Community Legal Information: Primary law

Ontario legislation

Legislation in Ontario is created by the Ontario Legislative Assembly:

• Current bills
• Bills from previous legislative sessions

Once bills become law, they can be found on Ontario's official legislation website, e-Laws:

• Current consolidated statutes

To view regulations under a statute, go to the statute page and click on the "regulations under this Act" tab.

Federal legislation

Bills currently before Parliament can be seen at the LegisINFO website.

Justice Laws is the federal government's authoritative website for legislation that has become law.

For more information on finding legislation, go to:  

• Canadian Legislation and Parliamentary Materials research guide  
• Canadian Legislative Research Workshop Recording and Presentation slides  (Nov. 3, 2021) 

Ontario courts

• Ontario Court of Justice - the Ontario Court of Justice hears family law cases, and the majority of criminal charges laid within the province of Ontario.
• Ontario Superior Court of Justice - the Superior Court of Justice hears many of the same matters that the Ontario Court of Justice hears. It is a higher court than the Ontario Court of Justice.
• Ontario Court of Appeal - the highest court in Ontario, the Court of Appeal hears appeal cases from the two lower courts.

An explanation of the Ontario court system can be read at the Ministry of the Attorney General's webpage: Current Structure of the Ontario Courts

Federal courts

• Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal
• Supreme Court of Canada
• Tax Court of Canada

For more information on finding cases, go to:  

• Researching Canadian Cases research guide  
• Canadian Case Law Workshop Recording and Presentation slides (Nov. 10, 2021)