Saskatchewan Legislative Research Primer

By Alan Kilpatrick

This article originally appeared in the Vancouver Association of Law Libraries Review, Spring 2017 Issue, Volume 29, No 2

Need a quick primer on Saskatchewan legislative research?

1.  Court Rules: Publications Saskatchewan publishes the Court of Appeal Rules and the Queen’s Bench Rules online at publications.gov.sk.ca/freelaw.  The Law Society of Saskatchewan Library publishes annotated print copies of these rules.  The Saskatchewan Queen’s Bench Rules Annotated 2016 Consolidation and Civil Appeals in Saskatchewan feature high quality commentary and practical observations on case law and legislation.  Copies are available for sale on the Law Society website
2. Provincial Point-In-Time Research: Point-in time consolidations and historical legislation are available online on the Publications Saskatchewan website.  The Law Society Library maintains the Saskatchewan Bills and the Saskatchewan Regulations databases.  These searchable databases track changes to Saskatchewan statutes and regulations over time, chart the progress of bills, feature proclamation dates, and include legislative summaries.  Saskatchewan Proclamations features a handy list of provincial proclamations dates from 2000 to the present.
3. Legislative Assembly Website: The Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan website charts the progress of bills before the current session of the Legislature as well as previous sessions from 1998 to the present.  Debates and hansard are available from 1998 to the present and can be browsed by date through the legislative calendar, searched through the subject index or speaker index.  Information about committees, minutes, orders, and journals can also be found here.
4. Legislative materials:  The premier resource for Saskatchewan legislation is the Publications Saskatchewan website, available for no charge at publications.gov.sk.ca/freelaw.  It hosts a comprehensive collection of current Saskatchewan legislation as well as a growing historical collection.  They also maintain legislative tables that are essential for historical research.  The legislation available online is considered authoritative, not official.  Only paper copies of legislation are considered official.
5. Continuing Legal Education: The Law Society of Saskatchewan operates a mandatory continuing professional development (CPD) program for members.  Some past editions of CPD materials, Bar Course materials, and other legal education materials are available for free online through the CPD Full-Text Search, a unique resource maintained by the Law Society Library.            
6. Law Society of Saskatchewan Library: The Law Society of Saskatchewan Library serves the legal information needs of Saskatchewan members, articling students, and the public by providing a print and online library collection, high quality legal research services, and a variety of Saskatchewan focused legal publications.
7. Additional Resources:  The Law Society of Saskatchewan Library participated in a digitization project with CanLII.  As a result, CanLII now features a nearly complete record of Saskatchewan case law from 1907 to the present.  Those searching for Saskatchewan case law should also consider consulting Saskatchewan Cases.  This searchable database features digests of Saskatchewan cases from the late 1980’s to the present.

Please contact the Law Society of Saskatchewan Library at reference@lawsociety.ca or 306-569-8020 if you have questions regarding Saskatchewan legal research.