Law, Collective Bargaining Guide Ask Us

Legal Encyclopedias

Legal encyclopedias contain narrative summaries of the law supported by references to case law and statutes. They are often the best place to start to gain a general understanding of the law in a particular area.

There are two main legal encyclopedias in law: the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED) and Halsbury's Laws of Canada (Halsbury's). CED covers federal, western, and Ontario jurisdictions, and Halsbury's covers all provincial and federal jurisdictions. Both are available in print in the Law Library in the reference section on the first floor.

Another legal encyclopedia is JurisClasseur Quebec, which covers Quebec law and is in French only.

Electronically, CED is available in Westlaw Edge, while Halsbury's and JurisClasseur are available in Lexis+/Lexis Advance Quicklaw.

Canadian Encyclopedic Digest

• Westlaw Edge (law students only)
• In print in the reference section
• Helpful titles include:
  • Labour Law
• How to start your research with the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (5:58)

Halsbury's Laws of Canada

• Lexis+ (law students only)
• Lexis Advance Quicklaw (available to all students)
• In print in the reference section
• Helpful titles include:
  • Labour
• Halsbury's Laws of Canada - Lexis Advance Quicklaw (1:45)

JurisClasseur Quebec

• Lexis+ (law students only)
• Lexis Advance Quicklaw (available to all students)
• Helpful titles include:
  • JCQ Droit du travail - Rapports individuels et collectifs du travail
  • JCQ Droit du travail - Santé et sécurité du travail

Books & eBooks

To search for books at UNB Libraries, use UNB WorldCat, the library's catalogue. UNB WorldCat contains records of materials held at the Harriet Irving, Science and Forestry, Engineering, and Law libraries, as well as the Hans W. Klohn Library at UNB-Saint John.

Items shown as LAW-RESERVE may be requested at the circulation desk on the first floor of the Law Library. Bring the book's call number with you to the desk. Items shown as LAW-STACKS are on the second floor, and LAW-REF materials are on the first floor in the reference section.

The following books may be helpful:

• The Art of Collective Bargaining, 3rd ed, by John P. Sanderson. LAW-STACKS KF3408 .S2 2017.
• Canadian Collective Bargaining Law: Principles and Practice, 3rd ed by W.B. Rayner et al. LAW-STACKS KF3408 .R38 2017 and eBook.
• Canadian Labour Arbitration, 5th ed, by Donald J.M. Brown & David M. Beatty. LAW-RESERVE KF3424 .B7 2019 and eBook via LabourSource in Westlaw (available to all students via UNB Libraries).
• Canadian Labour Law, 2nd ed, by George W. Adams. LAW-RESERVE KF3319 .A74 1993 and eLooseleaf via ProView.
• Collective Agreement Arbitration in Canada, 5th ed, by Ronald M. Snyder. LAW-STACKS KF3424 .P34 2017 and eBook.
• The Law of Work, 2nd ed, by David J. Doorey. LAW-RESERVE KF3320 .ZA2 D658 2020.
• Negotiation: The Art of Mutual Gains Bargaining by David J. Corry & Courtenay Mercier. LAW-STACKS HD 6971.5 .C67 2010.

Journal Articles & Databases

The Law Library subscribes to a wide variety of law journals, both online and in print.

If you already know the journal title, year, volume number, and page number for an article, search for the journal's title in the Journals & Newspapers database. If we have access to the journal electronically or in print, it will be listed with the format(s) and dates available with links to those available online. You can also look up the journal title in UNB WorldCat.

Keep in mind that it can be best to start with an index rather than a full-text database. An index is essentially a list of articles by topic. Sometimes the article will be available full-text, but often you'll just be given a citation that you can use to track it down somewhere else.

Full-text Databases

• Index to Legal Periodicals & Books Full Text (1981– )
  • Note: this is a hybrid index/full-text database
• Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective (1908–1981)
  • Note: this is a hybrid index/full-text database
• LegalTrac
  • Note: this is a hybrid index/full-text database
• Lexis+ (law students only)
  • Click Law Reviews & Journals
• Lexis Advance Quicklaw (available to all students)
  • Click Law Reviews & Journals
• Westlaw Edge (law students only)
  • Click Articles and Newsletters
• HeinOnline
  • Click Law Journal Library
• CanLII
  • Click Commentary
• Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN)

Indexes

• Index to Canadian Legal Literature
  • Lexis+ (law students only)
  • Lexis Advance Quicklaw (available to all students)
  • Westlaw Edge (law students only)
• Index to Legal Periodicals & Books Full Text (1981– )
  • Note: this is a hybrid index/full-text database
• Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective (1908–1981)
  • Note: this is a hybrid index/full-text database
• LegalTrac
  • Note: this is a hybrid index/full-text database

Legislation

Databases and Websites

The following databases and websites provide federal and/or provincial legislation:

• Lexis+ (law students only)
• Lexis Advance Quicklaw (available to all students)
• Westlaw Edge (law students only)
  • LabourSource (law students only)
  • LabourSource via UNB Libraries (available to all students)
• CanLII
• Justice Laws (federal legislation)
• 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
• New Brunswick Acts and Regulations (NB Attorney General)
  • Includes current legislation, rules of court, the Royal Gazette, the status of bills, and more.

Specific Statutes

The following statutes are related to collective bargaining. For statutes not listed, search the databases listed above.

• Canada Labour Code, RSC 1985 c L-2.
• Employment Standards Act, SNB 1982, c E-7.2.
• Fisheries Bargaining Act, SNB 1982, c F-15.01.
• Industrial Relations Act, RSNB 1973, c I-4.
• Public Service Labour Relations Act, RSNB 1973, c P-25.

Cases & Decisions

Databases and Websites

The following databases and websites provide cases and decisions:

• Lexis+ (law students only)
• Lexis Advance Quicklaw (available to all students)
• Westlaw Edge (law students only)
  • Includes reported and unreported decisions of boards, tribunals, and arbitrators relating to labour law.
• LabourSource
  • Westlaw Edge (law students only)
  • UNB Libraries (available to all students)
  • Includes reported and unreported court cases and decisions of boards, tribunals, and arbitrators relating to labour law, including cases and decisions from Labour Arbitration Cases (LACs) and Canadian Labour Arbitration Summaries (CLAS).
  • Note: we do not subscribe to all sources in LabourSource.
• CanLII
  • Includes Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board decisions, Labour Arbitration Awards, Public Service Labour Relations Board decisions, New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board decisions, and the Labour Arbitration Cases (LACs).
• New Brunswick Court Index (Justice and Public Safety)
• New Brunswick Courts
• New Brunswick Court Docket List (NB Courts)

Cases Digests

Along with searching the databases above, you should use a case digest to find case law. Case digests index cases by topic, and each topic is broken down into several subtopics. With a case digest, you might find ten, twenty, or hundreds of cases on your topic, saving you hours of research time.

Two important case digests are the Canadian Abridgment Digests and the Canada Digest.

Canadian Abridgment Digests

• Westlaw Edge (law students only)
• In print in the reference section
• Helpful topics include:
  • Labour and Employment Law
• How to start your research with the Canadian Abridgment Digests (5:39)
• How to search the Canadian Abridgment Digests (4:33)

Canada Digest

• Lexis+ (law students only)
  • Click Case Summaries > All Canada Digests for a list of topics
• Lexis Advance Quicklaw (available to all students)
  • Click Case Summaries > All Canada Digests for a list of topics
• Helpful topics include:
  • Canada Labour Arbitration Digest
  • Canada Labour Digest
• Canada Digest – Lexis Advance Quicklaw (2:09)

Government Documents

Government departments and agencies publish a great deal of important law-related information. The Law Library's collection of printed government documents is located on the library's third floor. Use UNB WorldCat to search, or ask a library staff member for help.

The Harriet Irving Library also has government documents, which can be located through UNB WorldCat.

For government documents that are available online, try using UNB Libraries' Government Documents Search.

Note: if you include site:canada.ca (and/or site:gc.ca) and filetype:pdf in a Google search, you will retrieve PDF documents from Government of Canada websites. This is a good way to find government reports, as they are usually in PDF format.

Publications

• Canada Industrial Relations Board: Information Circulars
• Collective Bargaining Information: Publications (Employment and Social Development Canada)
• Employment and Social Development Canada: Reports and Publications
• Government of Canada Publications Search
  • Federal search engine for government publications.
• Library of Parliament Research Publications
  • Non-partisan, reliable, and timely information and analysis on current and emerging issues, legislation, and major public policy topics from the Library of Parliament.
• New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board: Information Bulletins
• New Brunswick Post-Secondary Education, Training, and Labour: Publications
• Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Publications  
• New Brunswick Government Websites  
  • Go to the specific department's website for their publications
• UNB Libraries' Government Documents Search

Collective Agreement Databases

• Collective Agreements for the Public Service (Government of Canada database)
• Negotech (repository of collective agreements from Employment and Social Development Canada)
• New Brunswick Collective Agreement Retrieval System (CARS)

Hansards/Debates

• House of Commons Debates (Hansard)
• Debates of the Senate (Hansard)
• Canadian Parliamentary Historical Resources
  • Historical House and Senate debates from 1867–1996
• Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Hansards
• Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Hansards (print)
  • 1931–1979, 1980–1995/1996, 2002/2003–present: third floor, government documents section
  • 1896–1930 (also called Synoptic Reports): Rare Books Reading Room

Journals/Votes and Proceedings

• House of Commons Journals
• Journals of the Senate
• Canadian Parliamentary Historical Resources
  • Historical House and Senate journals from 1867–1997
• Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Journals
• Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Journals (via UNB Libraries)
• Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Journals (print)
  • 1935–present (with some gaps): third floor, government documents section
  • 1894–1934: Rare Books Reading Room

Committee Reports

• LegisInfo
• Library of Parliament
• House of Commons Committee Reports
• Senate Committee Reports
• Canadian Parliamentary Historical Resources
  • Historical House (1877–1993) and Senate (1887–1993) committee documents
• Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Committee Reports
• UNB Libraries
  • Search the catalogue for committee reports in print

Websites & Blogs

The following websites may be helpful for your research:

• Canada Industrial Relations Board
• Canadian Labour Congress
• Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources
• Collective Bargaining Information (Employment and Social Development Canada)
• International Labour Organization
• Lancaster House
  • A labour and employment law publisher with news and articles on labour and employment law from Canada, and some from overseas. While some information is only accessible with a subscription, some information is freely available.
• New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board
• New Brunswick Post-Secondary Education, Training, and Labour

There are many blogs maintained by lawyers and law firms, and you can find many of them at lawblogs.ca, an open directory of Canadian blogging lawyers, law librarians, marketers, IT professionals, and paralegals. There are several blogs listed in the labour and employment law category that might be helpful.