I have been following the discussion on this page for some time and am a little reluctant to get drawn into a prolonged debate. I think that Canada's military contributions to the British Empire in the latter part of the 1800s and very early 1900s are a good indication of increased autonomy. There may not have been any formal granting of such autonomy, but it was exercised. Desmond Morton in A Military History of Canada (McClelland & Stewart 1999, ISBN 0-7710-6514-0) describes how Canada refused a British request for troops to be sent to fight in Africa in the mid-1880s and the initial denial of troops to fight in the Second Boer War (internal pressures eventually resulted in Canadians fighting in this war). The reluctance of French Canada to support Imperial conflicts likely hastened Canada's movement towards greater autonomy.