Description

Guided by Professor Étienne Trépanier and Law Student Amanda Buttice, this course offers you an unparalleled opportunity to delve into the legislative and regulatory framework of Canada alongside a distinguished group of law professors, legal advisors, and legislative drafting experts. Our innovative curriculum is designed to bring the subject to life through a combination of documentary-style interviews with experts, engaging infographics, and curated external resources.

Experience firsthand the intricate process behind drafting the laws and regulations that govern Canada. Our asynchronous course adopts a documentary-style narrative, presenting video vignettes that showcase insights from leading legal experts and specialists. To enrich your learning experience, we offer interactive infographics that illustrate key concepts, alongside complementary texts and links to relevant, accessible resources. Deepen your knowledge at your own pace through videos, short texts and interactive activities.

Participants will have access to the course materials for 120 days after the end of their training, allowing them to consolidate their learning and refer to the content as needed.

Throughout the course modules, you will develop a comprehensive understanding of Canada's legislative and regulatory mechanisms, primarily focusing on the federal level. Learn about the origins of bills and regulations, their classification, and the procedural steps leading to their enactment. Additionally, you will explore the roles and responsibilities of the various public organizations and stakeholders involved in these processes.

Learning Outcomes

• Gain a comprehensive overview of the legislative and regulatory processes in Canada, with a primary focus on the federal level. This includes the origin and role of legislation, the various stages of preparing a bill or regulation, from the development of policies, approval, and drafting, to the parliamentary process, publication, revision, and codification.
• Identify Key Stakeholders: Recognize the public organizations, political actors, and other stakeholders involved in the legislative and regulatory processes at the federal level and understand their functions, roles, and responsibilities in these processes.

Learning Approach

Supervised asynchronous learning: Deepen your knowledge at your own pace through 96 instructional videos in the form of interviews with legal and legislative drafting experts, short texts and interactive activities. The course is divided into modules, steps and activities that you can follow as quickly or slowly as you like.

Duration

12 hours

Access Period

30 days (4 weeks)

Course Outline

• Module 1 – Introduction

  • In this module, Professor Étienne Trépanier and Law Student Amanda Buttice invite you to meet law professors, legal advisors and legal experts to discover the legislative and regulatory processes in Canada.

• Module 2 – The Foundation of the Legislative and Regulatory Process

  • In this module, we review the main principles underlying the democratic exercise of preparing, drafting and adopting legislation and associated regulations within the framework of the exercise of parliamentary and governmental prerogatives in the Canadian system. At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: Understand the origin and role of legislation in Canadian society; Understand the basic constitutional principles underlying the legislative and regulatory process .

• Module 3 – The Legislative Text

  • In this module, we will review some key concepts to better understand what constitutes a legislative text (legislation) : Statutes, Bills and Regulations. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to: Understand the different forms of legislation, bills, delegated legislation and other government standards; Understand the different functions of statutes, bills, delegated legislation and other government standards; Know the different entities authorized to create legislative texts at the federal, provincial and territorial levels.

• Module 4 – Stages in the Legislative and Regulatory Process

  • In this module, you will learn about the key steps in the process of turning a proposed law into an act or regulation. At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: Understand the major steps in the legislative and regulatory process at the federal level and their function; Know the different actors in the legislative and regulatory process at the federal level.

• Module 5 – Bilingualism, Bijuralism and Legislative Plurarism

  • In this module, you will learn about federal, provincial and territorial linguistic obligations in the Canadian legislative system, as well as the concepts of bijuralism and legal pluralism in the Canadian normative context. At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: Know the different legislative bilingualism obligations at the federal, provincial and territorial levels; Understand how legislation is drafted in Canada's two official languages at the federal level; Understanding the legislative co-drafting process; Understanding bijural drafting of legislation at the federal level; Be aware of the pluralism of legal norms in Canada and its impact on the legislative system.

• Module 6 – Developing Policy to be Implemented by Legislation

  • In this module, we examine the first step in the process of developing a government bill for introduction in the federal Parliament. At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: Identify sources of legislative proposals; Understand the major phases of legislative policy development by the Government of Canada; Know the various stakeholders and their role in the development of Government of Canada legislative policies.

• Module 7 – The Review and Approval of Legislative Policy Directions

  • In this module, we examine the second major step in the legislative process at the federal level: approval of legislative policy directions. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to: Know the major phases of legislative policy review and approval at the federal level; Understand what is a Memorandum to Cabinet (MC); Identify the key steps in the approval of the MC; Understand what are drafting instructions.

• Module 8 – Drafting a Federal Bill

  • In this module, we examine the second major step in the legislative process at the federal level: the preparation of bills. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to: Understand the role of legislative counsel and close associates in the development of federal legislation; Be familiar with the major phases of preparation of a government bill at the federal level; Know the major steps for drafting a private members' bill at the federal Parliament.

• Module 9 – The Approval of a Federal Bill

  • In this module, we examine another major step in the legislative process at the federal level: the approval of the bill. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to: Know the main phases of the consideration of a bill by the House of Commons and the Senate in the Parliament of Canada; Understanding the functions of the Royal Assent at the federal level; Identify the different ways in which a law comes into force; Understand the process of publishing and updating legislation at the federal level.

• Module 10 –Regulations: Policy Development

  • In this module, we examine the first major step in the regulatory process at the federal level in Canada: policy development and consultation. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to: Understand the policy framework governing the federal regulatory system; Understand the major phases of policy development at the federal level; Know the stakeholders in the development of legislative policies and their role at the federal level.

• Module 11 – Regulations: Drafting and Review Process

  • In this module, we look at two major steps in the federal regulatory process: the drafting and the review of proposed regulations. At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: Understand the role of the drafter and close associates in the development of proposed regulations at the federal level; Understand the legal review process for proposed regulations at the federal level; Understand the role of the Privy Council Office and the Department of Justice Canada in the legal review of proposed regulations at the federal level.

• Module 12 – Regulatory Adoption Process

  • In this module, we focus on the last major step in the federal regulatory process: the approval of the proposed regulation. At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: Understand the major phases of regulatory approval at the federal level; Understand the functions of registering a federal regulation; Identify the different ways in which federal regulations come into force; Know the requirements for publishing federal regulations.

• Module 13 – Processes for Improving and Updating Legislative Texts

  • In this module, we discuss the various processes that exist to improve and update federal legislation and regulations in Canada. At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: Understand the processes for consolidading federal laws and regulations; Understand the processes for reviewing federal laws and regulations; Identify different initiatives for improving legislation;

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