LCC and LRCC Archives

LCC Archives
Reports

Document

Overview 

The report examines different ways of providing redress for people who, as children, suffered physical and sexual abuse in government-run or government-sponsored institutions. The report sought to recommend responses that could meet the needs of victims of abuse and address the concerns of their families and communities.  

This report identifies the ways in which governments regulate personal adult relationships and employ relational terms to accomplish state objectives. It proposes a methodology for assessing current and future laws, policies, and programs that employ such terms, with examples of use in different legislative frameworks. The report also explores government measures to recognize a broader range of intimate relationships in Canadian society.   

This report examines Canada’s experience with participatory justice and proposes ways that governments, justice officials, community groups, and individuals working in conflict resolution can support the development of innovative justice processes that have citizen participation at their core. These include victim-offender mediation, collaborative family lawyering, sentencing circles, and judge-led settlement conferencing. 

The report examines the economic importance of an effective secured transactions regime and traces the historical evolution of Canadian secured transactions law. It highlights issues associated with the co-existence of provincial/territorial and federal secured transactions regimes in both Canadian common and civil law jurisdictions.  

This report highlights the deficiencies in Canadian commercial law with respect to accessing credit in a modern economy based on knowledge and intellectual property. It focuses on the legal and institutional changes required to respond to new demands, as well as tools to facilitate timely access to reliable information by economic actors, both nationally and internationally.  

This report reviews arguments regarding changing the Canadian electoral system and proposes a new model. Its recommendations include adding an element of proportionality to the electoral system, measures to promote the better representation of women, minority group members and Aboriginal people, as well as measures to address youth participation.  

This report describes the emergence of pluralized policing networks in Canada, and examines whether the legal and regulatory framework adequately reflects this new policing reality, as well as core Canadian democratic values. Its recommendations represent a strategy to better understand and deal with the complex continuum of policing activities in contemporary society.

This last report, prepared as the Law Commission was closing down its operations, summarizes the Commission’s mandate and its various accomplishments and unique contributions to law reform work. It is also a commentary on the importance of law reform organizations in a democracy.

Discussion Papers

Minister’s Reference on Institutional Child Abuse: Discussion Paper (1998)

From Restorative Justice to Transformative Justice: Discussion Paper (1998)

Recognizing and Supporting Close Personal Relationships Between Adults: Discussion Paper

Renewing Democracy: Debating Electoral Reform in Canada: Discussion Paper (2002)

In Search of Security: The Roles of Public Police and Private Agencies: Discussion Paper (2002)

What is a Crime? Challenges and Alternatives: Discussion Paper (2003)

Does Age Matter? Law and Relationships Between Generations: Discussion Paper (2004)

Is Work Working? Work Laws that Do a Better Job: Discussion Paper (2004)

Crossing Borders: Law in a Globalized World: Discussion Paper (2006)

Justice Within: Indigenous Legal Traditions: Discussion Paper (2006)

LRCC Archives
Reports

Document

Overview 

For the purposes of having clear, simplified and flexible rules of evidence, the report draws on insights from several study papers to present a draft Evidence Code. It is structured into parts that highlight general principles, rules flowing from the principles, and includes explanations of the rules.

This report examines the purposes of criminal law, the uses of mediation and other forms of reconciliation, as well as the use of positive sanctions like restitution and community service orders. The report presents detailed guidelines as to dispositions, sentences and the sentencing process – in addition to policy and legislative changes to implement its recommendations.

This report offers a reshaping of the criminal law to address various issues, notably a growing demand on the court and prison systems due to the tendency of qualifying acts as crimes. The report proposes measures such as the abolition of strict liability, tests to determine (and distinguish) "real" crimes and regulatory offences, and a reorganized Criminal Code.

This report explores way to further improve federal expropriation laws, a process that was initiated with the Expropriation Act of 1970. Its recommendations provide a foundation for the preparation of a new expropriation statute that would allow any Canadian facing a federal expropriation to have the rights and protections that are essential to good expropriation law. 

This report deals with the many ways mental disorder affects the criminal process. Its concern is the law's policy towards the mentally ill, the issue of fitness to stand trial, the problem of disposition of the mentally unfit and the use of mental health resources in the criminal process. The report makes recommendations for implementation and recommendations for policy formulation.  

Though divorce law had been revised and consolidated in the 1968 Divorce Act, the report addresses various concerns regarding the divorce process and its aftermath in terms of maintenance, property settlements and its approach relative to children’s needs. It identifies a need for unified courts that can assist constructively in resolutions, as well as a legal framework and process that recognizes current conditions in dealing with the responsibilities and expectations of family members – particularly in family crisis situations.  

This report, requested by the Minister of Justice, examines anomalies and conflicts in the Lord's Day Act and in its relationship with provincial Sunday observance laws.  

This report recommends the abolition of the immunity from garnishment of wages, salaries and other remuneration paid by the Crown to its federal employees, appointees and others. It is a response to complaints received during the course of the LRCC's Family Law project regarding unjust effects of this immunity, particularly in the enforcement of maintenance orders where no diversion of federal public servants' income could be effected to meet family support obligations.  

This report proposes specific reforms in four areas of criminal procedure: pre-trial hearings, evidence by solemn declaration, elections and re-elections (accused person's selection of the court of criminal jurisdiction), and discharge of the accused.  

This report makes a number of recommendations related to the classification of sexual offences and sentencing, for the purposes of simplifying criminal law in this area while adjusting formulations to different levels of the severity of the offence.  

This report proposes reforms tied to two main issues related to the use of cheques in the Canadian payments system. The first stems from the growth (and separate treatment) of non-bank chequing services, and the second arises from the power accorded to banks when a payment by cheque becomes problematic. 

This report revisits the existing set of offences related to theft, robbery and fraud in Criminal Code, and recommends reformulations and simplifications that better reflect the ways in such offences are considered in court.  

This report proposes a new Advisory and Investigatory Commissions Act that includes provisions that, for example, carefully define the powers of commissions, provide for greater protection to participants in commission proceedings and measures to encourage efficiency and transparency, as well as greater public participation.    

This report sets forth recommendations to address issues associated with the role of the courts in reviewing decisions of administrative bodies, notably issues of jurisdiction and areas where the courts are overburdened.  

This report's recommendations address questions as to the role of legislative intervention in establishing the general criteria for determination of death to help resolve various problems faced by practicing physicians and hospital personnel in their day-to-day work.

This report outlines recommendations that aim to clarify the respective prerogatives and duties of trial judge and jury in the conduct of a criminal trial, to rationalize the procedures for jury selection and challenge, and to ensure that the integrity of the jury's verdict and the privacy of its members are respected.   

This report aims to codify the present law on contempt of court and, while it strengthens the right of the defendant through procedural changes in accordance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it does not recommend any fundamental changes in the nature and structure of the offence.  

A party that is subject to an administrative decision has the right, in most cases, to have that decision reviewed by a court. In certain cases, reasons must be provided from the decision maker in order for the subject of the decision to know the case against it. This report recommends the Immigration Appeal Board provide reasons for its decisions considering the gravity of the decisions being made.   

This report forms a part of the LRCC’s recommended reforms pertaining to the police’s powers of search and seizure. The report first recommends that writs of assistance be abolished. Second, it recommends search warrants be available to be obtained by telephone or other telecommunication in circumstances where an appearance before a justice is impracticable.   

This report examines the provisions of the Criminal Code that dealt with euthanasia, aiding suicide, and cessation and refusal of treatment. It makes legislative recommendations to Parliament on changes to those provisions in order to align the Code with what was then contemporary medical and technological advances.    

14 years prior to this report’s release, Parliament added breathalyzer provisions to the Criminal Code to address unsafe driving. In this report, the LRCC considers a number of possible changes that could be made to the then-current breathalyzer provisions of the Criminal Code to correct perceived deficiencies in the law’s operation.   

This report recommends statutory rules be added to the Criminal Code which would give an accused person a right to pre-trial disclosure by the prosecution. This recommendation had the objective of increasing fairness and efficiency in the criminal process.  

This report examines the law on questioning suspects and concludes that there are significant deficiencies arising from a lack of procedural law which would provide protections for the suspect. The LRCC proposes procedural rules aimed at giving form and protection to two principles: the right to remain silent, and the need for a complete and accurate record of a statement and the circumstances in which it was made.   

This report examines the authorization of police search and seizure powers, as well as the execution of the search and seizure. It finds that there is a need for a rationalization of search and seizure powers, as well as for comprehensive standards and procedures to govern the exercise of such powers. As such, it puts forth recommendations and draft legislation to this effect.  

This report is concerned with procedures that may be employed by police as a means of obtaining evidence directly from accused persons or suspects and that either require some form of participation on the accused’s part, or constitute an intrusive interference with their physical or mental integrity. At the time of this report, no comprehensive code existed to deal with questions as to when such procedures may be used, how they should be performed, or what the rights and obligations of prospective subjects are. This report puts forth a statutory scheme aimed at enhancing the consistency of the law and balancing rights of the individual and the state.    

This report details two study series carried out by the LRCC for the purpose of determining first, broad issues animating the operations of administrative tribunals, and second, issues cutting across the spectrum of agencies and the political environment of agency decision making. In response, the LRCC sets out a policy and procedural framework for agency decision making.  

This report focuses on both the detention and disposition of things seized for state purposes. This is in comparison to the LRCC’s 1985 report Search and Seizure, which focused on the authorization and execution of police search and seizure powers. This report makes legislative reform recommendations that seek to balance the needs of justice actors to maintain custody of things seized for the purposes of the proper administration of justice while also giving due consideration to the rights of individuals and their property.  

This report makes recommendations for modernization of the Criminal Code to accord with social mores around protection of the person. The report takes three foundational principles to maintain and strengthen as it’s starting point: the principle of protection of life and health, the principle of autonomy, and the principle of self-determination.  

Like other functional aspects of criminal procedure, the law of arrest forms part of a social mechanism intended to carry out the substantive aims of the criminal justice system: to convict the guilty while protecting the innocent. The LRCC provided recommendations in the form of draft legislation to achieve these goals which were based on two principles. First, the "rule of law" and its constitutional embodiments, which require that any interference with the liberty of a citizen be clearly authorized by a positive disposition of the law. Second, the principle of restraint which dictates that the criminal law should be used in a manner that interferes with rights and freedoms only to the extent necessary for the attainment of its purpose.

When the Law Reform Commission of Canada was created in 1971, it was asked to undertake a deep philosophical probe of the whole criminal law of Canada. The LRCC determined the Criminal Code, as it was then, was outdated, unnecessarily complicated, illogical, and at times, out of step with the Charter. As such, the Commission proposed draft legislation for the modern Canadian Criminal Code informed in part by their previous reports and working papers on criminal law issues. This report sets out the first half of the proposed Code containing the General section, as well as sections dealing with Crimes against the Person and Crimes against Property.  

This report expands on the previous 1986 report which put forth a draft recodified Criminal Code. This report contains the entirety of the proposed Code.

This report attempts to explain and rationalize the LRCC’s work in the area of criminal procedure. It is intended to be used as an aid to assist policy makers, law reformers and parliamentarians in the task of modifying or reforming criminal procedural law.  

This report is the first volume of the LRCC’s proposed Code of Criminal Procedure. In drafting this reimagined Code, the LRCC was guided by a desire to make it simple, consistent, and coherent with seven animating principles: fairness, efficiency, clarity, restraint, accountability, participation, and protection.   

The Minister of Justice asked the Commission to study the Criminal Code and related statutes to examine the extent to which those laws ensured that Aboriginal persons have equal access and treatment under the law. Two tracks of reform were proposed within the report. First, short-term solutions were recommended, such as increasing the number of Aboriginal criminal justice personnel. Second, long-term considerations that embrace legal pluralism were surveyed aimed at incorporating Aboriginal systems of justice.   

Research Programs

1986 Research Program

First Research Program

The LCC

Page details

Date modified: