The International Cooperation Group

Publications

NATIONAL SURVEY OF LEGISLATIVE DRAFTING SERVICES

2002

PERSONNEL

4 / 5   STAFF AND REPORTING STRUCTURE

How many people are employed in the legislative drafting office as :
• drafters?
• paralegals?
• registrar of regulations?
• managers?
• support staff, including :
  administrative support (secretarial, management of master copies)?
  linguistic support (editors, legislative revisers, translators)?
  automation support?
  printing and publishing?
  statute revision?

What is the reporting structure?
For instance, at the federal level, the Legislative Services Branch is headed by a Chief Legislative Counsel reporting directly to the Deputy Minister of Justice.

With the smallest drafting office in Prince Edward Island and the largest in Ottawa, the organisation of offices ranges widely in terms of the number of staff and their functions. It therefore seems worthwhile to provide brief individual descriptions within the context of the size of the jurisdictions. The population figure for each province is therefore given. The official name of the section responsible for legislative drafting is also provided.

ALBERTA
(population 2,974,807)
Legislative Counsel Office

The Alberta office comprises eight drafters including the Chief Legislative Counsel and the Registrar of Regulations, one paralegal, one manager, four administrative officers and three printing and publishing staff including editors. The Chief Legislative Counsel reports directly to the Assistant Deputy Minister — Legal Services.

Total staff — 17

BRITISH COLUMBIA
(population 3,907,738)
Legislative Counsel Office

The British Columbia office consists of 12 drafters including the Chief Legislative Counsel, a Registrar of Regulations, one manager in charge of publications, 4.5 administrative support staff, four editors and two staff who are responsible for printing and publishing. The Chief Legislative Counsel supervises staff in the four areas — Drafters, Registrar of Regulations, Publication and Orders in Council and their respective support staff — and reports to the Assistant Deputy Attorney General (Legal Services Branch) administratively and to the Deputy Attorney General on the legislative program.

Total staff — 24.5

MANITOBA
(population 1,119,583)
Legislative Counsel Office

Manitoba has six drafters (one of whom serves as Registrar of Regulations), two editors, six administrative staff and six translators. In addition, there are two managers : the Legislative Counsel and the Director of Legal Translation. The Legislative Counsel reports to the Deputy Minister of Justice with respect to government work and to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly with respect to private members' bills and general advice provided to the Assembly.

Total staff — 22

NEW BRUNSWICK
(population 729,498)
Legislative Counsel Office

In New Brunswick, 14 drafters, including the Registrar of Regulations, operate as seven teams of two lawyers, one anglophone and one francophone. In addition, three legislative counsels and one jurilinguist are assigned to the Statute Revision Project — a four-year project which started in April 2001. Two lawyers are responsible for the Law Reform Program. Three administrative support officers assist the Legislative Counsel Office. The Legislative Counsel Office also houses the Office of the Queen's Printer, which comprises the Queen's Printer, three editors, three desktop publishers and two support officers. All report to the Director of Legislative Services (and Chief Legislative Counsel), who reports to the Deputy Attorney General.

Total staff — 32

NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
(population 512,930)
Legislative Counsel Office

Newfoundland and Labrador has a Senior Legislative Counsel, four drafters (one of whom also acts as Registrar) and two administrative officers. The Senior Legislative Counsel, who is an Assistant Deputy Minister of Justice, presides over the Office of the Legislative Counsel, which is established under the Statutes Subordinate Legislation Act and functions as a division of the Department of Justice. While the statute provides that the Senior Legislative Counsel reports directly to the Minister of Justice, in practice, the reporting is to the Deputy Minister. The drafters are responsible for statute revision.

Total staff — 7

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
(population 37,360)
Legislative Counsel Office

In the Northwest Territories, there are 4.7 drafters (one part-time), including the director ; one drafter serves as Registrar of Regulations. There is a Manager of Legal (French) Translation and one additional legal translator. In addition, there are four secretaries (two anglophone and two francophone) and an editor/administrator who reviews drafts, superintends the approval and registration of regulations, and prepares and registers the territorial government's appointments. The Director of the Legislative Division reports directly to the Deputy Minister of Justice.

Total staff — 11.7

NOVA SCOTIA
(population 908,007)
Parliamentary and Legislative Counsel Office

Nova Scotia has four drafters, one of whom acts as Chief Legislative Counsel and another as Assistant Clerk, and three support staff. Administratively, the Chief Legislative Counsel reports only to the Speaker of the House of Assembly. But the Chief Legislative Counsel also reports to the Cabinet Committee on Legislation, the Government House Leader and the Minister of Justice (the latter as Chair of the Law Amendments Committee) on government legislation.

Total staff — 7

NUNAVUT
(population 26,745)
Legislation Division of the Department of Justice

In Nunavut, there are two legislative counsels, one of whom is the Director and also Registrar of Regulations, and the other is Deputy Registrar of Regulations. There is also a Manager for Legal Translations. The office includes one administrative support staff and four linguistic support staff. The Director of the Legislation Division reports directly to the Deputy Minister of Justice.

Total staff — 8

ONTARIO
(population 11,410,046)
Parliamentary and Legislative Counsel Office

In Ontario, there is the equivalent of 12 full-time drafters, including the Registrar of Regulations but not the Chief Legislative Counsel. There are also four translators, five linguistic revisers and two translation counsels, lawyers who review the translated text to ensure French and English equivalency. There are one automation support staff and 16 other officials involved in printing and publishing, including editors and desktop publishing staff. There are also three managers and 12 other support staff engaged in secretarial, clerical and administrative functions. The Chief Legislative Counsel reports directly to the Deputy Attorney General.

Total staff — 56

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
(population 135,294)
Parliamentary and Legislative Counsel Office

The office comprises two legislative drafters and three support staff.

Total staff — 5

QUEBEC
(population 7,237,479)
Direction de la législation gouvernementale (Ministère de la Justice) / Government Legislation Directorate of the Department of Justice

In Quebec, there are 10 drafters-revisers, one manager, and three support staff including one language specialist. The Government Legislation Directorate reports to the Department of Justice's Associate Deputy Minister of Juridical and Legislative Affairs (Justice) (Sous-ministre associé chargé de la Direction générale des affaires juridiques et législatives du Ministère de la Justice).

Total staff — 14

SASKATCHEWAN
(population 978,933)
Legislative Counsel Office

Saskatchewan has five drafters, one manager (the Chief Legislative Counsel), two administrative support staff, one linguistic support and one person responsible for printing and publishing. The Chief Legislative Counsel is the head of the Office and reports directly to the Deputy Minister of Justice.

Total staff — 10

YUKON
(population 28,674)
Parliamentary and Legislative Counsel Office

There are five drafters (three anglophone, two bilingual), one paralegal (who acts as Deputy Registrar of Regulations) and two administrative support personnel in the Yukon drafting office. The office is headed by the Chief Legislative Counsel, who reports to the Assistant Deputy Minister, Legal Services, who in turn reports to the Deputy Minister of Justice.

Total staff — 8

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
(population of Canada 30,007,094)
Drafting Services Group — Legislative Services Branch of the federal Department of Justice

The Drafting Services Group of the federal Department of Justice is headed by the Deputy Chief Legislative Counsel, to whom an assistant and six directors report. These directors are heading the Headquarters Legislation Section, the Finance Tax Drafting Services Section, the Headquarters Regulations Section, the Transport Drafting Services Section, the Health Drafting Services Section and the Environment Drafting Services Section.

Headquarters Legislation Section

The Headquarters Legislation Section is headed by a Director and consists of 28 drafters. Approximately one half of this group of drafters is responsible for the English versions of bills and the other for the French versions. There is also one assistant.

Finance Tax Drafting Services Section

The Finance Tax Drafting Services Section is also headed by a Director. The six drafters it includes are physically located at the Department of Finance and draft tax-related ways and means motions, bills, regulations and remission orders.

Headquarters Regulations Section

A Director heads the Headquarters Regulations Section, which includes 32 drafters, approximately one half of whom are responsible for the English versions of regulations and other statutory instruments within the meaning of the Statutory Instruments Act and the other half for the French versions. Some of the drafters act as portfolio coordinators by coordinating the work of members of the Section in relation to particular departments or groups of departments. There are nine assistants working in the Section.

Transport Drafting Services Section

The Transport Drafting Services Section is located at the Department of Transport and headed by a Director. The Section also includes 12 drafters, 4 assistants, 2 jurilinguistic revisors and 2 editors. It prepares regulations for the Department of Transport exclusively.

Health Drafting Services Section

Located at the Department of Health, this section is headed by a Director and comprises 13 drafters and three assistants. The section prepares health regulations exclusively.

Environment Drafting Services Section

Headed by a Director and consisting of five drafters and two assistants, this section is situated at the Department of Environment and prepares the regulations of this Department.

The three other Groups of the Legislative Services Branch provide specialised services in support of the work of the Drafting Services Group.

The Bijuralism and Drafting Support Services Group headed by a Senior General Counsel includes a number of specialists. It has a total staff of 69. Bijural and comparative law specialists ensure that Canada's two legal systems, common law and civil law, are equally reflected in both languages versions of federal legislation. The eleven jurilinguists of the Jurilinguistic Services Unit, headed by a Chief Jurilinguist and Legislative Counsel, ensure the linguistic quality, as well as the consistency, of the French and English versions of the statutes and regulations. The 15 paralegals and revisers/editors of the Legislative Revising and Editing Services, headed by the Chief Legislative Editor, review all legislation to ensure the grammatical and technical quality of the texts. Finally, 10 employees are responsible for database management.

The Advisory and Development Services Group is headed by a Director and includes 8 legislative counsels. In addition to providing formal training on legislative drafting to officials of the Department of Justice and, occasionally, to provincial or territorial officials, the Group gives advice on the legislative and regulatory processes, the choice of legislative instruments, the interpretation of legislation and the legal framework of regulation making. The Group is also responsible for special projects, like improving the readability of legislative texts.

The Publishing Services Group, which has a staff of 6, manages the publication of the legislation prepared by the Legislative Services Branch. Currently, it is also developing a new computer environment to facilitate the drafting of legislation as well as the exchange of data with other key partners of the legislative services such as Parliament and publishers.

Total staff — The Legislative Services Branch has a total staff of 236, including five employees responsible for human resources and general administrative services.

Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of the Senate

The office consists of the Law Clerk, an assistant lawyer, a paralegal, a secretary and the Archivist of the Senate.

Legislative Counsel Office of the House of Commons

The office comprises the General Legislative Counsel and three Legislative Counsels, who are House of Commons employees. Another drafter also works on a part-time contractual basis. Support staff consists of one administrative assistant, one legislative editor, three translators and five word processing operators. The General Legislative Counsel reports to the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of the House of Commons.

6   QUALIFICATIONS OF DRAFTERS

What are the qualifications required of legislative drafters :
• law degree?
• member of the bar of the province or territory?
• any formal drafting training or apprenticeship program?
• any special skills, such as linguistic capabilities or computer training?

In all drafting offices, drafters must have a law degree and be a member of the bar of a province or territory. As there is no federal bar, a variety of provinces as well as both legal systems — common law and civil law — are represented in the Legislative Services Branch of the Department of Justice.
Respondents generally neither provide formal drafting training nor require drafters to have received specialised training of this kind. Saskatchewan, however, provides in-house training, and one of New Brunswick's drafters possesses the Diploma in Legislative Drafting offered by the University of Ottawa. Two of the three anglophone drafters in the Yukon are also graduates of the program, and the respondent from the Northwest Territories mentioned that this diploma is regarded as an asset. In Ottawa, the diploma is one of the selection criteria considered in staffing, although it is not a mandatory qualification. Many drafters in the Drafting Services Group have completed this program, and two of the House of Commons drafters have the diploma.

Some respondents highlighted particular skills and aptitudes they seek in a drafter. Ontario tests for an aptitude for drafting. Manitoba looks for excellent writing and communication skills and for computer training. The province of New Brunswick favours drafters who possess superior language, intellectual, analytical, organisational, decision-making and interpersonal skills. In the Yukon, the two bilingual drafters must demonstrate an ability to translate English into French, and all drafters must be familiar with Microsoft Word software.

In the Legislative Services Branch of the federal Department of Justice, the following skills and attributes are sought in legislative drafters in addition to formal drafting training or relevant experience : knowledge of constitutional and administrative law, the rules of statutory interpretation, the legislative and regulatory processes and federal statute law, including delegated legislation ; computer skills ; and excellent written and oral communication skills in one official language and good written and oral communication skills in the other. Personal suitability — including judgment and tact, interpersonal skills, organisational skills, adaptability to changing circumstances, ability to work as part of a team (important because of the practice of co-drafting) — together with tolerance for stress and a commitment to departmental values were also regarded as very important.

7   QUALIFICATIONS OF LANGUAGE SPECIALISTS

What are the qualifications of the linguistic support staff?

The formal qualifications of language specialists vary widely across Canada.

In Ontario, editors are generally trained on the job, often after working in the office for many years as production assistants. The translators and linguistic revisers are professional translators.

In New Brunswick, editors must have a university degree and pass a language skills test. The jurilinguist has a university degree as well as a background as a professional translator.

In the Northwest Territories, the editor in the English section must have a Bachelor of Arts degree with a background in English, and legal translators must have a law degree with training or experience in translation.

In Nunavut, the French translator must have a law degree. Inuktitut translators must have demonstrated ability as translators.

In Quebec, a Bachelor in linguistics or a Bachelor of Law with linguistics skills is required.

A graduate degree in English or Linguistics is required in Saskatchewan. Although not required, knowledge of French is considered an asset.

The jurilinguists of the Legislative Services Branch of the federal Department of Justice are professional translators who, in certain cases, also have law and linguistic degrees. The legislative revisers have university backgrounds and a variety of training and experience with specialisation in various related fields, such as teaching, translation and communications. All prospective legislative revisers are given grammar, proofreading and editing tests and must demonstrate an expertise in their first official language and a high level of comprehension and written ability in their second language. The House of Commons translators do not have law degrees but possess many years of experience in the field of legal translation.

8   EMPLOYMENT DETAILS

How are staff members employed :
• as employees of the public service?
• on a contractual basis?
• full-time?
• part-time?

In most provinces, staff are full-time public service employees. However, New Brunswick occasionally engages drafters on a contractual basis. In Nova Scotia, drafters are appointed by the Governor in Council "during good behaviour" (which means that they are appointed for an unlimited period and can only be removed for a serious fault). In Saskatchewan, drafters are Order in Council appointees but are subject to the rules and provisions of the provincial Public Service Act. While most drafters are full-time employees, the Northwest Territories has one drafter employed at 70% time, and several drafters in the Legislative Services Branch of the federal Department of Justice also work part-time. At the Legislative Counsel Office of the House of Commons, one drafter is a contractual employee and the others are employees of the House of Commons.

9   PARTICIPATION IN EXCHANGES, SECONDMENTS

Is it possible for drafters and others to go on secondments to, or to participate in exchanges with, other drafting offices within the jurisdiction or between jurisdictions (in Canada or abroad)?

Several provinces mentioned that it was possible for drafters to participate in exchanges and secondments with other drafting offices. But in practice, such exchanges have rarely occurred, mostly because of resource shortages.

Over the years, drafters from the Legislative Services Branch of the federal Department of Justice have provided drafting services as part of other groups under a variety of arrangements, including through secondments to other sectors of the Department of Justice, secondments with the Legislative Counsel Office of the House of Commons and other Canadian drafting offices and assignments to other countries for periods of between several weeks and several years. In addition, Branch drafters have participated in exchanges or as part of special projects in Canada and abroad to provide professional services such as teaching legislative drafting or advising on the establishment of legislative drafting offices.

10   CONTINUING LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

What continuing legal and professional training is available to personnel?

Most provinces and territories do not have regular ongoing training. However, many support professional development on an ad hoc basis. In Quebec, the Department of Justice holds seminars in legislative drafting and statutory interpretation. In New Brunswick, British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador, drafters may avail themselves of continuing legal education courses offered through the provincial bar association and law society. In Nova Scotia, drafters may attend the continuing legal education courses offered through the Nova Scotia Continuing Legal Education or the Nova Scotia branch of the Canadian Bar Association. In Manitoba, few ongoing courses are directly relevant to legislative drafting, but employees are encouraged to arrange on an individual basis for whatever training they would find useful. Saskatchewan provides in-house training and mentoring of drafters, and its staff participate in various law society programs. In Alberta, training is provided at the request of the drafter. Where possible, the office sends staff to Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice (CIAJ) conferences and annual meetings of Parliamentary and Legislative counsel. Continuing legal and professional training in the Yukon is limited ; however, members of the office have attended CIAJ seminars, meetings of the Uniform Law Conference of Canada and programs offered through the Law Society of British Columbia. In Nunavut, staff have the opportunity to attend conferences and learn from other personnel. Textbooks are purchased as necessary.

Staff at the Legislative Services Branch of the federal Department of Justice have access to training from a variety of sources. The main provider of drafting tools and training is the Advisory and Development Services Group of the Legislative Services Branch. Three drafters are working full time to develop manuals and tailor-made courses for the drafters of the Branch and other lawyers of the Department of Justice. Staff may attend departmental courses and seminars on various legal topics, computer software applications and other matters that they consider relevant, and also presentations by staff in other sectors on topics of common interest, such as the operation of the Financial Administration Act or case law updates in areas such as administrative law, human rights or native law. The Branch may arrange for law professors and other experts, including Branch staff, to speak on subjects of general or special interest to drafters, such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, delegated legislation or statutory interpretation. The Department of Justice is currently conducting a pilot project with the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa to encourage lawyers to take courses related to the "other" — that is, common law or civil law — legal system. Second-language training may be provided in individual circumstances. The training may be that provided through the Public Service, or staff may be reimbursed for the costs of attending language courses offered at university or by private institutions. The Branch has also recently hired instructors to conduct weekly second-language maintenance seminars on-site for interested employees. The Branch or the Department will occasionally pay for lawyers to attend courses or seminars offered by various institutions — universities, the Canadian Bar Association, the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Barreau du Québec or other professional institutions — if directly related to the employee's tasks, for example, training in taxation law for drafters in the Finance Tax Drafting Services Section