Joint address (Canada)


A joint address is a special procedure of the Canadian parliament in which members of the House of Commons and Senate sit jointly in the former chamber, which, for the occasion, becomes an auditorium. The Speaker of the House of Commons takes his chair as normal, with the Speaker of the Senate seated to his or her right. Members of parliament also take their usual seats, with senators and justices of the supreme court positioned on the floor of the house, in front of the clerk's table. Gallery privileges are suspended during a joint address and access to those areas is strictly limited to invited guests.

Circumstances

Such an event is used most commonly when a visiting dignitary—such as a foreign head of state or head of government—wishes to address parliament. However, on more rare occasions, the process may also be used to make a formal, binding request of the Canadian monarch; for example, this was part of the process used to amend the Constitution of Canada prior to patriation in 1982. In extreme circumstances, a joint address may also be used to remove a person previously appointed by the Queen-in-Council—such as a judge or ambassador—if other avenues of doing so have failed. For example, Lester Pearson announced a joint address in 1967 to have Leo Landreville removed from the bench of the Supreme Court of Ontario due to allegations of improper stock trading. Landreville had previously refused to resign as he had not actually been convicted of a crime, but resigned voluntarily after the government declared its intention to forcibly remove him from office.
Although most addresses are made to joint sessions of parliament, on 7 May 1941, Robert G. Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia, spoke only to the House of Commons. On 25 August 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, addressed senators, Members of Parliament, and the general public outside the houses of parliament.

Dignitaries

The following persons have addressed a joint session of parliament:
DateDignitaryOffice
30 December 1941Winston ChurchillPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
3 June 1943Edvard BenešPresident of Czechoslovakia
16 June 1943Soong Mei-lingFirst Lady of the Republic of China
1 June 1944John CurtinPrime Minister of Australia
30 June 1944Peter FraserPrime Minister of New Zealand
19 November 1945Clement AttleePrime Minister of the United Kingdom
11 June 1947Harry S. TrumanPresident of the United States
24 October 1949Jawaharlal NehruPrime Minister of India
31 May 1950Liaquat Ali KhanPrime Minister of Pakistan
5 April 1951Vincent AuriolPresident of France
14 November 1953Dwight D. EisenhowerPresident of the United States
6 February 1956Anthony EdenPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
5 March 1956Giovanni GronchiPresident of Italy
5 June 1956SukarnoPresident of Indonesia
4 March 1957Guy MolletPrime Minister of France
2 June 1958Theodor HeussPresident of West Germany
13 June 1958Harold MacmillanPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
9 July 1958Dwight D. EisenhowerPresident of the United States
21 July 1958Kwame NkrumahPrime Minister of Ghana
17 May 1961John F. KennedyPresident of the United States
26 May 1964U ThantSecretary General of the United Nations
14 April 1972Richard NixonPresident of the United States
30 March 1973Luis EcheverríaPresident of Mexico
19 June 1973Indira GandhiPrime Minister of India
5 May 1980Masayoshi OhiraPrime Minister of Japan
26 May 1980José López PortilloPresident of Mexico
11 March 1981Ronald ReaganPresident of the United States
26 September 1983Margaret ThatcherPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
17 January 1984Zhao ZiyangPremier of the People's Republic of China
8 May 1984Miguel de la MadridPresident of Mexico
7 March 1985Javier Pérez de CuéllarSecretary General of the United Nations
13 January 1986Yasuhiro NakasonePrime Minister of Japan
6 April 1987Ronald ReaganPresident of the United States
25 May 1987François MitterrandPresident of France
10 May 1988BeatrixQueen of the Netherlands
16 June 1988Helmut KohlChancellor of West Germany
22 June 1988Margaret ThatcherPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
27 June 1989Chaim HerzogPresident of Israel
11 October 1989HusseinKing of Jordan
18 June 1990Nelson MandelaDeputy President of the African National Congress
8 April 1991Carlos Salinas de GortariPresident of Mexico
19 June 1992Boris YeltsinPresident of Russia
23 February 1995Bill ClintonPresident of the United States
11 June 1996Ernesto ZedilloPresident of Mexico
24 September 1998Nelson MandelaPresident of South Africa
29 April 1999Václav HavelPresident of the Czech Republic
22 February 2001Tony BlairPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
9 March 2004Kofi AnnanSecretary General of the United Nations
25 October 2004Vicente FoxPresident of Mexico
18 May 2006John HowardPrime Minister of Australia
22 September 2006Hamid KarzaiPresident of Afghanistan
26 May 2008Viktor YushchenkoPresident of Ukraine
26 May 2010Felipe CalderónPresident of Mexico
22 September 2011David CameronPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
27 February 2014Aga Khan IVImam of Nizari Isma'ilism
17 September 2014Petro PoroshenkoPresident of Ukraine
3 November 2014François HollandePresident of France
29 June 2016Barack ObamaPresident of the United States

Notable addresses

Winston Churchill

In the dark days of World War II, Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, stopped in Ottawa after meetings with the United States Government in Washington DC. Churchill spoke to a joint meeting of Canada’s parliamentarians in the House of Commons on December 30, 1941. Churchill delivered an "electrifying address that stirs the passions and strengthens the resolve of a nation at war." The most iconic phrase from Churchill’s remarks was met by laughter and thunderous applause. In responding to a French General’s claim that "England will have her neck wrung like a chicken" in three weeks time from a German invasion, Prime Minister Churchill boldly declared "Some chicken! Some neck!". Churchill would go on to lead the Allied effort to victory in the Second World War.

Richard Nixon

United States President Richard Nixon arrived in Ottawa on a state visit on April 13, 1972. He met with Governor General Roland Michener and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau before addressing a joint meeting of the Parliament of Canada. President Nixon, invoking his Nixon Doctrine on foreign policy, struck a blunt tone in his remarks. "Canadians and Americans move beyond the sentimental rhetoric of the past. It is time for us to recognize that we have very separate identities… each nation must determine the path of its own progress." Muirhead writes that after the state visit, "Nixon returned to Washington with a reinforced dislike of Ottawa, Trudeau, and most things Canadian. He told his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, that he had put it to these people for kicking the US around after what we did for that lousy son of a bitch . Wasting three days up there. That trip we needed like a hole in the head."

Ronald Reagan

President Ronald Reagan travelled to Ottawa on his first state visit as President of the United States. After meeting with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the President addressed the Canadian Parliament on March 11, 1981, speaking humbly of the about the strong Canada-US relationship. "America counts many friends across the globe, surely we have no better friend than Canada." President Reagan even demonstrated his ability to use both of Canada’s official languages when he spoke several phrases in French. The President concluded his remarks by offering an olive branch to the people of Canada: "We’re happy to be your neighbour. We want to remain your friend. We’re determined to be your partner, and we’re intent on working closely with you in a spirit of cooperation." Reagan addressed the Canadian Parliament once more as President, in 1987.

Margaret Thatcher

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom travelled to Ottawa and addressed Parliament on September 26, 1983. Only one year after the patriation of the Canadian Constitution with the Canada Act of 1982, Prime Minister Thatcher recognized that "a constitutional link has, quite properly, been severed," but Canada and the United Kingdom are still linked in important ways, including the belief "in the same high and honourable ideals" like freedom, justice, and parliamentary democracy. In 2013, after a 30-year ban on classified cabinet files had expired, documents from the British National Archives revealed that prior to her trip to Ottawa, Prime Minister Thatcher had been briefed to be careful of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s "unsound personal views" and the fact that Canadians are "inordinately sensitive." Prime Minister Thatcher returned to Canada in 1988 and at the invitation of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, addressed Parliament once again.

Nelson Mandela

Mere months after being released from 27 years prison, South Africa’s Nelson Mandela visited Canada in June 1990. He became only the fourth non head of state or head of government to address a Joint Session of the Parliament of Canada. Mandela thanked Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the Government of Canada for its strong opposition to the apartheid regime in South Africa, and pleaded to keep the sanctions in place to pressure the South African government towards reform. In 1998, Mandela returned to address the Canadian Parliament as the first democratically elected President of the Republic of South Africa.

Aga Khan

Prime Minister Stephen Harper welcomed His Highness The Aga Khan to Canada and invited him to address Canada’s Parliament in February 2014. The spiritual leader, and 49th Hereditary Iman of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, spoke of the "unprecedented honour" to speak in the House of Commons and called Canada an "exemplary leader" in the "global effort to foster peace, prosperity, and equality through pluralism." The Aga Khan was bestowed honorary Canadian citizenship, and fresh after the 2014 Winter Olympics, joked that he hoped be asked to join the Canadian Olympic hockey team.

Barack Obama

Immediately following the 2016 Three Amigos Summit in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invited United States President Barack Obama to address the Parliament of Canada on June 29, 2016. Obama, invoking his superior oratorical skills, delivered a strong portrait of the "extraordinary alliance and deep friendship between Canadians and Americans." Nearing the end of his term in office, and fresh off the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom, President Obama spoke in defence of the international liberal order, in the face of rising isolationist sentiment around the world. Obama offered an endorsement of Prime Minister Trudeau’s leadership when he said that "my time in office may be nearing an end, but I know that Canada — and the world — will benefit from your leadership for years to come." The President also quoted the Prime Minister’s late father, and former Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Trudeau: "A country is not something you build as the pharaohs built the pyramids… a country is something that is built every day out of certain basic shared values." This was President Obama’s second state visit to Canada, but the first time addressing a Joint Session of the Parliament of Canada.