Legislative drafting conferences

Date

Online program in 4 parts of 3 hours each, on September 10-18-24 and October 1, 2020.

Program accredited in provinces where CLE requirements for lawyers are mandatory. 

***Some technical problems occurred during the live broadcasts. The video prices have been revised accordingly***

Scroll down to see the videos

• Part 1, September 10, 2020 (2:32:56): Post-Modern Law (Jump to 00:18:50 for the beginning of the Conference)
  - From 00:18:50: Keynote Address: Machine-Made Law –The Next Step in AI? 
  With Professor Gillian Hadfield
  - Law as Code: Drafting Laws to Facilitate the Automated Delivery of Law
  With Jason Morris, Scott McNaughton, Marek Bilinski (Technical issues, incomplete session), Jennifer Dufresne and Charles Duperreault
  
  
• Part 2a, September 18, 2020 (2:14:01): Legislative Drafting 
  - Gender Inclusivity in Legal Discourse
  With Louise Langevin, Kyle Kirkup (In French Only)
  Part 2b, September 18, 2020 (00:38:32)
  - Gender Inclusivity in Legal Discourse
  With Peter Birt (Original presentation in English)
  
  
• Part 3, September 24, 2020 (1:48:51): Legislative Interpretation
  - From 00:10:27: Legislative Interpretation: Interpretative Presumptions / Deeming Provisions / Transitional Provisions
  With France Allard and Sylvie Parent
  
  
• Part 4, October 1, 2020 (2:40:07): Regulatory Matters
  - Post-Modern Regulation: Keeping up With a Changing World
  With Patricia Pledge and Claude Lesage
  - Regulation-Making Powers: Balancing Parliamentary Sovereignty Regulatory Flexibility and Judicial Review
  With Lorne Neudorf, Lerissa Thaver and Ajay Ramkumar

Related PowerPoint presentations and papers are available in the library under "documentation."

Date

Wednesday, September 13, 2018
Thursday, September 14, 2018

Theme

The 2018 bi-annual Legislative Drafting Conference will tackle one of the most pervasive challenges in modern legislation: complexity, beginning with its principal drivers in public policy. Why does our world generate legislative complexity? And how can legislation address this complexity intelligibly, coherently and effectively?

Conference sessions will also focus on examples of today’s complexity challenges in international trading relationships, cannabis de-criminalization and the interaction of state law with indigenous legal traditions. Other sessions will focus on pragmatic drafting solutions to particular facets of these challenges, such as interjurisdictional coherence, resolving policy blockages, drafting for clients with limited policy-resources and achieving legislative coherence over time. The conference will include a wide range of speakers from Canada, the UK and beyond.

Planning committee

Co-Chairs 

• Annette M. Boucher
• John Mark Keyes

Members

• Richard Denis
• Janet Erasmus
• Wendy Gordon
• Laura Hopkins
• Hoi Kong
• Jacqueline Kuehl
• Sandra Markman
• Eric Milligan
• Melanie Mortensen
• Peter J. Pagano
• Isabelle Parrot
• Mark Spakowski

Date

Monday, September 12, 2016
Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Theme

The theme of the conference is the "new legislative counsel". It will begin by considering new political realities that have altered not only the policy content of legislation, but also the way it is developed and prepared, and indeed its political significance as a tool of government. Consideration will also be given to how the media and communications now affect the preparation and enactment of legislation.

The conference will then turn to the role of legislative counsel and how they can equip themselves to work in this new environment. It will include practical sessions focusing on the use of legislative precedents and technological innovations in drafting.

Topics include:

• Political Perspectives
• Communications Perspectives
• The Pull of Precedent
• The Roles of Legislative Counsel
• Technology and Drafting

Planning committee

• Ms. Annette Boucher
• Mr. Jean-François Couture
• Mr. Richard Denis
• Mr. Philippe Dufresne
• Ms. Janet Erasmus, Q.C.
• Mr. Philippe Hallée
• Ms. Laura Hopkins
• Mr. John Mark Keyes
• Ms. Barbara Kincaid
• Mr. Hoi Kong
• Ms. Melanie Mortensen
• Ms. Pamela Muir
• Mr. Peter Pagano, Q.C.
• Mr. Michel Patrice
• Mr. Mark Spakowski

Date

Monday, September 8, 2014
Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Theme

This conference is organized by the CIAJ Legislative Drafting Committee chaired by John Mark Keyes, former Chief Legislative Counsel of Canada. The conference will address a variety of current issues relating to the use and making of regulatory instruments. It will begin by considering how the concept of “nudging” is changing the regulatory landscape by focusing on prompting behavioural changes rather than dictating conduct through legally binding rules. The conference will also look at many important and developing facets of regulatory instruments, including public engagement in regulatory development, drafting questions, incorporation by reference of standards, public access to legislation and parliamentary review of regulation-making. An update on recent case law relating to regulatory instruments will also be provided as well as an address by Mr. Justice Cromwell of the Supreme Court of Canada on Access to Law.

Planning committee

• John Mark Keyes (Chair)
• Mark Audcent
• Jean-François Couture
• Richard Denis
• Janet Erasmus, Q.C.
• Philippe Hallée
• Laura Hopkins
• Barbara Kincaid
• Professor Hoi Kong
• Pamela Muir
• Peter Pagano, Q.C.
• Kimberly Poffenroth
• Mark Spakowski

Date

Monday, September 10, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Theme

This conference is organized by the CIAJ Legislative Drafting Committee co-chaired by Ms. Judith Keating, Q.C., Deputy Minister of Justice and Attorney General of New Brunswick and John Mark Keyes, Chief Legislative Counsel of Canada. The conference will examine the general structure of legislative systems, including the interplay of different forms of legislation with other regulatory instruments as well as regulatory reform and legislative revision. It will also include updates on recent case law on legislative matters,the impact of international accessibility standards on the publication of legislation and workshops on practical aspects such as ethical issues for legislative counsel and drafting provisions authorizing the making of delegated legislation or governing the commencement of legislation.

Planning committee

• Judith Keating, QC (Chair)
• Mark Audcent
• Pierre Charbonneau
• Richard Denis
• Janet Erasmus, QC
• Philippe Hallée
• Laura Hopkins
• John Mark Keyes
• Barbara Kincaid
• Peter Pagano, QC
• Michel Patrice
• Mark Spakowski

Date

Monday, September 13, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Theme

This conference is organized by the CIAJ Legislative Drafting Committee chaired by Ms Judith Keating, Q.C., the Chief Legislative Counsel of New Brunswick. It will focus on how the evolving legal concepts of a diverse community are redefining legislative drafting. Those entrusted with preparing draft legislation bring specialized knowledge and understanding to their creation.  In response to a growing environment, they are further called upon to integrate the new and broader concepts of an evolving global community.

Within that context, particular topics will examine the value and contributions of the legislative drafter to the intricate fabric of legislation; the professional and ethical dimensions of the drafter within a modern, complex work environment; the evolving legal, cultural and language issues that must be considered and integrated into legislation and how they are redefining the way we draft. The conference will also include workshops dealing with practical drafting issues as they relate to English, French and Aboriginal languages.

Conference participants can expect to come away with a better understanding of how legislation is being redefined in broad terms to adapt to an ever changing environment and how the drafting profession is responding to re-imaging of the law.

Planning committee

• Judith Keating, Q.C.(chair), Chief Legislative Counsel of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB
• Mark Aitken, Director, Northwest Territories Legislation Division, Yellowknife, NT
• Mark Audcent, Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, Senate of Canada, Ottawa, ON
• Pierre Charbonneau, Senior Legislative Counsel, Department of Justice of Quebec, Quebec City, QC
• Richard Denis, Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, House of Commons, Ottawa, ON
• Janet Erasmus, Chief Legislative Counsel of British Columbia, Victoria, BC
• Philippe Hallée, Deputy Chief Legislative Counsel, Department of Justice Canada, Ottawa, ON
• Laura Hopkins, Legislative Counsel, Office of Legislative Counsel (Ontario), Toronto, ON
• John Mark Keyes, Chief Legislative Counsel of Canada, Department of Justice Canada, Ottawa, ON
• Barbara Kincaid, General Counsel, Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa, ON
• Naiomi Metallic, Associate, Burchells LLP, Halifax, NS
• Peter Pagano, Q.C., Chief Legislative Counsel, Department of Justice Alberta, Edmonton, AB
• Rob Walsh, Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, House of Commons, Ottawa, ON

Date

Thursday, September 11, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008

Theme

This conference organized by the CIAJ Legislative Drafting Committee, chaired by Mr. John Mark Keyes, Chief Legislative Counsel of Canada, will focus on the intersecting roles of those involved in determining the wording of legislative texts (statutes and regulations). This group most obviously includes legislative drafters whose task is to turn drafting instructions into text. But it also includes those responsible for developing drafting instructions and their underlying policy, whether acting within government or parliamentary institutions as policy officials or legal advisers, or outside these institutions on behalf of interest groups. Draft texts are also often further processed by yet another constituency that includes translators, editors, jurilinguists and bijuralists. Finally, parliamentarians and subordinate legislative authorities are involved in writing, reviewing, amending and adopting draft texts that are presented to them.

The multiplicity of participants in law-making processes poses the question that forms the title of the conference: who really writes the law? What are the distinctive roles of these participants? Are there overlaps or conflicts? Are these roles evolving in response to changes in the political culture or environment for law-making? The conference speakers will consider these questions and more. Conference participants can expect to come away with a better understanding of the legislative landscape and, if not a definitive answer to the main question, at least a point of view.

Planning Committee

• John Mark Keyes, (Chair) Chief Legislative Counsel of Canada, Department of Justice Canada, Ottawa, ON
• France Allard, General Counsel, Manager and Comparative Law Specialist, Department of Justice Canada, Ottawa, ON
• Mark Audcent, Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, Senate of Canada, Ottawa, ON
• Pierre Charbonneau, Senior Legislative Counsel, Department of Justice of Quebec, Quebec City, QC
• Richard Denis, Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, House of Commons, Ottawa, ON
• Janet Erasmus, Chief Legislative Counsel of British Columbia, Victoria, BC
• Nicole Fernbach, President, Juricom, Montreal, QC
• Philippe Hallée, Deputy Chief Legislative Counsel, Department of Justice Canada, Ottawa, ON
• Laura Hopkins, Legislative Counsel, Office of Legislative Counsel (Ontario), Toronto, ON
• Judith Keating, Q.C., Chief Legislative Counsel of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB
• Barbara Kincaid, General Counsel, Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa, ON
• Peter Pagano, Q.C., Chief Legislative Counsel, Department of Justice Alberta, Edmonton, AB
• Donald Revell, Legal Drafting Consultant, former Chief Legislative Counsel of Ontario, Toronto, ON
• Rob Walsh, Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, House of Commons, Ottawa, ON