Seneca Guide to Canadian Federal Bills, Statutes and Regulations

Prepared by Seneca Library Resource Centres

• INTRODUCTION TO FEDERAL BILLS AND STATUTES
• BILLS
  • Reading of Bills
  • Text of Bills
  • Royal Assent
  • Proclamation
  • Citation of Bills
• STATUTES
  • Text of Statutes
  • Amendments (Updating of Statutes)
  • Citation of Statutes
• REGULATIONS
  • Introduction to Regulations
  • Finding a Federal Regulation
  • Citation of Regulations
• ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

INTRODUCTION TO FEDERAL BILLS AND STATUTES

This guide lists selected sources of information concerning the creation of statute law in Canada. You can use the references to find the dates and the text of laws in their various stages of development.

Proposed laws are presented to the House of Commons or Senate as bills. Bills get a number and a prefix that indicate when and were they originated. "C" for bills introduced at the House of Commons, "S" for bills introduced at the Senate. Sometimes private members' bills are numbered in a separate sequence from government bills. Private bills may also be numbered in a different sequence from public bills (both government and private members'). Bills must pass through three readings, first in the House of Commons and then in the Senate, before they become law. Changes can be made to the bill up until the third reading in each chamber. After third reading in both the Commons and the Senate, the bill must receive approval by the Crown (Royal Assent) in order to become an act (statute). It gets a chapter number and is published in the annual volume of statutes. Unless otherwise stated the act immediately has the force of law. Those acts or sections of acts that don't come into force at the time of Royal Assent are proclaimed at a later date. Statutes can be changed (amended ) by the passage of a new bill which may amend all or part of an existing act.

BILLS

• Reading of Bills
• Text of Bills
• Royal Assent
• Proclamation
• Citation of Bills

Reading of Bills

• Canada Legislative Index
• Canada Statute Citator - Weekly Bulletin Service (green pages)
• Canadian Current Law Legislation. (Progress of Bills)
• Votes and Proceedings (titles of bills read)
• Ottawa Letter
• Canadian Legislative Record

Text of Bills

• Bills of the House of Commons of Canada - first reading
• Bills of the House of Commons of Canada - third reading
  
  Note: The second reading of the bills is not printed.

Royal Assent

• Canada Legislative Index
• Canada Gazette, Part III
• Canadian Current Law Legislation (Progress of Bills)
• Canada Statute Service on CD-ROM
• Canadian Legislative Record
• Ottawa Letter

Proclamation

• Canada Legislative Index
• Canada Gazette, Part III
• Statutes of Canada
• Canada Statute Citator
• Canada Statute Service on CD-ROM
• Ottawa Letter
• Canadian Legislative Record

Citation of Bills

There are five elements that comprise the citation, each element being separated by a comma.

1. The number of the bill (the number of a federal bill is preceded by the letter "C" for House of Commons bills as in the example or "S" for Senate bills)
2. The title of the bill
3. The session
4. Parliament
5. The year

STATUTES

• Text of Statutes
• Amendments (Updating of Statutes)
• Citation of Statutes

Text of Statutes

To find the full text of the statute or act, consult one of the following sources:

• Statutes of Canada
• Revised Statutes of Canada
• Canada Statute Service on CD-ROM

Amendments to Statutes

• Statutes of Canada and
• Canada Gazette Part III or
• Canada Statute Citator *

*Indicates changes and revisions to the statutes since the last consolidation. The Citator does not deal with provisions of the criminal code or the Income Tax Act. Updates monthly to include any new acts which come into force and to provide the full text of each amendment.

• Canada Statute Citator - Weekly Bulletin Service
• Canada Statute Service on CD-ROM

Citation of Statutes

A correct legal citation of a statute consists of the above-numbered parts:

1. Title.
   This is the title of the statute, followed by a comma. Use the short title of the act.
2. Volume.
   Cite the Revised Statutes as in the above example or cite annual volumes as S.C. No comma follows.
3. Chapter.
   Abbreviate to a lower-case "c" followed by a period.
4. Alpha-numeric Designation.
   The letter is drawn obviously from the title of the statute. Federal statutes are noted with a hyphen (I-21).
5. Section Numbers.
   Abbreviate section to "s." and sections to "ss". Place a comma after the alphanumeric designation if you are citing a section.

For further information see: Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation , (SH) REF.KE259.C35

REGULATIONS

• Introduction to Regulations
• Finding a Federal Regulation
• Citation of Regulations

Introduction to Regulations

Statutes often empower the government (formally the Governor-General or in some cases, a Minister, Board, Commission or Tribunal) to make law (regulations) without further legislation. Regulations provide detail that is not found in the statute in the form of: definitions, licensing requirements, performance specification, exemptions, forms, etc.

To have the force of law most regulations made under the authority of a federal statute must by published in the Canada Gazette, Part II. Last consolidation took place in 1978.

Finding a Federal Regulation

• Consolidated Index of Statutory Instruments. Published quarterly. It lists all regulations still in force made since 1955.
• Consolidated Regulations of Canada, 1978. Federal regulations that have been published up to 31 Dec. 1977 are consolidated in this set. Canada Gazette, Part II. Regulations that have been published after the last consolidation in 1977 will be found here.

Citation of Regulations

St. Andrew's Lock Regulations, SI/91, 444, s.6 (not revised)

A citation of a federal regulation consists of the following parts.

1. Title of the enabling act. Optional
2. Jurisdiction
3. Year. Immediately after the jurisdiction. A comma follows the year.
4. Number. Regulation number.

The abbreviations signify " Consolidated Regulations of Canada" and "Statutory Orders and Regulations".

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

A very handy way to get at up-to-date versions of federal statutes is through the Canada Statute Citator on CD-ROM. This database contains federal acts incorporating all subsequent amendments. After you have entered the database you will have two main searching methods to choose from. If you know the title of the Act, use the "contents" function. If you know only the subject or key words and not the name of the Act, you can use the "Query" function. The Guide to Searching Canada Statute Service on CD-ROM provides detailed database searching instructions. A useful Internet site for Government of Canada Bills, Statutes and Regulations is the Government of Canada site.

1. Select Federal Institutions from the main menu
2. Select J for Department of Justice
3. Select Laws or Bills & New Statutes

Please note Laws provides the option of Statutes or Regulations.

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