Frequently Asked Questions
General
What are consolidated Acts and regulations?
When the federal government makes changes to Canadian law, often it will create "amending" Acts or regulations. These amending documents make changes to existing laws. For example, if the government wishes to add a new offence to the Criminal Code, it will not rewrite the entire document or create a new, separate Code, but will create an amending Act. The amending Act will add new sections or make changes to existing sections of the Criminal Code. A consolidated Act or regulation is one that has been updated and incorporates the amendments into the original text.
The Justice Laws Website provides a consolidation, or updated version, of the federal Acts and regulations maintained by the Department of Justice as a convenient way for the public to view the state of the law, without having to carry out research and put together the various amended provisions.
Are the consolidated Acts and regulations the official versions?
Yes. As of June 1, 2009, all consolidated Acts and regulations on the Justice Laws Website are "official", meaning that they can be used for evidentiary purposes. This is the result of the coming into force on that date of amendments made to the Statute Revision Act, which has been renamed the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act. For more information see the Important Note page and section 31 of the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act.
How often is the website updated?
The Justice Laws Website is generally updated every two weeks.
How current are the Acts and regulations?
The consolidation version of an Act and regulations has official status and must accurately reflect the enacted texts. The Justice Laws Website generally reflects the consolidated law as it was approximately 2-3 weeks before the present calendar date. This takes into account the publication schedule for the Canada Gazette, as Justice Canada officials need to examine the Canada Gazette to identify information that could impact the consolidated version of Acts and regulations to ensure their accuracy. To learn more about the Canada Gazette publication cycle, please consult: https://canadagazette.gc.ca/cg-gc/lm-sp-eng.html
The current-to date is displayed in the header area of every webpage of a consolidated Act or regulation. If the consolidated Act or regulation is consulted in PDF format, the current-to date is indicated on the cover page, on the second page and in the footer of every page.What does the last amended date mean?
The last amended date, displayed in the header area of Acts and regulations and on the PDF cover page where applicable, shows the date on which the Act or regulation was last modified by amendment. This date differs from the current-to date and only changes when an amendment is applied.
In what format are dates displayed on the Justice Laws Website?
Dates are displayed in the YYYY-MM-DD format.
What does the shading of provisions mean?
A new feature has been added to the consolidated Laws on the Justice Laws Website: provisions in original enactments that are not yet in force will be shaded. As those provisions are brought into force, the shading will be removed. This will make it possible to easily identify which provisions of original enactments are or are not yet in force.
Note that this feature is effective only as of November 25, 2009 and therefore does not apply to point-in-time searches before that date.
What are the citations found at the end of some sections and schedules?
The citations indicate that the section or schedule has been amended. Each citation refers to an amending Act or regulation. The citations represent the history of the particular provision.
What do the square brackets mean?
The square brackets often indicate that the text inside is editorial and not part of the law. We will often add helpful information inside of the editorial notes such as coming in force dates.
What are "Related Provisions” in consolidated Acts or regulations?
The text of a consolidated law may be followed by additional material under the heading RELATED PROVISIONS. These provisions are transitional or application provisions or provisions that are in some other way related to the Act or regulation in which they appear, but they are not part of that Act or regulation.
The citation appearing before the provision identifies the Act or statutory instrument (SOR or SI) that is the source of the provision. Source Acts enacted in 2001 or later may be found in the Annual Statutes collection (see left navigation menu).
What are the Amendments Not in Force?
The Amendments Not in Force link, found in the Table of Contents page in some consolidated Acts and regulations,opens a list of provisions taken from enacted "amending" Acts or regulations. These provisions however are not in force (eg. not yet in effect) at the current consolidation date. Therefore the prescribed changes have not yet been made to the consolidated text. These provisions are included for convenience of reference.
The Amendments Not in Force link can also be accessed in the browse drop-down menu when navigating through an Act or regulation in Document View.
How can I see previous points in time for consolidated Acts and regulations?
The Previous Versions link, when found in the header area of consolidated Acts and regulations, opens a list of full documents available for previous versions. Click on the desired time frame from the range of dates to see the legislation in force for the selected period.
To see previous versions of individual amended sections and schedules, click on the Previous Version link when found at the end of the section or schedule while viewing the current consolidation. A new page opens with the content of the previous version and the option to cycle between points in time by using the Previous Version and Next Version links. The in-force date range for that particular section or schedule can be seen at the top of the page.
How far back does the Point-in-time data go?
Generally, the Point-in-time data is available from January 1, 2003 onwards for the Acts and March 22, 2006 onwards for the regulations.
The Point-in-time data for the Income Tax Act and Regulations is available from August 31, 2004 onwards.
What are the Annual Statutes?
The Annual Statutes accessible on the Justice Laws Website are a collection of the Public General Acts in the form in which they were originally enacted by Parliament in a given calendar year. They include new Acts as well as Acts and provisions that amend existing Acts. Please see the Canada Gazette Part III for the official versions of the individual original Acts.
Where can I go to find Annual Statutes enacted before 2001?
The Justice Laws website does not include Annual Statutes enacted before 2001. Please see the Canada Gazette Part III for the Annual Statutes published from 1998 to the present. Paper versions of Annual Statutes enacted before 1998 are available in most public libraries.
Where can I go to find the texts of Appropriation Acts?
Appropriation Acts are not included in the database of consolidated federal legislation. The texts of Appropriation Acts from 1999-2000 to the present can be found on the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat website at the following address:
How do I print a document?
Print the PDF version of a document by clicking on the PDF links provided.
Print any page on the Justice Laws Website by using the Print option available in the Internet browser being used. The website automatically removes the menus and web-specific items for the purpose of printing a hard copy from the HTML version. Please see the directions outlined in the Printing Help page for detailed printing help.
How do I save an XML version of the current consolidation for an Act or regulation?
An XML (Extensible Markup Language) version of the entire consolidated Act or regulation is available in the top information area on the Table of Contents page for Acts and regulations. Right-click on the XML link and choose Save Target As to save the file on your computer.
Clicking the XML link will open the XML file in the Internet browser.
How do I download the XML files for all consolidated federal Acts and regulations?
The repository of XML (Extensible Markup Language) files for all consolidated federal Acts and regulations is available at the following address:
Can I reproduce federal Acts and regulations?
The Reproduction of Federal Law Order specifies that “anyone may, without charge or request for permission, reproduce enactments and consolidations of enactments of the Government of Canada, and decisions and reasons for decisions of federally-constituted courts and administrative tribunals, provided due diligence is exercised in ensuring the accuracy of the materials reproduced and the reproduction is not represented as an official version.”
What is the list of repealed statutes included on the main page of the Table of Public Statutes and Responsible Ministers?
To reduce the size of the Table of Public Statutes and Responsible Ministers, the information concerning statutes that were repealed more than a year ago has been removed from the Table. To keep a record of these repeals, the titles and information about the repeals have been moved to a separate page on the website. Generally speaking, the statutes on the list were repealed after 1984, since statutes repealed before then were omitted from the Table following the enactment of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985.
What is the Amendments list and why do only certain consolidated Acts and regulations have this list?
The Amendments list shows citations and dates of any amendment that came into force since January 1, 2019 for a particular Act or regulation. This list is limited to the last 10 amendments and is only available for Acts or regulations amended since January 1, 2019.
Why might the amount of a fee in a published Act or regulation differ from the amount actually payable?
The Justice Laws Website publishes the text of Acts and regulations as enacted, including any provisions relating to fees. Certain Acts or regulations, such as the Service Fees Act, provide for the automatic adjustment of fee amounts following enactment. The text of Acts and regulations on the Justice Laws Website do not reflect fee amounts resulting from those automatic adjustments.
The current amount of a specific fee may be confirmed by consulting the website of federal authority that imposes the fee.
Search
How do I search the database?
A search can be performed by using the Basic or Advanced Search pages which can be accessed on the left navigational menu. The search engine offers a variety of powerful searching techniques which are explained in the Search Help pages.
How do I search in a particular Act, regulation or Annual Statute?
In the header area on the Table of Contents page for each Act, regulation or Annual Statute, there is the option to perform a search within that particular document.
Alternatively, in the Basic and Advanced Search pages, use the Title or the Chapter/Registration # fields to filter the results of your search query for a particular Act or regulation. See Search Help pages for more details.
How do I search previous points in time for consolidated Acts and regulations?
Point-in-time searches can be done using the Advanced Search. Enter the point-in-time date in the Select point in time field. Using the Select point in time search field together with the other search fields will return search results for previous versions of consolidated legislation. See Search Help for more detailed information
Navigation
What is the Table of Contents tab?
The Table of Contents tab, found on the right side of document pages, is a slide out menu which offers two methods of navigating through documents by selecting the appropriate tab.
The Headings tab displays the Table of Contents for the document which includes a list of headings, and the section number that follows each heading, that link to their exact location in Document View.
The Sections/Schedules tab opens a drop-down menu that lists section ranges and schedules and allows you to easily navigate all pages of the document.
How do I switch between the English and French versions of a document?
In the top navigation bar at the top of every page on the website, you will see the link English or Français. These links will take you to the equivalent page in the language specified.
Can I see a side-by-side version of the French and English Acts or regulations?
Yes. A bilingual side-by-side PDF version of consolidated Acts and regulations is available on the Justice Laws Website. Just click on the PDF link provided.
How can I see a list of provisions and easily navigate to them in PDF documents of consolidated legislation?
A Table of Provisions, which lists all provisions and associated section and page numbers, is included at the beginning of PDF documents. Clicking on a provision will link directly to its location within the document.
Bookmarks, which lists all headings and the section number that follows each heading, are displayed on the left side of the PDF viewer and allow for easy navigation by linking to provisions within the PDF document.
How can I find regulations made pursuant to a particular Act?
In the Table of Contents page of the particular Act, the regulations under the Act, if any, are listed under the heading Regulations made under this Act.
Alternatively, clicking on the “R” on the Consolidated Acts list for a particular Act will also link to the Regulations made under this Act.
Where are the “Other Documents” that used to be available on the left navigation menu?
The Other Documents page, that listed the documents published in the Canada Gazette Part II, which are not made pursuant to any statutory authority, has been removed. These documents, that include proclamations and orders in council, are now included in the Consolidated Regulations list.
How can I create stable links to an Act or regulation on my website?
You can provide stable links to the content of the Justice Laws Website by using the method outlined on the How to Create Stable Links page. You can link to the table of contents, the full document or a particular section of any Act or regulation.
What are “breadcrumbs” and what are they used for?
Breadcrumbs, located below the main Justice banner at the top of the page, are navigational links that allow you to keep track of where you are on the Justice Laws Website. Breadcrumbs provide links back, in hierarchical order, to previous pages you have navigated through to get to the current page.
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