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Legal professionals, policy analysts, parliamentary staff, regulatory officials, compliance officers, consultants, and lobbyists involved or interested in the preparation of legislation within government institutions (federal, provincial, territorial, municipal, or Indigenous) or the private sector.

This course is especially relevant for those who draft legislation, provide drafting instructions, or interpret and apply legislation. An understanding of drafting practices is essential for drafters and valuable for others who wish to deepen their appreciation of the role of legislative drafting in the law-making process.

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Instructor

Lead instructor
Professor John Mark Keyes is a sessional professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, and an instructor in the Legislative Drafting Program of Athabasca University. He teaches in the field of public law (constitutional and administrative) with a particular emphasis on legislative drafting and interpretation. He has an LLB and a BA from the University of Toronto and a Diploma in Legislative Drafting and an LL.M from the University of Ottawa.

Professor Keyes was previously legislative counsel in the Department of Justice (Canada) drafting regulations and government bills. He latterly occupied various managerial positions and was the Chief Legislative Counsel from 2005 until 2013. He has also been involved in organizing the legislative drafting conferences of the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice and has been the treasurer of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel and the editor in chief of its journal, the Loophole.

Professor Keyes has also published many academic articles dealing with legislation and more generally constitutional and administrative law. In 2021 Lexis Nexis published a 3rd edition of his Executive Legislation. In 2023, Irwin Law published Drafting, Interpreting and Applying Legislation, which he co-authored with Wendy Gordon.

A range of other legislative drafting professionals would also participate in the delivery of the courses.