Reading Time: 2 minutesDisponible en français. Canadian citizenship can be obtained through birth on Canadian soil, by descent through birth or adoption outside of Canada to a Canadian citizen, or through naturalization (the process by which citizenship is obtained by a foreign national)…. Read More ›
Reading Time: 6 minutesDisponible en français. The year 2025 marks several significant anniversaries for international gender equality mechanisms. These include the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (the Beijing Declaration), the 25th anniversary of United Nations (UN) Security Council… Read More ›
Reading Time: < 1 minuteDisponible en français. Section 33(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the Charter) permits Parliament or the legislature of a province to adopt legislation to override certain rights and freedoms for a limited period, subject to renewal. Such a use… Read More ›
Reading Time: 2 minutesDisponible en français. The preamble to the Lobbying Act states that free and open access to government is an important matter of public interest, that lobbying public office holders is a legitimate activity, that it is desirable for public office holders and… Read More ›
Reading Time: < 1 minuteDisponible en français. Measuring Democracy examines three widely used democracy indexes: those produced by Freedom House, the Economist Intelligence Unit, and Varieties of Democracy (V‑Dem). This HillStudy explains how these indexes work, how each index evaluates the state of democracy in Canada, how they differ from each other and some possible limitations of… Read More ›
Reading Time: 2 minutesDisponible en français. Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms sets out the right to equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination. The Supreme Court of Canada (the Court) has consistently interpreted this right as protecting substantive equality. This means that laws – as well as government activities and policies – must not simply treat people the same. Instead, the effect… Read More ›
Reading Time: < 1 minuteDisponible en français. Conflict of interest management at the federal level has evolved significantly since the 1970s, with the introduction of a legal framework establishing a conflict of interest management regime for both houses of Parliament in 2004, the enactment of the Conflict of… Read More ›
Reading Time: 6 minutesDisponible en français. In May 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada ordered a new trial in French for an accused who had not been informed of his right to be tried in the official language of his choice. The accused… Read More ›
Reading Time: 8 minutesNote: This publication was updated in July, 2025: Recent Evolution of Canadian Immigration Policy Disponible en français. Under Section 94 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which came into effect 28 June 2002, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration… Read More ›
Reading Time: 5 minutesDisponible en français. On 1 March 1973, the Standing Joint Committee on Regulations and other Statutory Instruments met for the first time. Its members had been appointed in January 1973, following the presentation, in 1969, of the final report of… Read More ›