Louise Tsang is Reference Librarian at York University Law Library, Toronto, Ontario. She created and maintains the Law Library Web site. In addition to regular reference work, Louise also gives legal research instruction classes to undergraduate Law & Society students and law students.
(Editor’s note – SP ): This article is an update to the Update to Overview of Sources of Canadian Law on the Web , (published March 1, 2001). There are numerous additions, changes for some Web site addresses, as well as some deletions. These additions and changes are indicated by (yellow background color) for easy identification.
- Introduction
- Some Canadian Meta Sites or Comprehensive Sites
- Sources of Law
- Statutes & Regulations
- Federal, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon
- Case Law
- Governments
Canadian governments, legislatures, courts and legal research centres have made many important sources of Canadian law accessible on the Web. Many initiatives began in 1996. Much pre-1996 information is not available on the Web even though some organizations decided to upload materials retrospectively. Although more and more legal resources are available on the Web, comprehensive legal research cannot be done solely on the Web yet. We still rely strongly on our print resources, online databases and CD-ROMs. For researchers who do not have ready access to Canadian legal materials, the Web is an important starting point. This article attempts to list and annotate the major sources of Canadian Law on the Web, including statutes, regulations, other legislative materials, case law, and government documents. Most of the Web sites listed here are free of charge. A note will be added if it is a subscription based Web site.
For the benefits of readers who are unfamiliar with the Canadian legal system, I have added brief notes to explain the legal system when necessary. To have a fuller understanding of the legal system of Canada, please consult Gerald L. Gall’s The Canadian Legal System 5th ed. Scarborough, Thomson Canada Limited, 1995. ISBN 0-459-55376-3 (bound). ISBN 0-459-55398-4 (pbk.) Justice Canada also provides a general overview of the Canadian Justice System on its Web site.
The legal system of Canada and all its provinces and territories, with the exception of Quebec, is a common law system, having been strongly influenced in its development by the British common law system. Quebec’s regime is a hybrid of the civil law and common law systems. The Federal Government and a few of the provinces are officially bilingual (English and French) and many Federal documents and documents of bilingual provinces are available in both official languages.
Some Canadian Meta Sites or Comprehensive Sites
Access to Justice Network is an important comprehensive site for Canadian law and justice resource materials. The interface is in both English and French.
Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII)
- Designed by LexUM at the Centre de recherche en droit public of the University of Montreal for the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, the site provides access to statutes, regulations and case law from across Canada. Some contents are still being developed. Access is unrestricted for the moment.
Law-related Internet Resources (York University Law Library)
The links are grouped by country/jurisdiction and by topic. The Canada page is organized by type or source.
Legal Resources (Bora Laskin Law Library, University of Toronto)
The links are well annotated and are organized by material type or subject and then subdivided into jurisdiction (including jurisdictions other than Canada).
Virtual Canadian Law Library (Faculty of Law, University of Montreal)
The links are organized by type or source. The site also incorporates CanLII (Canadian Legal Information Institute). The interface is in both English and French.
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There are 14 sovereign legislative bodies in Canada: the Parliament of Canada, and the legislatures of 10 provinces and 3 territories. Statutes enacted by these legislative bodies are primary legislation. Regulations are made under a statute or an act by the government department or ministry administering that act. Consolidations of Federal and provincial legislation are prepared every 15 and 10 years respectively. To obtain the as-in-force version of a statute/act or a regulation, a researcher has to consolidate all the amendments (found in gazettes) since the last consolidation. Official or commercial consolidations of statutes and regulations are widely available in print or online. They are prepared for the convenience of research. For the purpose of applying and interpreting the law, users are warned to use the official statutes and gazettes.
A Guide to the Making of Federal Acts and Regulations
Consolidated Statutes and Regulations – Department of Justice
Department of Justice periodically (approximately 4 times a year) update the statutes. Regulations are also updated quarterly and available on the site. Statutes and regulations are available in complete document, in both English and French. Included on the site are Annual Statutes from 1995 – 2000, Index of Statutory Instruments, Table of Public Statutes and Responsible Ministers, and Table of Private Acts. Search templates are available for searching all of these.
This consolidation contains the text of the Constitution Act, 1867 (formerly the British North America Act, 1867, Stats U.K. 30 & 31 Victoria, c. 3), together with amendments made to it since its enactment, and the text of the Constitution Act, 1982 (Stats U.K. 1982, c. 11, Sch. B), as amended since its enactment. The Constitution Act, 1982 contains the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and other new provisions, including the procedure for amending the Constitution of Canada. Also in French.
A bill is passed into law through a legislative process that includes first reading, second reading, committee stage and third reading in both the House of Commons and the Senate. You can find Government Bills and other bills (from the 1st session of the 37th Parliament) full-text and status information, on this site. Also available are the Chamber business and Committee business of both the House of Commons and the Senate. It has debates, Government bills and progress of legislation information for the past three sessions in the archives. Information is available in both English and French.
The Canada Gazette is the official news bulletin of the Government of Canada. The Web site provides the non-official electronic version of Part I (Jan. 1998, vol. 132, no.1-), Part II (Jan. 1998, vol. 132, no.1-) and Part III (May 1998, vol.21, no.1-) in pdf and ASCII formats. Part I contains all formal public notices, official appointments, miscellaneous notices and proposed regulations from the government and private sectors that are required to be published by a federal statute or a regulation. Part II contains regulations as defined in the Statutory Instruments Act, and certain other classes of statutory instruments. Part III is published as soon as is reasonably practicable after Royal Assent, it contains the most recent Public Acts of Parliament and their enactment proclamation. French version is available at http://canada.gc.ca/gazette/gazette_f.html
Regulations of Alberta, A thru Z
- Some regulations are not available in electronic format, see list: http://www.qp.gov.ab.ca/notavail.txt.
Alberta Environmental Codes of Practice
- The Alberta government updates statutes and regulations every month. All statutes and regulations are available in simple text format.
The site contains bills and amendments (full text and status reports) for the current session, the Archived Bill Status Reports 1989-2001, Assembly Documents and Records and other general information of the Legislature.
Part I is available from Jan. 1996, vol. 92, no.1. Part II is the regulations which are consolidated at http://www.qp.gov.ab.ca/display_regs.cfm.
Revised Statutes and Consolidated Regulations of British Columbia
Revised Statutes, Installment No. 6, are updated to November 5, 2001. Regulations, Installment No. 56, are updated to: November 23, 2001. Both revised statutes and regulations are searchable: http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/search.htm. The site also lists all statutes enacted, amended and appealed from 1992 to present.
British Columbia Regulations Bulletins
The Bulletins (1998-present) are summaries of the regulations deposited with the Registrar of Regulations under the Regulations Act.
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
The site includes debates of the Legislative Assembly (Hansard) back to 1st Session, 35th Parliament (1992), bills back to 1st Session, 35th Parliament (1992), and general information about (including some reports from) select Standing and Special Committees. It also has links to the budget and legislation.
Manitoba Government’s Statutory Publications
The Manitoba Government updates the statutes on their free site annually. The statutes are in pdf format. Full-text regulations are not available on the Internet. Statutes are also available in French: http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/statpub/free/legdbindexg-m.fr.html.
The rules are consolidated to July 2001.
The site includes debates and committee materials back to the 6th session of the 35th Legislature (1995), bills of the current legislature, and bill status chart of the current legislature. French version of debates and bills can be accessed from the French version of the homepage: http://www.gov.mb.ca/leg-asmb/homepage.fr.html.
New Brunswick Acts and Regulations
The New Brunswick government updates the acts and regulations twice a year. It is consolidated to March 2002. Both statutes and regulations are available in html format, in both English and French.
Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
The site includes First Reading Bills of the current Legislature, Status of legislation, First Reading Bills back to 3rd Session of the 53rd Legislature (1997), status of bills back to the 2nd session back to 2nd Session of the 53rd Legislature (1996), Journals of Legislative Assembly back to 1st Session of the 53rd Legislature (1996).
The site includes consolidated statutes and regulations (updated regularly): http://www.gov.nf.ca/hoa/sr/bottom_frames.htm, annual statutes (1997 to present for now): http://www.gov.nf.ca/hoa/sr/bottom_frames3.htm, table of public statutes: http://www.gov.nf.ca/hoa/sr/bottom_frames2.htm, and table of regulations: http://www.gov.nf.ca/hoa/sr/bottom_frames5.htm
House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador
The site includes Hansard (debates of the House of Assembly) of the current and past sessions (back to March 1998), progress of bills of the current session, and information of select standing and select committees.
Statutes and Regulations of Northwest Territories
The site includes consolidated statutes: http://www.lex-nt.ca/loi/index.html and regulations: http://www.lex-nt.ca/reg/index.html, and Supreme Court and Court of Appeal rules: http://www.lex-nt.ca/statutes_en.html in both pdf and Wordperfect formats.
Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories
The site includes Status and summary of bills of the current legislature, and Hansard back to the 6th Session of the 13th Assembly.
Both consolidated statutes and statutes by session or sitting (back to 4th Session of the 56 Legislature, 1996) are available in html format.
Consolidated Nova Scotia Regulations
Consolidated regulations by act or by department are available in html format.
- The site includes Bills (progress and full-text) back to 1995-6, 56th General Assembly, 4th session, Hansard (debates of the House) back to 1996, 56th General Assembly, 4th session, and Proceedings of standing and select committees back to March 1996.
The site includes Statutes of Nunavut from April to present in both MS Word and pdf formats: http://www.nunavutcourtofjustice.ca/library/statutes.htm, regulations consolidated to April 1999 in both pdf and Wordperfect formats: http://www.lex-nu.ca/reg/index.html, and Gazette (from 1999-present) in html and pdf formats: http://www.nunavutcourtofjustice.ca/library/gazette/index.htm.
The site includes bills of the current legislature in rtf and pdf formats: http://www.assembly.nu.ca/english/bills/index.html and legislative debates (back to 1999) in rtf and pdf formats: http://www.assembly.nu.ca/english/hansard/index.html.
Statutes and Regulations of Ontario
This web site contains consolidated versions of most of Ontario’s public statutes and regulations. Statutes and regulations are updated within 14 days of enactment of a new law or amendment of an existing law. The site also includes Table of Proclaimed Provisions and Table of Unproclaimed Provisions.
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The site includes Hansard (legislative debates), Committee proceedings, Bills and Status of Legislation of the current session and the last two legisatures.
Statutes of Prince Edward Island
Statutes are up-to-date to March 31, 2000 and are in pdf format.
The site includes Hansard (back to January 3, 1997), Progress of Bills (back to Spring 1997), and Audio Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly (from Spring 1999).
This is the unofficial electronic version of the Royal Gazette (back to January 16, 1999). Regulations, among other documents, are required to be published in the Gazette.
Quebec Statutes and Regulations
The public law (matters such as criminal, constitutional and administrative law) in Quebec is based on a Common law system like the rest of Canada. Statutes and regulations are in French, some are also available in English. Statutes and regulations are available in HTML and downloadable RTF format. They can be accessed by subjects or can be searched by keywords. You can also download both the English and French versions of bills from the 1st session of 36th Legislature and the 2nd session of 35th Legislature.
The private law in Quebec is codified, as is the case in many Civil law jurisdictions. The Civil Code is in both English and French and is searchable.
The French Language Charter in French only.
All the information is in French and only some is translated into English. The homepage has a link to parliamentary proceedings which has links to bills, Hansard, committee debates and reports. It also has a link to the archives of Parliamentary Proceedings of previous sessions (back to 3rd session, 34th Legislature).
The “Freelaw Publications” page includes links to Statutes (updated continuously and searchable): http://www.qp.gov.sk.ca/publications/index.cfm?fuseaction=home&c=1577&id=2, regulations (updated continuously and searchable): http://www.qp.gov.sk.ca/publications/index.cfm?fuseaction=home&c=1578&id=2, first reading bills from 1997: http://www.qp.gov.sk.ca/publications/index.cfm?fuseaction=home&c=113505&id=2.
It includes Hansard (debates and proceedings) back to 1997, government bills (progress and full-text) of current session, and committee verbatims back to the 23rd legislature (1996-97).
Statutes and Regulations of Yukon
The site includes annual statutes from 1986 – 2000, regulations consolidated to 1999, and table of public statutes.
The site includes first reading bills of the current legislature: http://www.gov.yk.ca/leg-assembly/bills_index.html, and Hansard (searchable): http://www.gov.yk.ca/leg-assembly/hansardsearch/hansardsearch.htm.
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The second major source of law in Canada is the decisions of courts. The courts are bound to follow precedents in accordance with the doctrine of stare decisis. Courts across the country are slowly putting up their decisions on the Web for easier access. For an overview of Canada’s Court System, check the web-based guide on the Justice Canada Web site.
The Supreme Court of Canada is Canada’s highest court. It is the final general court of appeal, the last judicial resort for all litigants, whether individuals or governments. Its jurisdiction embraces both the civil law of the province of Quebec and the common law of the other provinces and territories.
The Web site is in both English and French. It provides general information about the Supreme Court and a link to the judgments at http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/csc-scc/en/index.html (a joint project between the Supreme Court of Canada and the LexUM team of the Centre de Recherche en Droit Public at University of Montreal.) The collection on this LexUM site currently goes back to 1989. It also includes recent not-yet-published judgments, and Supreme Court weekly bulletin going back to 1994. The LexUM site is searchable.
As a specialized public law court, the Federal Court is second in importance only to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Web site is in both English and French. It provides general information about the Federal Court and a link to the judgments at http://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fct/index.html.
The collection currently goes back to 1996 and includes recent not-yet-published judgments. Users can search the judgment collections. You can also view or download Federal Court rules.
It has general information about the Court. It includes links to the Tax Court of Canada Act, rules of the Court; and judgments by year (since 1997), by style of cause, but docket number, and by subject matter.
Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
All decisions rendered by the Tribunal since 1979 are now available on the site and are searchable. In both English and French.
Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Appeal decisions since 1989 are available in Word. In both English and French.
Employment Insurance Jurisprudence Library
This Web site will enable users to access all insurance jurisprudence in the past 50 years, i.e. CUBs (Canadian Umpire Benefits), Federal Court decisions and Supreme Court decisions as well as a growing number of related Provincial Court and Human Rights Tribunal decisions. It is in both English and French.
It has general information on the Court of Appeal, Court of Queen’s Bench and Provincial Court. It also includes a searchable database which incorporates judgments of the Court of Appeal, Court of Queen’s Bench and Provincial court of Alberta from January 1, 1998 onwards.
British Columbia Superior Courts
The Judgment Database includes judgments from both the B.C. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal since 1996 (including recent not-yet-published judgments). Other information on the Web site includes general information, notices and practice directions, annual reports of the courts.
British Columbia Securities Commission
In addition to commission decisions which go back to 1996, it provides access to a searchable database of policy documents at http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/policy/default.asp and other documents relating to the regulation of the trading of securities.
The Court Registry System records all documents filed and hearings scheduled in the Manitoba Court of Appeal and the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench, Winnipeg Centre.
It links to the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Superior court of Justice, Ontario Court of Justice, Ontario Judicial Council and other resources.
The Court of Appeal for Ontario
It includes judgments and endorsements from 1998.
It includes set fines schedules and court rules, but does not include judgments
It includes notices and practice directions; Family Law rules and forms
Ontario Human Rights Commission
It includes summaries of key decisions since 1995, in addition to general information and annual report of the Commission.
The Web site gives access to investor information, securities regulations as well as commission decisions at http://www.osc.gov.on.ca/en/Enforcement/Decisions/reasons_list.html
“Decisions, and the reasons for those decisions, following a hearing by a panel of Commission members or by a court are usually rendered orally. Sometimes written reasons for the decision may also be provided. Written reasons for decisions since January 1, 1997 are posted here.”
Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island
With some exceptions, this searchable database contains the written decisions of the Supreme Court of P.E.I. since January 1, 1997. You can search by any combination of date, area of law and keyword.
Jugements de la Cour d’Appel du Québec
Cases since January 2000. In French only.
Décisions des Tribunaux du Québec
The site includes decisions from Cour d’appel (from January 1, 2000), Cour Supérieure (from September 20, 2001), Cour du Québec (from September 24, 2001), Tribunal du Travail (from January 1, 2000), Tribunal des professions (from October 22, 2001), Tribunal des droits de la personne (January 14, 2002).
Searchable database of Fulltext judgments from the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, Court of Queen’s Bench, and Provincial Court from 1994 to date.
Many Federal and Provincial Government departments have their own Web sites with links to information they publish. These Web sites are good source of government policies, news releases and annual reports. Provincial Government Web sites offer general information about their provinces including tourist and business information. Depending on the issues you are researching on, you will visit different government departments.
In both English and French. The site offers a series of link to branches of the Government of Canada and the information they publish, as well as information on Canada’s people, history and geography. The site is searchable.
The French version is at http://canada.gc.ca/depts/major/depind_f.html
It is in both English and French. It gives general information about Justice Canada, Programs and Services offered by the Department (a good place to start researching topics that fall under Federal Jurisdiction), and a guide to the Canadian Justice System.
Department of the Solicitor General
The site is in both English and French.
It is in both English and French. The Law Commission of Canada is an independent law reform agency responsible to the Parliament of Canada. Its mission is to engage Canadians in the renewal of the law to ensure that it is relevant, responsive, effective, equally accessible to all, and just. The site includes information about current projects of the Law Commission.
Ministries of the Government of Alberta
Government of British Columbia
Manitoba Government Departments and Agencies
The site is in both English and French.
Departments and Agencies of the New Brunswick Government
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
Departments and Agencies of Newfoundland and Labrador
Government of the Northwest Territories
The site is in English, French, Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun.
The site is in both English and French
Government of Prince Edward Island
In both English and French.
The interface is also in English: http://www.gouv.qc.ca/Index_en.html, and Spanish: http://www.gouv.qc.ca/Index_es.html.