Canada: Federal Debates, Legislation and Legal Resources

Debates, Journals, Bills & Committee Proceedings

Debates, Journals, Bills & Committee Proceedings Pariliamentary documents and information from the Canadian House of Commons and Senate

Statutes, Regulations & the Canada Gazette

Statutes and Regulations Search by title or by subject. Direct links are provided to constitutional texts and major acts such as the Income Tax Act or the Criminal Code. Use the Table of Public Statutes to look for historical information about acts such as a chronological listing of amendments, repealed acts, years of enactment and responsible ministers.
Canada Gazette Consult Part I for formal public notices, official appointments, miscellaneous notices and proposed regulations; Part II for regulations and statutory instruments; and Part III for the most recent Public Acts of Parliament after they have received Royal Assent.

Court & Tribunal Decisions

Dominion Law Reports

Access restricted. Available to registered students, faculty and staff at: UW. Eligible users can also connect from home.

DLR Plus includes: 4th Series, 1984-current issue, 3rd Series, 1969-1984, 2nd Series, 1956-1968, New Series, 1923-1955, and Old Series, 1912-1922.

Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) Find case law from each province or the major decisions from the Supreme Court, the Federal Court, the Tax Court and the Competition Tribunal. Search results also include the text of the report, along with "NoteUp"s: indications of when the case was used in other court decisions.
Judicial Decisions Decisions from the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court, the Electronic Library of Employment/Unemployment Insurance Jurisprudence, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)'s Decisions, Notices and Orders (DNOs) This page provides links to applications and decisions. Or, check the Indexes of CRTC Official Documents. Search by document number, or search the index listed by document type and year, from 1995 on.
Competition Tribunal Find applications filed with the Competition Tribunal, and the full text of selected decisions issued after November 29, 1990. Search by type (i.e., mergers or refusal to deal) or by date.

Constitutional Documents

Canadian Confederation From the National Library of Canada, this is a brief history of Canada's Confederation. Includes maps and a bibliography.
Canadian Constitutional Documents: A Legal History By William F. Maton, this is an online publication about the history of all Canadian constitutional documents, including those which relate to specific provinces. Links to documents and annotations about each are provided.
Canadian Constitutional Documents and Proposals From the Carnegie Mellon University, this site is an annotated list of documents from 1867 to 1982.
Constitutional File and the Unity File From Intergovernmental Affairs, a part of the Privy Council Office, this is an outline of historic and current constitutional issues. The Evolution of the Federation provides a history of Confederation, including the creation of Nunavut.
How Canadians Govern Themselves This is the 4th edition of the late Hon. Eugene A. Forsey's publication which explains Canada's constitution, its history and how Canada's legislative powers are set up. Click on the Table of Contents to start.

Treaties & Conventions: Comprehensive Sites

Treaties and Agreements in Force between Canada and the United States From the United States Bureau of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, search for citations to treaties between Canada and the U.S. by subject.

The Multilaterals Project From Tufts University Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy. The Multilaterals Projects is an ongoing project designed to make available the texts of international multilateral conventions and other instruments.
United Nations Treaty Collection: Sample Access This is a mainly fee-based database, but free access has been given to the Texts of Recently Deposited Multilateral Treaties. Try the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) and search through a sample of full-text UN treaties.

[N.B. This collection is incomplete.]

Treaties & Conventions: Specific subjects

Canada-United States: Inventory of Trilateral Cooperation From the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, this inventory contains trilateral (Canada-United States-Mexico) agreements by associations, organizations and institutions in both the private and public sectors. Entries are divided in the following categories: Academe/Education; Culture; Environment; Health; Industry and Professional Associations; Labour; Political Initiatives; Science and Technology; Tourism; Trade; Transportation; and Youth.
Environmental Agreements Find links to environmental agreements between Canada and other nations, in full-text.
Environment: Laws, Treaties & Agreements From the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), find very detailed annotations to environmental treaties and laws. The Transboundary Agreements Infobase can be searched by agreement name, subject or signing party or try the alphabetical agreements names list. Citations include where the documents can be found and links to full-text agreements are provided if available.

Treaty ... Concerning Pacific Salmon

 Access the text of this treaty, along with supporting documentation and information on its history.
Indian Treaties From Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. Provides the texts and information for past and present treaty negotiations, agreements and claims. Also provides links to the scanned images of original treaties from 1795 to 1908. The British Columbia Treaty Commission provides up-to-date information on negotiations in that province.
Nuclear Disarmament From the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's Nuclear and Chemical Disarmament Implementation Agency (IDN), access the texts of nuclear ban and chemical weapon treaties, including related information.
Terrorism From the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Implementation Agency (IDN), access the texts of 11 international terrorism treaties.
Trade Negotiations and Agreements Provides links to the NAFTA and other agreements such as those with the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Orders-In-Council

Orders-In-Council Search by OIC number and by department

Legal Information: Comprehensive Sites & Subject Directories

Access to Justice Network Provides links to legislative materials from across Canada and compilation of legal resources on specific issues.
CanadaLegal.com Use the search engine or browse the "Area of Law" or "Category" for information topics.
Canadian Legal FAQs From the University of Alberta's Legal Studies Program, find answers to currently asked questions of a national or Alberta-based interest. Searches can also be done by topic.
Canadian Legal Resources Created by Alan Gahtan, a Toronto information technology lawyer. Legal information is divided by subject area or a search engine can be used. Over 500 online legal forms are also listed, from Canada and around the world.
Duhaime's Canadian Legal Information Centre Major Canadian legal subjects are explained in detail. Provincial legal information is also provided. The home page lists more subject-related links.
Jurist Canada Organized by Canadian law professors to help students find legal information about Canada and other countries. This site also includes the tables of contents from the latest Canadian law journals and a search engine.
Law Related Internet Resources Search by topic; includes links to a few other countries.
Legal Links From the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia, this is a subject directory of legal information.
LegalLine Online Created by Legal Information Ontario, a non-profit organization, this site provides detailed legal and contact information in regards to Ontario and federal laws.
LegalPortal.ca Created by Alan Gahtan, a Toronto information technology lawyer, search for legal information, particularly in the technology or e-commerce sectors.
LEXPERT: The Canadian Legal LEXPERT Directory This online directory identifies the leading Canadian law firms and lawyers in over 50 practice areas across Canada. The Directory does not rank firms or practitioners, but it does outline which firms and practitioners are regarded as leaders in a particular areas. The "Schedule of Practice Areas" is list of law topics, linked to explanatory essays. Each essay covers "Practice Area Definition"; "Recent Developments"; and "Leading Practitioners".
LexUM
From the University of Montreal Faculty of Law, this site contains many links to legal information about Quebec.
Links to Legal Resources From the University of Toronto's Bora Laskin Law Library, this is a well annotated list of legal resources. A very detailed subject list is also provided.
Morrie Sacks Law Library Written by the Morrie Sacks Law Corporation, this is a comprehensive listing of Canadian legal information, organized by topic.
Research Tools and Law Links From the University of Manitoba, search drop down menus for access to Canadian and international legislation, case law, directories of lawyers and law schools, online law journals and other legal information web sites.

Legal Information: Search Engines

ACJNet: Search From the Access to Justice Network, search for Canadian legal information either with a basic (by drop-down topic), advanced or specific event search.
CanadaLegal.com Use the search engine or browse the "Area of Law" or "Category" for information topics.
Canadian Law List A searchable directory of Canadian lawyers and law firms.
Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) Find case law from each province or the major decisions from the Supreme Court, the Federal Court, the Tax Court and the Competition Tribunal. Search results also include the text of the report, along with "Note Up"'s: indications of when the case was used in other court decisions.

Help Guides

Best Guide to Canadian Legal Research Written by Catherine Best, a law professor at UBC, this guide outlines strategies and techniques for Canadian legal research, finding and using secondary sources, finding and analyzing cases, updating research, searching statutes and searching web-based legal materials.
Canada's Legal Tradition From the Department of Canadian Heritage and Mount Allison University, this online publication explains the legal history of Canada, such as the difference between common, public and private law, and Quebec's Civil Code.
Doing Legal Research in Canada Written by Ted Tjaden, at the University of Toronto's Bora Laskin Law Library. Although primarily aimed at researchers outside of Canada needing an overview of Canadian legal research, this guide gives a very detailed introduction to the Canadian legal system and resources.
Legal Research Materials From Queen's University, search this online manual for help on finding and citing legal materials in Canada and abroad.
Overview of Sources of Canadian Law on the Web By Louise Tsang, a Reference Librarian at York University Law Library. This guide explains and links to Canadian federal and provincial statutes and case law.
Research Guides and Publications From University of Toronto's Bora Laskin Law Library. Access some of these guides for research help: "Legal Research for Beginners"; "Legal Research Guide"; "Researching International Law"; subject-related guides; LawLink (their newsletter); and a variety of guides to international law.

May 2004