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Finding and Using Canadian Parliamentary InformationPrepared by Vivienne Monty, York University, Canada Please note: The following is a brief description of the types of documents found in the York University Library. It only serves as a guide to Canadian parliamentary information. Please consult a reference librarian for help using materials in your depository library's collection. Parliamentary materials contain vast amounts of information on just about any subject of interest or concern to our elected members and thus constitute a wealth of research information. To use parliamentary materials effectively, special care must be taken to choose the jurisdiction(s) which is most appropriate to your research needs. For instance, education is the legal responsibility of the provincial governments. Therefore, one would not find much information in the documents from Federal Government sources. Note that there are other types of Parliamentary materials such as Laws (see Guide to Canadian Legal Materials), Votes and Proceedings etc. It should also be noted that presently only the Federal Government is bicameral (has an upper and lower house, namely the Senate and the House of Commons). The provinces are all unicameral. At the provincial level the "House" is usually called the Legislature or Legislative Assembly (in Québec - Assemblée Nationale). Historically, some provinces had two houses. Debates: Also know by the popular title Hansard, these are available from 1867 to the present. (York University has an unofficial reconstruction 1841- 1856.) The Debates record the day to day discussions of parliamentarians. These include the question and answer periods, throne speeches, titles of reports tabled as well as other activities. There are indexes for each session available either as a separate volume or included in printed volumes for each session. York University call numbers: Canada:
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Journals are the diary of the daily proceedings of the House etc. Recorded votes are noted as well as any other proceedings or tabled items. Prior to 1939 the Journal Appendices often included committee reports and reports of government boards and agencies. The indexes to the House Journals (up to 1925) can be used to access the Sessional Papers (see below). York University call numbers: Canada:
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Sessional papers were published as a separate set in the years indicated above. Any reports, annual reports, public accounts, elections returns, royal commissions and some committee reports which were tabled and ordered to be printed by the House can be found in the Sessional Papers. Since 1925 sessional papers are printed individually although for the use of Parliament the Journals still refer to these papers as "sessional papers" for internal use. Sessional Papers are indexed in two ways. The House Journals provide access to them by subject. The Bound volumes of the Papers contain a contents note and an alphabetical index that can provide a useful guide to locating the documents. These tables of contents and alphabetical lists often do not provide much information on the actual contents of the documents, however. For example, the 1875 report of the Secretary of State included information on Indians which is not indexed under Indians. Also be aware of the difference in language or terms. For example the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were the North-West Mounted Police. A lot of sessional papers were never printed and these carry the notation in the indexes of "n.p." Some unpublished sessional papers are available on microfilm from 1916 onwards. York University call numbers: Canada:
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Committee reports and minutes are also important research sources. There are Standing Committees (on-going), Special Committees and Legislative Committees. There may also be Joint Committees of the House of Commons and Senate. Committees consider proposed legislation in depth or advise on issues. They may call expert witnesses from the public and receive written submissions. From approximately 1936 on, minutes and proceedings of committees have been published as separate sets by the Federal government. Prior to that date many of them are available in the Journals. The House of Commons Journals or a province's Journals are the best way of determining what committees exist at any given time. York University call numbers:Canada:
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