Treaties, Legislation & Case Law
Treaties
To find nation-to-nation treaties available in UNB's holdings, search UNB WorldCat. Many treaties are available electronically or in print in the law library.
You can also find treaties on the following sites/databases:
Legislation
The following databases and websites provide federal and/or provincial legislation:
- Lexis+ (law students only)
- Westlaw Edge (law students only)
- CanLII
- LEGISinfo (Parliament of Canada)
- Includes information on federal bills, including status, speeches, links to Hansard debates, full-text versions of bills, and more from 35th Parl, 1st Sess (January 1994) to the current session
- Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
- Includes NB bill information, including status, limited Hansard debates, and more.
- New Brunswick Acts and Regulations (NB Attorney General)
- Official NB legislation from 2000 to present.
- GALLOP Portal
- Searches electronic government documents from the Library of the Canadian Parliament and the legislative libraries of every province and territory (except Yukon and PEI).
Specific Statutes
The following federal statutes and regulations are related to Aboriginal law in Canada. It is not a complete list. Use a secondary source (like a legal encyclopedia) or search a database for more statutes.
There are several statutes meant to replace sections in the Indian Act (RSC 1985, c I-5). For more information, visit Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada's page "Attempts to Reform or Repeal the Indian Act." Many of these statutes also attempt to fill in gaps in the Indian Act. For more, see The Canadian Encyclopedia's entry "Women and the Indian Act."
Some of the acts that replace sections of the Indian Act or fill in gaps include:
- Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act, SC 2013, c 20.
- First Nations Land Management Act, SC 1999, c 24 [repealed 2022-12-15].
- First Nations Fiscal and Statistical Management Act, SC 2005, c 9.
- First Nations Oil and Gas and Moneys Management Act, SC 2005, c 48.
- First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act, SC 2005, c 53.
- Gender Equity in Indian Registration Act, SC 2010, c 18.
Other statutes that might be of interest:
- Sections 35 and 91 of The Constitution Act, 1982, Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11.
- Addition of Lands to Reserves and Reserve Creation Act, SC 2018, c 27, s 675.
- An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, SC 2019, c 24.
- Aboriginal Peoples of Canada Adaptations Regulations (Firearms), SOR/98-205.
- Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Act, SC 2019, c 29, s 337.
- Department of Indigenous Services Act, SC 2019, c 29, s 336.
- First Nations Goods and Services Tax Act, SC 2003, c 15, s 67.
- Indigenous Languages Act, SC 2019, c 23.
- United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, SC 2021, c 14.
Cases and Decisions
The following databases and websites provide federal and/or provincial case law and information:
Case Digests
Along with the databases above, you should use a case digest to find case law.
A case digest indexes cases by topic, and each topic is broken down into several subtopics. With a case digest, you might find several cases relevant to your research, saving you hours of time.
Two important case digests are the Canadian Abridgment Digests and the Canada Digest.
Canadian Abridgment Digests
Canada Digest
- Available via Lexis+ (law students only) and Lexis Advance Quicklaw (available to all students)
- Click Case Summaries > All Canada Digests for a list of topics
- Useful titles include:
- Canada Aboriginal Law Digest
- Canada Criminal Digest
- Canada Environmental Law Digest
- Canada Human Rights Law Digest
- Canada Natural Resources Law Digest
- Canada Constitutional Law Digest
- Canada Digest – Lexis Advance Quicklaw (2:09)
Case Reporters
If you would like to browse the print reporters, there are topical law reports dealing with Aboriginal law on the second floor (mezzanine level) of the Mackay Reading Room. Much of this content is retrospective. For current cases/decisions, use databases like Westlaw, Lexis, and CanLII.
Specific case reporters include:
Current Awareness Services