In order to properly examine the Meech Lake Accords and their significance, we must look first at why the Accords were necessary and what led up to them. Until 1982, Canada had been governed by the British North America Act, passed by the British Parliament in 1867. This act provided for the unification of the Canadian provinces into the Dominion of Canada, and set out the powers of the provincial legislatures. All powers not designated to the provinces were given to the Dominion. Later interpretations by the British Privy Council extended property rights in the provinces and developed the doctrine of emergency powers to aid the Dominion in time of war. .

             Ever since the Statute of Westminster 1931, the British government had been willing to give up control of Canada, but Canadian federal and provincial governments were unable to agree on a new formula to allow amendments. Various unsuccessful attempts were made to change the constitution, including the Victoria Charter of 1971.

             On March 25, 1982 the British Parliament passed the Canada Act, also called the Constitutional Act of 1982, which made Canada a fully sovereign state. It was proclaimed by Queen Elizabeth II on April 17, 1982. Residents of Quebec had voted in May 1980 not to seek sovereignty and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was pushing for the constitution, which was finally agreed to by every province, except Quebec, in November 1981. This constitution combined the British North America Act of 1867 with subsequent amendments to that act by the British Parliament, and new material resulting from eighteen months of intense negotiations between federal and provincial powers. It contained a Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guaranteed thirty-four rights including religious freedom, minority language education, and cultural tolerance. The Charter contained a clause which allowed many rights to be overridden in the federal or provincial legislatures by a "notwithstanding clause.