Poste - Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Indian
Act, the Young Offenders Act, provincial laws dealing
with social services and child welfare, and municipal bylaws
on parks and recreation. It also includes legislated
federal-provincial and interprovincial agreements, such
as the Canada-Quebec Accord. This category does not
include administrative guidelines, departmental
guidelines or practice, none of which carry the force of
law.
Case Law refers to principles and rules of law based on
past decisions of courts or tribunals. These are used as a
guide or justification for subsequent cases and decisions.
Except for the civil law of Quebec (where case law does
not play the same role), Canada is a common law
jurisdiction, so court interpretations of legislation are a
major source of legal rules. Quebec is a civil law
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jurisdiction, and case law is only a secondary source of
legal rules in that province. Relevant sources of case law
include annotated citations of legislation, law digests,
courts, tribunals and members of the legal community
with specific expertise.
Policy refers to a governmental course of action which
comes before or after the legislative process. Examples
include royal commission and task force reports and
recommendations, Throne speeches, governmental
discussion papers, speeches of ministers and deputy
ministers, action plans and guidelines. In this definition,
policy is always “on paper,” as opposed to the actual
practice or implementation of legislation. Relevant
sources in this category can be proposed or adopted
policy. An ignored task force report is still considered a
relevant source.