Statutes, regulations, and bills are available in print in the Main Library and the Law Library. Online statute and regulation consolidations are available for current versions. Superceded consolidated versions are only available online going back about twenty years. For assistance contact the Law Library (lawref@uvic.ca).
Print copies of the Annual Statutes and Revised Statutes of Canada can be found at the Law Library and McPherson Library.
Since 1947, regulations have been published in Part II of the Canada Gazette. For current and historical regulation consolidations use Justice Laws or CanLII databases.
Pre-2001 regulations can be found in the Canada Gazette available online and in print.
Legislative histories provide details on the passage of legislation through a parliament or legislature. Legislation is introduced as a bill; once a bill is passed, and receives Royal Assent, it becomes a statute. A legislative history will include 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 policy collections such as the Canadian Public Policy collection. Use other library resources listed under the Find Articles tab.
The Library of Parliament regularly produces Legislative Summaries of government bills which outline the purpose and history of the bill and an analysis of important clauses. Legislative Summaries can be found on LEGISinfo as well as the Publications Canada database.
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