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.

Also, many police forces have Web sites where you can learn more about law enforcement.

Jurist Canada, from the University of Toronto, is perhaps the single most useful resource for information and links to material on Canadian law and the judicial system. 

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

LEGISLATION ON-LINE

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

COURTS

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: 

Ref re Independence and Impartiality of Judges of theProv. 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 

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
Canadian Judges Home Page

LAW ENFORCEMENT

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
Intelligence gathering and analysis that relate to the security of the nation are primarily the responsibility of the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service. The mandate for CSIS is set out 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 a research paper available on-line. 

See also the Office of the Inspector General of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. 

Security Intelligence Review Committee is an independent body that reviews CSIS activities. 

However, important national security work is also carried out through a branch of the Canadian Forces, the Communications Security Establishment (unofficial information). Other information about the CSE can be found at the site of the Office of the Communications Security Establishment Commissioner, particularly in the Commisioner's Annual Reports. The Library of Parliament also provides an interesting research paper, The Communications Security Establishment Canada's Most Secret Intelligence Agency. 

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 maintained by Stuart Farson for the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies. You will also find a comprehensive bibliography of relevant material available in print. 

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 provincial legislation. Connect to Emergency Preparedness Canada to learn more about planning to cope with disasters. EPC 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: 

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