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Researching Federal Legislation

Purpose

  • Understanding why an act was made can help you anticipate potential changes to the law, or discover the historical reasoning for the creation of a law to help craft an interpretative argument.
  • Goal: Find the Hansard debates and committee reports around the creation of the legislation you're interested in, which may contain the rationale in creating a particular statute or provision.

Bills and Readings

  • Creation of a law begins with the introduction of either a public bill, introduced by the government, or a private member's bill, introduced by any individual Member of Parliament or Senator.
  • Bill numbering:
    • House of Commons:
      • Public bills: C-1 to C-200 in order of presentation
      • Private members' bills: C-201+ in order of presentation
      • Private bills: C-1001+
    • Senate:
      • Public bills: S-1 to S-200 in order of presentation
      • Private members' bills: S-201+ in order of presentation
      • Private bills: S-1001+
  • For any bill to become law in Canada, it must pass through several stages:
    • First Reading - Bill is introduced
    • Second Reading - Where much of the debate happens
    • Committee Stage - Sent to a Committee for consideration
    • Report Stage - Committee reports back to the House with any suggested amendments
    • Third Reading - Bill put to a final vote
    • After Third Reading in the House of Commons, it is sent to the Senate where it repeats the three reading process, or vice versa, for bills that began in the Senate.
    • Royal Assent - If the Bill is passed in both Houses, it is presented to the Governor General for assent. When the Bill is given Royal Assent it becomes law, and can be called an Act or Statute. The date of assent is at the top of the enactment.
    • Coming into Force (CIF) - The Act comes into force upon Royal Assent, or when it is proclaimed by the Governor General, or on a day specified in the act. Different sections may come into force at different times. Refer to the Commencement Clause to find out the details. If it is silent, commencement falls on the date of assent as stated in the current Interpretation Act (RSC, 1985, c I-21, ss 5-6).
      • Proclamations are special government orders called statutory instruments (SI),and are published in the Canada Gazette, Part II.
      • Also, at the back of each volume of the print Statutes of Canada, are yellow pages titled Proclamations of Canada and Orders in Council Relating to the Coming into Force of Acts that lists the statute, relevant sections, coming into force date, SI number and citation to the Canada Gazette Part II.

Process

  • Process:
    1. Start with the current version of an act or provision
    2. Work backwards through time to uncover previous versions of said act or provision by looking up prior source dates referenced in each version until you reach the first occurrence of the act/provision.
    3. Once you find the incepting act, move to legislative materials, and examine the bill(s), the Hansard debates, and committee report(s).
    4. Find your bill number:
      • If you are working with a statute enacted before 2001, look in print Statutes of Canada. The table of contents includes the bill number alongside each statute
      • From 2001 onwards, find your statute in the Annual Statutes section of Justice Laws, and look for the bill number in italics beside the statute citation
  • Tips:
    • Remember that the law is always changing: Some legislation will have multiple amendments to a given section over the course of a year or years.
    • Parliament and Session Number - Find the Parliament number and session number for a bill from the Statutes of Canada volume containing the enacted bill.

Hansard (Debates)

  • Debates or "Hansard" contain the verbatim transcripts of the House of Commons and Senate
  • Committee Reports (search library catalogue by committee name or search the federal government website for the committee’s reports) outline the findings and recommendations for changes in the bill.