If you’ve ever tried to search Hansard, the federal government’s written record of every parliamentary debate, you know that even though it’s been digital for a long time, historical records were notoriously difficult to review. That’s because when Canadiana digitized it, it was as pictures and not text. A University of Toronto team of political scientists, computer scientists and historians decided to do something about it.

In 2013, [Christopher] Cochrane teamed up with two postdoctoral researchers, two PhD students and Graeme Hirst, professor of computer science at U of T Scarborough, to create LiPaD: The Linked Parliamentary Data Project.

LiPaD has digitized and made searchable Canada’s parliamentary debates dating back to 1901. It also created and designed a website to make the documents more accessible to the public, a project headed by PhD student Tanya Whyte.

A huge thank you and congratulations to this team for making this part of Canada’s legislative record available to everyone.

Full article available here.

h/t KnowItAALL, AALL’s daily newsletter

Please note: The library will be closed on Tuesday, July 1st, 2025 for Canada Day.  Regular library service will resume Wednesday, July 2nd at 8:30AM.

The library will be closing at 3:00 p.m. today, June 30th, 2025.  Lawyers can ask Protective Services for access after hours.