Government Information - Canada: Statutes & Regulations, Case Law

Key titles

Legislation made easy by Nash, Beverly Gail
Call Number: Government Publications-Stacks CA2BCX :1992L25
How to understand an act of Parliament by Gifford, D.J.
Call Number: Murray Library-4th Floor GF21 .W34 1984

Statutes and Regulations

LEGISinfo
Use for finding information on legislation currently before Parliament. This tool provides electronic access to a wide range of information about individual bills, such as: the text of the bill at various stages; government press releases and backgrounders (for government bills); legislative summaries; important speeches at second reading; votes; links to committee proceedings and coming into force data. Covers the 35th Parliament, 1st Session (1994) to the present.
Justice Laws Web Site
Consolidated statutes and regulations of Canada, based on the R.S.C. 1985 and current to the month. The Consitution, Charter, and annual statutes from 1997 , and various tables of statutes and regulations are also included on this site.
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Print volumes of annual statutes located in Main Reference at call number KA2 C347.

Print volumes of revised statutes found at Main Reference at call number KA3 A1 yyyy.
Canada Gazette
The official newspaper of the Government of Canada since 1841. Online coverage from 1998, with pdf versions "official" since 2002.
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Print holdings in Main at the call numbers listed below:

* Canada Gazette (1867-1946) at call number J2 A22
* Canada Gazette Part I at call number J2 A221
* Canada Gazette Part II at call number JS A222
* Canada Gazette Part III at call number Ref KA2 C3472.
Legislative Summaries / Library of Parliament
Legislative summaries prepared by the Library of Parliament Research Branch. Discuss proposed legislation in current and historical context. This site includes 1997 to 2003, for current summaries see LEGISINFO.
CANLII
Current, up to date, authoritative source of Canadian cases, statutes and regulations, as well as other documents. Includes links to other sources of free legal information.
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CanLII is a non-profit organization managed by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada.
LLMC Digital
Collection of full-text digital images of legal works (cases, statutes, executive documents), including early Canadian federal statutes.
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LLMC, a non-profit cooperative of libraries, has two goals: 1) Preserving legal titles and government documents, and 2) Making this content accessible and searchable.

Legislative Histories

Legislative histories provide details on the passage of legislation through a parliament or legislature. Legislation is introduced as a bill; once a bill is is passed and recieves Royal Assent, it becomes a statute. A legislative history will linclude details on the progress of a bill through the House of Commons and the Senate, including readings, debates, and committee hearings. A history may also refer to speeches and news releases from the responsible minister, background documents, and on occasion, draft legislation. To start, determine the date and/or parliament and session the bill was introduced,

Your starting point for Canadian federal legislative histories is LEGISINFO.

To read a current version of Canadian federal law, go to the Canada Justice Laws website. To locate amendments consult the Table of Public Statutes

Consult also online newspapers and online collections such as the Canadian Electronic Library. Use other library resources listed under the Find Articles tab.