinces|Canadian province]] (though not a [[Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories|territory]]) to leave the Canadian federal state (addressed also by [[Bill 99|a related Quebec law]]). Importantly, negotiation would first need triggering by referendum and executing by constitutional amendment using a current amending mechanism of Canada's constitution—meaning that, while not legal under the current constitution, it is democratically feasible without resorting to extralegal means or international involvement.