Bill C-53

1st Session, 41st Parliament,

60-61 Elizabeth II, 2011-2012-2013

house of commons of canada

BILL C-53

An Act to assent to alterations in the law touching the Succession to the Throne

Whereas the Constitution Act, 1867 provides that the executive government and authority of and over Canada is vested in Her Majesty the Queen;

Whereas representatives of the Realms of which Her Majesty is Sovereign agreed on October 28, 2011 to change the rules on succession to, and possession of, their respective Crowns so as to make succession not depend on gender and to end the disqualification arising from marrying a Roman Catholic;

Whereas the following recital is set out in the preamble to the Statute of Westminster, 1931:

“And whereas it is meet and proper to set out by way of preamble to this Act that, inasmuch as the Crown is the symbol of the free association of the members of the British Commonwealth of Nations, and as they are united by a common allegiance to the Crown, it would be in accord with the established constitutional position of all the members of the Commonwealth in relation to one another that any alteration in the law touching the Succession to the Throne or the Royal Style and Titles shall hereafter require the assent as well of the Parliaments of all the Dominions as of the Parliament of the United Kingdom”;

And whereas Her Majesty’s Government of the United Kingdom has caused to be introduced in the Parliament of the United Kingdom a bill to ensure that succession not depend on gender and to end the disqualification arising from marrying a Roman Catholic;

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

1. This Act may be cited as the Succession to the Throne Act, 2013.

2. The alteration in the law touching the Succession to the Throne set out in the bill laid before the Parliament of the United Kingdom and entitled A Bill to Make succession to the Crown not depend on gender; to make provision about Royal Marriages; and for connected purposes is assented to.

3. This Act comes into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.