Program Overview

Feeling challenged by the complexity of legislation? This program, offered by the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, Common Law Section, helps legal professionals, policy advisors, and public service specialists gain the confidence and practical skills to draft, interpret, and apply laws effectively. You'll explore both primary legislation (Acts of Parliament) and delegated legislation (regulations, by-laws, orders) while learning to navigate the policy and law-making process strategically.

Through hands-on learning and real-world examples, you'll leave ready to make an immediate impact in your role. You'll be able to apply legislative drafting principles, navigate the enactment process, and develop persuasive arguments about the meaning and application of laws. Along the way, you'll build the skills to tackle complex legislative challenges with clarity and confidence.

By the end of the program, you'll feel empowered to contribute strategically to law-making and policy implementation, applying your knowledge and insights to enhance your effectiveness in legal, policy, and government roles.

Program Structure

This Professional Certificate program includes four core courses, designed to be taken in sequence to ensure a structured learning progression.
The courses are also offered individually. 

Recommended Preparation: Completing The Legislative and Regulatory Process in Canada prior to enrolment is encouraged, as it provides helpful foundational context.

Format: Hybrid – asynchronous work and live online sessions Wednesdays between 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM (ET)

• These courses feature weekly live online sessions in the evening. Participants are required to complete assignments following these sessions.

Duration: Each course runs 6 weeks (12 hours total). Courses are offered at scheduled times throughout the year, and participants must register for the sessions as they are offered.

Certificate:
Participants auditing the program receive a Professional Certificate of Participation upon completion of all four courses in sequence. Participants taking the Regular version of the course will receive a Professional Certificate of Completion, and will be eligible for three graduate-level course credits that can applied towards an LLM program at the uOttawa Faculty of Law.

Target Audience

This program is designed for professionals involved or interested in the preparation, enactment, interpretation, or application of legislation. Participants may include:

• Legal professionals, policy analysts, parliamentary staff, regulatory officials, and compliance officers
• Consultants and lobbyists .working in government (federal, provincial, territorial, municipal, or Indigenous) or the private sector

The program is especially relevant for those .who draft legislation, provide drafting instructions, or apply legislation in practice, but is also valuable for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of policy formulation, legislative processes, and the practical application of law.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain how public policy is transformed into legislation through drafting, enactment, and regulatory processes.
• Apply recognized principles and techniques to draft clear, effective legislative and regulatory texts.
• Navigate parliamentary and regulatory enactment processes with an understanding of key stages, roles, and procedures.
• Analyze legislative meaning using accepted methods of statutory interpretation.
• Develop well-reasoned arguments about the meaning, operation, and application of legislation in practical contexts.
• integrate policy intent, drafting principles, enactment processes, and interpretive methodology to support sound legal and regulatory decision-making.

Program Cost

Participants may register for individual courses or take advantage of a discounted rate when completing the full four-course certificate.

• Participant: Eligible to earn a Certificate of Completion
  • Must attend the course and successfully complete all required assignments

• Auditor: Eligible to earn a Certificate of Participation
  • Must attend 75% or more of the live session time

• Do not complete assignments and are not eligible to earn a Certificate of Completion

Already completed three courses?
Participants who have completed three courses and wish to register for a fourth course to complete the certificate are eligible for the bundled certificate rate. Please contact us at [email protected] before registering so we can apply the appropriate discount.

Meet the Instructor

Professor John Mark Keyes

The principal instructor would be Professor John Mark Keyes. He 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.