Subordinate legislation includes regulations, orders, directives, tariffs, bylaws and
proclamations.
The Statutory Instruments Act governs federal regulations. Section 2 of that Act
distinguishes between regulations and other types of statutory instruments. Regulations
are defined as a statutory instrument "made in the exercise of a legislative power
conferred by or under an Act of Parliament", or a statutory instrument "for the
contravention of which a penalty, fine or imprisonment is prescribed by or under an Act of
Parliament". Regulations are cited using SOR and other types of statutory
instruments are cited using SI.
The governing statute sets out the scope of the regulatory power. The governing statute
also sets out who has the authority to make the regulation or order.
A regulation is made in the following way.
| The ministry responsible for the governing statute produces a draft
regulation. |
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| The draft regulation is reviewed by the Clerk of the Privy Council in
consultation with the Deputy Minister of Justice. |
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| Proposed regulations are published in the Canada Gazette Part I,
together with a Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement. This provides an opportunity for
public comment on the proposed regulation. |
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| If necessary the regulation is revised by the ministry and returned to
the Clerk of the Privy Council for review. |
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| Once the regulation is in final form a draft Order in Council is
prepared for signature by the Governor General. |
Before the regulation can come into force, it must be registered by the Clerk of the
Privy Council. The regulation is then published in Part II of the Canada Gazette,
as required by the Statutory Instruments Act.
When you review an Act, note whether it contains a section authorising the Governor in
Council or another entity to make regulations. If so, you should check to find out whether
any regulations have been passed.
A regulation is cited by year and number. A sample citation is Trade-marks
Regulations (1996), SOR/96-195. "SOR" stands for Statutory Orders and
Regulations. "96" stands for the year 1996, and 195 is the number assigned to
the regulation. Inclusion of the title of the regulation is optional. If the statutory
instrument is not a regulation, it is cited as SI/92-133.
Regulations published in the 1978 consolidation are cited to that consolidation. The
citation includes the title of the regulation. A sample citation is Air Cushion
Vehicle Regulations, C.R.C., c. 4.
Regulations are published in final form in the
Canada Gazette,
Part II. Each print issue has an index listing regulations by number and by
name. A cumulative index is produced at the end of each calendar year, and the issues for
the year are bound with the index.
As regulations are often amended, and one Act may have several regulations enacted
pursuant to it, the efficiency and effectiveness of your research will be increased if you
use a consolidated version of the
regulations.
The last time the federal regulations were consolidated in print format was 1978.
Although the regulations published in that consolidation are still in effect, most of them
have been amended, and there are many new regulations not included in the consolidation.
Rather than starting with the 1978 consolidation, you should start your research with
either a current print index to the regulations, or one of the electronic consolidations
of the regulations. Note that although the electronic consolidations are far more
current than print consolidations, they are not completely up-to-date.
- The following electronic versions of the federal regulations are available:
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- Quicklaw: The SOR database in
Quicklaw
contains the federal regulations. You can locate a regulation in this database simply by
searching on the full text of the federal regulations. Each section in the regulations is
a separate document in the SOR database. If you know the name or citation for the
regulation you are researching, or the Act under which the regulation was passed, you can
use field searching to expedite your research. Search using either the title or chapter
number of the statute (to retrieve all regulations made pursuant to that statute) or the
title or SOR number of the regulation.
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- Folioviews on CD ROM: The Canada Statute Service
CD ROM includes a consolidation of the federal regulations. It is updated
more frequently than the Quicklaw database, but can still be a few months
behind. There are different ways to access regulations using this service,
including full text searches, searches restricted to the title or citation
of a regulation, and table of contents listings which include all
regulations passed under each Act.
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- Folioviews on CD ROM: The federal government has published its own CD
ROM containing federal statutes and regulations. It is not updated as frequently as the Canada
Statute Service and does not contain as many enhancements. However, if you don’t
have access to the Canada Statute Service it is a good resource for conducting
research in a consolidated version of the
federal regulations.
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- Consolidated regulations on the Internet: The federal government has
mounted the federal regulations
on the Internet.
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- There are two consolidated indices to the federal regulations.
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 | The federal Queen’s Printer publishes the
Consolidated Index of Statutory
Instruments, as part of the Canada Gazette, Part II.
 | This index contains a list of all regulations and amendments to them, organised by
statute. |
| Since the consolidated regulations in print form are hopelessly out of date, you should
always check this publication. |
| Look up the title of the enabling Act, and review the list of regulations passed
pursuant to it. This will give you the information you need to locate the full text of the
regulation and amendments to it in either print or electronic sources.
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| If you need to conduct historical research on the regulations, this publication will
provide you with citations to all regulations, and amendments to them, since 1955. You can
then find the original versions in the Canada Gazette, Part II.
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| This publication can also be useful for updating your research in the consolidated
electronic versions of the regulations. However, because it is only published
semi-annually it will sometimes be less current than the consolidated electronic versions.
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| There is also a commercial consolidated index to the federal regulations. Carswell
publishes the Canada Regulations Index.
| This Index contains 2 parts.
 | The coloured pages filed at the front of each volume update the white pages. The
coloured pages list regulations passed since the period covered by the white pages, but do
not provide detailed information about those regulations. |
| The white pages contain a detailed index to all regulations passed since the 1978
consolidation, including the table of contents for each regulation.
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| If you are researching an Act with several regulations, this publication may help you to
quickly narrow your research to the most relevant regulations. Depending on the timing of
new releases, it may also be more current than the Consolidated Index published by
the government. |
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In addition to consolidations of the entire body of federal regulations, there are
topical collections of legislation that include a current consolidation of pertinent
regulations. CCH publications usually provide this
service, but there are many other publications as well. See the list published by the BC
Courthouse Library of consolidations of federal legislation.
For new regulations and recent amendments, check the index pages in all issues of the Canada
Gazette Part II published since the most current
Consolidated Index. The
Canada Gazette
is also available on the Internet. The Internet version of
Parts I, II and III of the Canada Gazette has official status as of April
1, 2003.
