Born in Montreal in 1919, Pierre Trudeau was a lawyer, intellectual and Liberal politician who became prime minister of Canada in 1968 and dominated Canadian politics for the following sixteen years, with one interruption in 1979-1980. His central constitutional achievement was the patriation of the Canadian constitution: after prolonged federal-provincial negotiations, including a night of bargaining in November 1981 from which Quebec's delegation was absent, nine of the ten provinces agreed to a package that Trudeau brought to Westminster. The Constitution Act, 1982, received royal assent as the Canada Act 1982 and was proclaimed in force by Elizabeth II in Ottawa on 17 April 1982, ending the British Parliament's role in amending Canada's constitution and adding the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Quebec's government under René Lévesque refused to endorse the accord, a rift that shaped Quebec nationalist politics for decades afterward.
- Lived: 1919 CE – 2000 CE
- Nationality: canadian
- Roles: Prime Minister of Canada (1968-1979, 1980-1984)
