A comprehensive collection of Canadian provincial statutes in digital format is now available in the new Provincial Statutes of Canada library on HeinOnline. The collection includes statutes, both public and private, for all ten Canadian provinces (though not – yet? – the three territories) in PDF copies of the official statute volumes as published by the provincial Queen’s Printers. The collection currently includes nearly 1,500 volumes and more than 850,000 pages.
This is a significant event for a number of reasons. Unlike other jurisdictions, Canada has done almost nothing to digitize our legal print heritage, a topic I have written about frequently (most recently here). Where our law societies, attorneys general and law libraries have failed us, Hein has stepped in and digitized the entire body of Canadian provincial legislation, making it available for the first time in digital format and simplifying the work of Canadian lawyers, researchers and librarians.
The collections can either be searched full-text or browsed. You have the option to select a province from an alphabetical listing or by clicking on the map provided on the library’s homepage. Both current and historical coverage are provided for the following provinces:
- Alberta
- British Columbia
- New Brunswick
- Nova Scotia
- Ontario
Historical Statutes only are provided for these provinces:
- Manitoba
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- Prince Edward Island
- Quebec
- Saskatchewan
Please note that levels of historical coverage may vary. For all provinces, historical coverage begins at least at the date they entered Confederation. For a few provinces, some colonial statutes are included.
For more information about the Provincial Statutes of Canada library on HeinOnline, click here.