Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms hand-signed and dated 1982 by then Prime Minister P.E. (Pierre Elliot) Trudeau and also hand-signed by Jean Chrétien

This 1982 Charter printed document is in a wooden frame 25-1/2 x 19-1/2 inches. The printed document is flat size 22-7/8 x 17-1/2 inches (not examined outside of frame). The printed document is flat size 22-7/8 x 17-1/2 inches (not examined outside of frame). The value and historical importance of this document is the hand-signed Trudeau's (1982) and Chrétien's signatures.

The first inscription is located on top right right, specifically, "P.E. Trudeau 1982" the same year as the signing of the original Canada Act which included the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The second hand-signature located on the top left is "Best Wishes, Jean Chrétien" (not dated). Chrétien was one of the four people who signed the two original Canada Act documents in April 1982. "In a kind gesture by Trudeau, I signed my name just below Her Majesty's, although there was no technical reason for my signature to have been there," Chretien wrote in his autobiography. There is also a printed P.E. Trudeau signature and 1981 date on bottom right making this printed document one of the first produced.

This is a TRULY RARE, even unique and a highly collectable Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms of significant Canadian importance. Less than a handful of other copies of a printed Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms document with Pierre Elliot Trudeau signature are known and only one of those with a date, that of 1992, ten years later than our 1982 signature date

PROVENANCE: The previous owner has owned this P.E. Trudeau and Jean Chrétien signed Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms document since 1982. He obtained this document during the Ontario New Liberals Convention held from June 25-27, 1982, from another Young Liberal attendee who had it previously signed by Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chrétien. Obtaining this double-signed significant Canadiana document meant a lot to the owner as a Young Liberal in 1982. The Ontario New Liberals was the name for the Ontario wing of the Young Liberals of Canada.

CANADIAN CHARTER BACKGROUND: The Constitution Act, 1982 is a relatively short 34 clauses but a landmark document in Canadian history. The enactment of the Canada Act 1982 by the British Parliament in March 1982, precisely 115 years after the same legislature enacted the British North America Act, 1867, confirmed the Patriation of the Constitution and transferred to Canada the power of amending its own Constitution making Canada wholly independent. On April 17, 1982, Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, as well as the Minister of Justice, Jean Chrétien, and André Ouellet, the Registrar General, signed the Proclamation which brought the Constitution Act, 1982 into force. The proclamation confirmed that Canada had formally assumed authority over its constitution, the final step to full sovereignty. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the first Part of the Constitution Act, 1982 and is the highest law of the land. The Charter is a bill of rights to protect certain political rights, legal rights and human rights of people in Canada from the policies and actions of all levels of government. An additional goal of the Charter is to unify Canadians around a set of principles that embody those rights. It was a milestone in our Canada's history. Authors Stephen Clarkson and Christina McCall refer to the constitution as Trudeau's "magnificent obsession." It remains a remarkable achievement given the forces against change.

Some of the protections that The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees:

• freedom of religion, of thought, of expression, of the press and of peaceful assembly

• the right to participate in political activities and the right to a democratic government

• the freedom to move around and live within Canada, and to leave Canada

• legal rights such as the right to life, liberty and security

• equality rights

• language rights

"2022 marks a major milestone for Canada: the 40th anniversary of the Constitution Act.

It would be overly simplistic to say that one person deserves the credit for bringing these constitutional aspirations to fruition. But it is also no overstatement to say that Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the 15th Prime Minister of Canada, was a driving force. Without Trudeau, 1982 would not have happened. In 1968, Trudeau - then Minister of Justice - authored a government document entitled A Canadian Charter of Human Rights. In it, Trudeau called for adding a bill of rights to the Canadian Constitution. He also provided a de facto first draft of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The 1968 document offers a glimpse into Trudeau's philosophical commitments. Decades later, in his memoirs, he wrote that he saw the Charter "as an expression of my long-held view that the subject of law must be the individual human being; the law must permit the individual to fulfil himself or herself to the utmost. It is indisputable, however, that the Charter has reshaped Canadian society in fundamental ways" quoted from Brian Bird online article

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