Canadian Legal Sites and Resources

This page was last updated on August 23rd.

Canadians generally hate to be thought of as a mere adjunct of the USA and their Internet presence is distinctly different from that of their southerly neighbour. Their sources are much less "pretty" than US ones but the basic legal materials are nevertheless well advanced. Note, incidentally, that all official legal material is provided in both French and English.

The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) has been initiated by The Federation of Law Societies of Canada, the umbrella organisation of thirteen of the fourteen governing bodies of the legal profession in Canada together with LexUM, the computer law research team from the University of Montreal. It provides free access to increasing quantities of the legislation and case law of Canada, both federal law and from the individual states. It is the latest member of the worldwide family of Legal Information Institutes which includes AustLII and Bailii.

The Department of Justice of Canada provides a starting point for Canadian resources and, in particular, provides Consolidated Statutes and Regulations. Recent technical innovations provide:

  • Point-in-time access to consolidated Acts and regulations
  • An advanced search engine that allows the use of complex search patterns, including word proximity and wildcard operators
  • Regulations listed alphabetically on the new 'Regulations by Title' page
  • Amendments "Not in force" and "Related provisions" links
  • An alternative view of the data using frames
  • Side-by-side, bilingual PDFs of the Frequently Accessed Laws list.

    The Parliamentary Site covers ongoing Bills in the House of Commons or the Senate and information generally about Parliament and MP's.

    The Supreme Court of Canada provides free Internet access to all Supreme Court of Canada decisions since January 1967.

    The Canadian Bar Association provides a comprehensive set of links to legal resources in Canada, including State resources.

    A Canadian QC called Judith Bowers provides a wonderful compendium page of links to all the most significant Canadian resources.

    Research lawyer Catherine Best has provided a site called Best Guide to Canadian Legal Research. She is also an Adjunct Professor with the Faculty of Law at the University of British Columbia and this site shows a desire to assist researchers and show them how to find what they want.

    The Access to Justice Network (ACJNet), partially funded by the Department of Justice of Canada, provides the public with legal information and educational resources from across the country.

    Centre de recherche en droit public offers a collection of documents useful to the legal community and all those interested by Canadian Law.

    American Law Sources Online is a useful new source of law for the USA, Canada and Mexico. There are sections offering federal, state or province law sources, as well as commentaries and practice aids.

    Comments or queries or information about other Canadian resources?

    email delia@venables.co.uk