The Canadian Legal System

Law plays a crucial role in structuring not just Canadian government, but just about every facet of Canadian society.

Through the Internet, you can access the full text of laws and regulations of several Canadian governments.

Some courts have Web sites where their decisions are posted on the same day that the judges make them public. With these decisions, you can see how the courts have adjudicated disputes and interpreted the laws made by the elected politicians.

Very useful Canadian legal information web sites include:

For a general overview of Canadian law, read Canada's Legal Tradition from Terra Nova. 

LEGISLATION ON-LINE

Government of Canada

Several Canadian governments provide the full text of their statutes and regulations on the Internet. While these are not the official versions, they are a very useful resource for research. 

The federal Department of Justice posts the laws of Canada in several formats. At this site, you can also access the regulations passed by the government that provide further rules of most statutes. 

Provincial and Territorial Governments

You can find links to all Canadian statutes, regulations, and bills on-line at the Access to Justice Network. Here you will also find a set of links to a wide range of legal resources.

COURTS

The judiciary plays a crucial role in the political system by enforcing and interpreting the laws of the land. There are many types of courts, organized by both the federal and provincial governments. The federal Department of Justice provides a useful set of summaries on the court system. These will provide you with an overview of the structure and jurisdiction of Canadian courts. You can also read about the Federal judicial appointments process. 

Several Courts now provide the full text of their decisions on the Internet: 

The Canadian Judicial Council is composed of the 36 Chief Justices of all the federally appointed courts and is headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. The CJC is responsible for continuing education programs for judges and developing policies on judicial administration. Perhaps its most important role for the public is its responsibility to investigate complaints about judicial misbehaviour. The CJC published Ethical Principles for Judges in 1998 to serve as a guide for proper judicial behaviour. (Note: this is a large file and requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader.) 

Judicial Independence

The independence of the courts is an important principle of the Constitution, which helps protect judicial impartiality.  The Supreme Court of Canada has made some key rulings on the requirements of judicial independence: 

Provincial Court Judges Association of New Brunswick [2005] SCC 44

Ref re Independence and Impartiality of Judges of the Prov. Court of P.E.I. [1997] 3 S.C.R. 3 

Beauregard v. Canada [1986] 2 S.C.R. 56 

R. v. Valente [1985] 2 S.C.R. 673 

You can also read the full text of Judicial Independence and the Supreme Court of Canada by Gerald Seniuk (pdf format).

Bias in the Courts

An issue of continuing concern is the extent to which pervasive or systemic bias permeates the courts, in such a way as to disadvantage certain groups in society. 

Read Richard Devlin's article Judging and Diversity: Justice or Just Us , which goes to the heart of the debate about the need for more social diversity on the bench. 

Feminist Legal Issues

The UBC Law School has a very useful bibliography of articles on feminist legal issues. 

Other useful links to the courts include:

Canadian Association of Provincial Court Judges provides an interesting publication on judicial independence at their site.
 

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Policing

Several Canadian police departments have Internet sites, where you can learn more about their structure, duties, and policing concerns: 

The federal Solicitor General's Department has a useful site dealing with Aboriginal policing issues. 

See also the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada. 

Civilian agencies provide a forum for complaints about police behaviour. See, for example, the RCMP Public Complaints Commissioner and the Ontario Special Investigations Unit, which investigate police behaviour.  Considerable public controversy has arisen over the RCMP's treatment of protesters at the APEC meetings held in Vancouver.  The CBC has an interesting archive of stories about APEC's aftermath. 

For a wide-ranging set of links relating to criminal law enforcement and corrections, connect to the Canadian Criminal Justice Resource Page. 

Corrections Services

You can find some links relating to prisons and incarceration at Correctional Service of Canada. 

See also the National Parole Board. 

National Security

An  important reorganization of Canadian security services occurred in the post 9/11 environment, where there was felt to be a need for more centralized coordination of the various agencies involved.  This coordinating function is now filled by Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC), which in the Martin government has been headed by the deputy prime minister.

Intelligence gathering and analysis that relate to the security of the nation are primarily the responsibility of the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service. For a better understanding of CSIS, read about the range of its roles, as well as the description of its mandate set out in its backgrounders. The legal framework for the organization is found in the CSIS Act. CSIS releases Public Reports each year, which are available on the Internet. The Library of Parliament provides an overview of CSIS in one of its online research papers. 

New powers to deal with terrorist activity were enshrined in 2001 in  the Anti-terrorism Act.

Some review of CSIS activities is undertaken by the Inspector General of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, who reports internally to the Minister of PSEPC, and by the Security Intelligence Review Committee that issues a report to Parliament.

However, important national security work is also carried out through a branch of the Canadian Forces, the Communications Security Establishment Other information about the CSE can be found at the site of the Office of the Communications Security Establishment Commissioner, particularly in the Commissioner's Annual Reports. The Library of Parliament also provides an interesting research paper, The Communications Security Establishment Canada's Most Secret Intelligence Agency; see also the archived version of Bill Robinson's Unofficial Information on the CSE. 

For an analysis of the many problems involved in ensuring the effective control and accountability of the various agencies involved in national security, see Chapter 27 of the 1996 Report of the Auditor General. 

For a very comprehensive listing of hundreds of Internet resources on security and intelligence, connect to the Security and Intelligence Bookmarks and bibliography of relevant material originally prepared by Stuart Farson for the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies.



Emergencies

Some important provisions that affect the political system under emergency circumstances, such natural disasters, armed disturbances, or war, are laid out in the federal Emergencies Act and the Emergency Preparedness Act. Emergency management is initially managed by provincial agencies, but the PSEPC plays a valuable role as well in promoting emergency preparations among all levels of government. PSEPC has a number of useful publications on emergencies available on-line.

RELATED LINKS

You can find more information related to constitutional issues in other sections of Nelson's Canadian Politics on the Web: