ABOUT

BringBackTheAct.ca aims to engage Canadians in bringing home our founding constitution. We are gathering support for our cause and opening up a dialogue on what our country and its history means to all of us.

• WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? •
Our original constitution should be on display in the country it created — for all Canadians to see and appreciate. To understand who we are, we have to understand where we came from.

• WHO'S BEHIND THIS SITE? •
BringBackTheAct.ca is being organized by a working group, which includes Lori Abittan, John English, Patrick Gossage, Jack Granatstein, Charlotte Gray, Paul LaBarge, Robert Prichard, and interim chair Ian Wilson.

• WHO WANTS TO BRING BACK THE ACT? •
Just about all Canadians.

We have found few in this country opposed to Canada having its founding documents.

We are a group of Canadians from all walks of life who discovered our original constitution is locked in a vault in England. We thought it a matter of grassroots democracy to talk to other Canadians about this - so we can all show our national pride by working together to bring the BNA Act home.

How did it all begin?
The campaign arose out of Multimedia Nova's creation of the groundbreaking series of articles, The Canadian Experience. This yearlong series of articles on Canadian history, politics, geography and culture is written by Canada’s foremost historians under Granatstein’s editorship. It runs in over 65 print publications and 40 websites in 24 languages.

From the research for the project came the realization that our original constitution rests on foreign soil. This prompted Abittan to launch the patriation campaign, bringing together a working group of leading figures in Canadian government, scholarship and culture to guide the efforts to bring the act to Canada.

"Canada needs its constitution," says Wilson, chair of the group. "It is on this document that Canadians have built our country. Each generation needs to understand this story, complex as it may be, in order to continue to develop our constitution and our society."

An historic birthday
Constitutional experts note there are many documents that together define our constitution. But at the very heart of these - legally, historically and symbolically - is the British North America Act of 1867. It is the BNA Act that we celebrate every July 1. This embodies the vision and labours of John A. Macdonald, George-Étienne Cartier and all the Fathers of Confederation.

As Canada moves towards its 150th birthday in 2017, it is time to bring home the original and make it one of the recognized symbols of our country.

We are calling on all Canadians to lend their voices to the chorus asking Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, and the British government to allow the original BNA Act to be given to Canada where it will be properly displayed for the country to see.

"Having this most important icon from our history accessible here in our own country would have inestimable value in helping bring our history alive for Canadians," says historian Granatstein.

What can you do?
BringBackTheAct.ca is enlisting the help and support of all Canadians from the eminent to the unknown, from all political parties and places, and from all walks of life to make this project a success that Canadians will own together. Join us now by signing the petition at BringBackTheAct.ca and let us know how you can help or post a comment.

"This is an important project for our country," says Abittan. "We are proud Canadians and while many of our readers were born somewhere else, we have all chosen Canada as our home. It is why we decided to undertake The Canadian Experience and why we have dedicated ourselves to bring the BNA Act home for all Canadians."
"We all need to understand our country’s history and foundations to truly appreciate how wonderful and unique Canada really is."

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON "BringBackTheAct.ca"

On Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BringBackTheAct

MULTIMEDIA NOVA CORPORATION
105 Wingold Avenue, Toronto, Ontario CANADA M6B 1P8
Tel: 416 342-1140 | Fax: 416 781-7698
President & CEO: Lori Abittan | ext. 218
www.MultimediaNova.com

BringBackTheAct.ca is an affiliated project of The Canadian Experience which was developed and made available to a select network of multilingual publications by Multimedia Nova Corporation, Canada's diversity publisher/printer-of-choice and a communications company operating in the areas of publishing, multicultural marketing, diversity recruitment, new media, printing and distribution, and Canadian civic literacy and outreach."

BringBackTheAct.ca is national, grassroots movement intent on gathering thousands of names to petition Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the British government to allow the original Canadian Constitution (the documents of the BNA Act) to be entrusted to the Canadian Government to be displayed for all Canadians to see. This will be the last step we take to finally "repatriate" our Constitution.