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Canada is among the most trade-dependent nations in the world. It is an active and enthusiastic participant in international organizations of all kinds and is party to hundreds of international treaties. Canada is also psychologically and culturally a global society. Canadians care about this country’s place in the world. Further, a sizable minority of Canadians was born outside Canada, and almost all Canadians trace their lineage to another country of origin.

Yet, despite these facts, the implications of globalization for law reform in Canada are not often closely analyzed. Canadian laws and the Canadian legal system do not operate in isolation. Globalization presents both new challenges and new opportunities for Canadian law.

In this project, the Law Commission of Canada is not addressing Canada’s foreign policy positions on substantive issues such as human rights, security or trade. Nor is it resolving debates lying at the core of the globalization issue, including the impacts of globalization on development, social equity, and the environment. The mandate of the Commission is to review the law of Canada and its effects, and to propose improvements, modernization and reform ensuring a more just legal system. To this end, the Commission has embarked on a study of globalization as it affects the effectiveness and legitimacy of the Canadian legal system.

This discussion paper divides the implications of globalization for law reform into two broad classes, as follows:

• Law-Making, Legitimacy and Accountability. Legal globalization affects the relationship between Canada’s three branches of government, most notably Parliament and the executive. The international law-making process is driven by the executive; it lacks formal mechanisms for input from interested parties, including parliamentarians and members of the public. Federal executive branch dominance in this area also has implications for Canadian federalism; a system in which domestic law-making is divided between federal and sub-federal levels of government. This section discusses the following questions: Who, in Canada, is involved in the creation of international law? How is this international law received into the fabric of Canadian law? What implications do these issues have for questions of legitimacy and democratic accountability in Canada?
  
  
• Sovereignty, Jurisdiction and Uneven Access to Just Outcomes. Legal globalization proceeds at different rates in different areas. In some areas, there is a robust system of international law, readily observed by states. In other areas, international law and international enforcement are lacking, putting pressure on domestic legal systems to offer remedies for wrongs committed internationally. This section discusses the following questions: What are the challenges raised by a global system in which law has evolved faster in some areas than others? How has Canadian domestic law responded? Are there new tensions between sovereignty and justice?