What was the November 1981 Kitchen Accord?

The November 1981 Kitchen Accord was an overnight constitutional deal struck on November 4 to 5, 1981 in the kitchen of the National Conference Centre in Ottawa (now the Government Conference Centre) among federal Justice Minister Jean Chrétien and provincial Attorneys-General Roy McMurtry (Ontario) and Roy Romanow (Saskatchewan). The deal broke the deadlock between Pierre Trudeau and the Gang of Eight provinces (excluding Ontario and New Brunswick) over patriation. The Kitchen Accord added the section 33 notwithstanding clause to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in exchange for nine provinces' consent. Quebec did not consent to the deal.

The federal-provincial First Ministers' Conference of November 2 to 5, 1981 was the decisive constitutional negotiation. The Conference followed the September 28, 1981 Supreme Court of Canada Patriation Reference. All ten provinces and the federal government negotiated for four days. By the evening of November 4, 1981 the Conference appeared deadlocked: Trudeau insisted on a Charter of Rights binding the provinces, while the Gang of Eight (Quebec, BC, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island) demanded a weakened Charter or none at all.

The breakthrough was negotiated late that night. Saskatchewan Attorney-General Roy Romanow (NDP) and Ontario Attorney-General Roy McMurtry (PC) met federal Justice Minister Jean Chrétien (Liberal) in the kitchen of the Conference Centre. They developed a compromise: the federal Charter would be retained, but provinces would have the right to override Charter sections 2 (the fundamental freedoms), 7 to 14 (legal rights), and 15 (equality rights) for renewable five-year periods using the section 33 notwithstanding clause. The amending formula would also be modified to allow provinces to opt out of constitutional amendments affecting provincial powers (with financial compensation in matters of language and culture).

The next morning (November 5, 1981) Trudeau and seven of the eight Gang of Eight Premiers agreed to the package. Quebec Premier René Lévesque was not present at the late-night kitchen negotiations and did not consent. Lévesque had stayed at his hotel across the river in Hull, Quebec; the other Gang of Eight Premiers had stayed at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, allowing easier overnight communication. Lévesque later called the Kitchen Accord 'la nuit des longs couteaux' (the night of the long knives), regarding it as a betrayal. The Quebec government refused to sign the Constitution Act, 1982, and Quebec has never formally accepted the 1982 Constitution. The Kitchen Accord remains a deeply contested moment in Canadian constitutional history. Roy Romanow later served as Premier of Saskatchewan (1991 to 2001); Roy McMurtry later served as Chief Justice of Ontario (1996 to 2007); Jean Chrétien later served as Prime Minister of Canada (1993 to 2003).