Law

This chart lists online sources of legislation, all of which are free to the public through Canadian government sources. Tracing the origin of a bill in parliament or legislature to its final form as a statute, and how it operates through regulation, is useful for legal research. It can help determine the intent of a law, how it has changed over time, and its current status.

Statutes and regulations are available online in consolidated (listed by title) and annual (listed by year) format. Statutes, also called Acts, are written laws enacted by a legislative body. Regulations provide details to give effect to the policy established by the statute, and online they are usually located in relation to overarching statutes. Statues and regulations are also available through the legal research databases WestlawNext Canada, LexisNexis Advance Quicklaw, and CanLII (which has the legislation comparison tool). HeinOnline includes the Revised Statutes of Canada.

Bills are the first stage of legislation before it is passed by a legislative body to become law. Bills are posted to parliament and legislature website. Organized by calendar date of reading or status, the full text, notable speeches, and votes are usually included.

Gazettes are official government newspapers published by jurisdiction. They include public notices, proclamations, and new statutes and regulations.

The Hansard is the official record of the proceedings of the parliament and legislature. It includes transcripts and an index, and is published by jurisdiction.

The Journals, Votes, and Proceedings are sources for records and meeting minutes of legislative bodies.

Proclamations for statutes coming into force sometimes have a dedicated proclamations page. These pages consolidate information published through Orders in Council or the Gazette.

For more information about terminology used in legislation, refer to the Glossary of Parliamentary Procedure.

For each resource, information is given online about whether this constitutes an official source of legal information. Unofficial sources are useful for research and informational purposes, while official sources are usually required for court submissions. In the chart below, an asterisk (*) indicates an official source of legislation (current to February 2022).