How to Locate Canadian Current and Historical Legislation
In Hardcopy
Legislation includes statutes passed by federal or provincial lawmakers. For federal legislation, search the English Index to the Revised Statutes of Canada (1985). For Ontario legislation, search the Index to the Revised Statutes of Ontario (1990). To ensure the legislation has not been amended or repealed, use the Canada Statute Citator in print for federal legislation and the Ontario Statute Citator for Ontario legislation checking under the title and applicable section numbers of your statute. Most statutes also provide for regulations to be enacted by the appropriate Ministry, or by other government officials.
Internet Sources of Current Canadian Legislation and Parliamentary Material
Early Canadiana Online(ECO) - ECO contains both historical Bills and Debates from the Canadian Parliament. While the Debates are free to access online the Bills must be accessed through the University of Toronto Library System.
Law Library Microform Consortium (LLMC) - The LLMC is a U.S. based consortium but does provide online access to the Canadian documents listed below, under the heading Foreign Jurisdictions. This site must be accessed through the University of Toronto Library System.
A Guide to Legislation and the Legislative Process in British Columbia - This document was prepared by the Office of Legislative Counsel, Ministry of Attorney General, Province of British Columbia. The document is devided in to three sections, The Creation of Legislative Policy, Drafting Legislation and Enactment of Law and provides a nice overview of the BC legislative process.
The British Columbia Reports - The British Columbia Reports are part of the BC History Digital Collections at the UBC Archives. "The British Columbia Reports is a law report series that was first published in 1884 by the Law Society of British Columbia, with judgments dating back to 1867. The series ceased publication in 1948. This collection includes the full text of all decisions published in the series." (The British Columbia Reports website).
Table of Local and Private British Columbia Statutes 1872-2008- This table is provided by Courthouse Libraries BC, they are a "non-profit organization providing legal information services to the legal community and the public of BC." This table lists all private, public and unconsolidated acts as well as all their amendments and citations.
Alberta
The Alberta Law Collection - The Alberta Law Collection is part of The Alberta Heritage Digitization Project and provides online access to the following
Statutes up until 1990
Legislative Assembly Bills
Debates and Journals
The Alberta Gazette
Ordinances of the Northwest Territories
Saskatchewan
Publications Centre, Historical Legislation - The Queen's Printer offers access to some historical legislation and will continue to add legislation to their site. They currently offer access to the following documents:
Law Library Microform Consortium (LLMC) - The LLMC is a U.S. based consortium but does provide online access to the Saskatchewan documents listed below for 1906-1953. This site must be accessed through the University of Toronto Library System.
Internet Archives - The Legislative Assembly of Ontario has digitized and added over 1000 documents to the Internet Archives. These documents include Journals dating back to 1871, General Indexes to Journals and Sessional Papers dating back to 1867, Committee Reports, Special Reports, Hansards, and Sessional Papers pre 1900. The Legislative Library will continue to add documents to the Internet Archives until their entire collection is digitized.
Early Canadiana Online: ECO has close to 100 documents scanned that relate to the Legislative History of Ontario. These documents range from Bills, Statutes, and Regulations.
New Brunswick
Past Legislatures - 53rd, 54th, 55th- The Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick provides access to past legislatures. The 1st session of the 53rd Legislature was in 1996.
New Brunswick Provincial Archives - The Provinical Archives currently provides access to Government Finding Aids and New Brunswick Legislative Assembly Sessional Records from 1786-1833.
ECO offers over 32 titles, these can be found by searching "Nova Scotia and Law" under the subject heading, below are listed some of the titles found on EOC
The Archives PEI - the APEI offers access to some historical documents in microfilm or text format. If you would like further information please contact them through their website.
Newfoundland & Labrador
Early Canadiana Online
ECO has a small collection of Newfoundland and Labrador Legislative material.
