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Research & Writing Resources | SPIKE Law

Historical & Governmental Research (in no particular order)

CANADA
 
Government of Canada Publications

GALLOP (Government and Legislative Libraries Online Publication Portal) - access to almost 500,000 electronic government publications from all levels of Canadian government

LiPAD (Linked Parliamentary Data Project) - search Canadian Hansard, from 1901 to present

British North American Legislative database, 1758-1867

Canadian Parliamentary Historical Resources, 1867-1996 - 
debates, journals, and selected committee documentation of the Senate and the House of Commons

Hansard - Canadian House of Commons, 1994-present - includes House Publications, Journals and Order and Notice Papers

Hansard - Canadian Senate, 
1996-present - Senate Publications, Journals and Order and Notice Papers

LEGISinfo - provides information on bills before Canadian House and Senate


Indian Affairs Annual Reports (1864-1990) database, LAC

Canadiana Online
​​
1943 Schedule of Indian reserves in the province of BC (schedule to 1943 Indian Affairs Annual Report)
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Department of Indian Affairs, Headquarters central registry system :
  • Thousand series - Available reels: 73 reels (was very useful for Ulkatcho, Lhoosk'uz Dene & Nazko)
  • Black series - Available reels: 20 reels- C reels (and some T reels?)

Department of Indian Affairs: Indian Commissioner for British Columbia
Available reels: 37 reels - T reels

Office of the Indian Reserve Commissioner for the Province of British Columbia
Available reels: 6 reels - 3 C reels, 3 T reels

Royal Commission on Indian Affairs for the Province of British Columbia
Available reels at Canadiana: 13 
- Transcripts of evidence at UBCIC


JIRC journal
  • Vol 1, newly-acquired/digitized by RBCM
  • Vol 2, digitized by LAC

Canadian Archaeological Radiocarbon Database (CARD)

National Airphoto Library



BRITISH COLUMBIA, COLONY

UK legislation creating Colony of B.C. is available at RSBC 1897 (through HeinOnline, Provincial Statutes)
  • An Act to Provide for the Government of British Columbia (U.K.), 21 & 22 Vict., c. 99 (2 August 1858) - (this one also in Hendrickson, ​Journals of Colonial Legs.)
  • An Act to Define the Boundaries of the Colony of British Columbia, and to continue an Act to provide for the Government of the said Colony (U.K.), 26 & 27 Vict., c. 83 (28 July 1863)
  • An Act for the Union of the Colony of Vancouver Island with the Colony of British Columbia (U.K.), 29 & 30 Vict., c. 67 (6 August 1866) - (this one also in Hendrickson, Journals of Colonial Legs.)

GATOR: Finding historic Crown grants in British Columbia.

The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, 1846-1871

Archived Journals of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, 1851-present

List of Persons Entitled to Vote, British Columbia, 1875 (Sessional Papers)

FamilySearch.org - two separate databases for Crown grants (excellent - just needs free account => Search/Research Wiki - search "British Columbia", then select blue button "British Columbia Online Genealogy Records" for all BC sources) 
  • see Crown Land Grant Records, 1851-1874
  • see Crown Land Grants, 1869-1930
  • see also Pre-emption Registers (note: this is not ALL pre-emptions/registers)

LTSA for colonial maps - how to order: "Other Requests/Order Scan on Demand from Surveyor General"; see also Excel spreadsheet of ALL colonial holdings that Calvin Woelke sent me on March 16, 2021

UVic Vault - various collections, including historical BC maps (lots)
  • "Early British Columbia Maps" (from National Archives England), "Hudson's Bay Company Maps", "LTSA Maps"
  • Official Gazettes of the Province of BC
  • BC Legislative Assembly Sessional Clippings Books (1891-1972) 


BRITISH COLUMBIA, PROVINCE

Historical BC legislation:  go to HeinOnline (through CHL), then Legislation, then "Browse Databases by Name", then "Provincial Statutes of Canada"

B.C. Law Reform Commission reports, 1970-1995

Royal Commission on Indian Affairs (McKenna-McBride) - reports @ UBCIC

BC Sessional Papers - on UBC Open Collections site

omnibus website with lots of links to everything BC - Mary's Genealogy Treasures

To find District Lots
  • use ParcelMap (log in to LTSA site to get here) to identify PID or other identifier
  • input the identifier into GATOR (not the Historic Crown Grants GATOR)
  • from Gator, select "Report"
  • see also Crown Land Grants, 1869-1930
  • see also Pre-emption Registers (note: this is not ALL pre-emptions/registers)

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COMMONWEALTH

Foundations of the Common Law Library (1215-1914), online, hosted by Commonlii, the Commonwealth Legal Information Institute

Researching British treaties

British and Foreign State Papers

Australia - Native Title Law database



OTHER HISTORICAL
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George Gibbs, "A Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon", 1863
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Google Newspapers - including for historic newspapers

UBC's Undergraduate History Honours Thesis archive

Maps from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History


The Avalon Project, Yale Law School: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy

​

Legal Research & Writing
The Canadian Legal Research & Writing Guide on Canlii.

How to figure out if an Act has come into force (all jurisdictions), courtesy of Slaw Tips.

How to link to a particular paragraph in a Canlii case or legislation in your factum or argument.

Law Society of Ontario's free access to continuing legal education and professional development materials
​604-837-0874
​sarah@spikelaw.ca

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