Last month I had the pleasure of getting a tour of the Legislative Library of Manitoba from Member’s Services Librarian, Mirabelle Boily-Bernal. The Legislative Library is the oldest library in Manitoba, whose mandate is to serve the citizens of Manitoba by preserving the published history of our province, support the conduct of public affairs and foster the development of a well-informed society by providing access to specialized information resources.
The Legislative Library has two locations – a Reading Room located in Room 260 of the Legislative Building of Manitoba, and the other located in the Manitoba Archives Building at 200 Vaughan Street. I visited the Vaughan Street location, just around the corner from the Law Courts Building.
Reading Room at the Leg
Aside from being a fascinating and beautiful historical building (the Library’s foyer space in the Archives Building was the original site of the Winnipeg Art Gallery), it is also an incredible resource for historical Manitoba Government documents. While the Manitoba Law Library has our own collection of government documents to support our members, the Legislative Library’s collection offers an excellent supplementary resource.
One of the resources our members might be interested in is the library’s Hansard collection (also known as Debates and Proceedings). Hansard is a written record of debates in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (see our guide to searching Hansard here). Before being published by the provincial government in 1958, the debates were summarized in local newspapers and collected by librarians in “Hansard Scrapbooks”. The library has a collection of legislative reporting in early Manitoba newspapers dating back to the 1st Parliament, 4th session, 1873-1874!
The library also houses municipal government documents, including the City of Winnipeg by-laws and City Council Minutes.
For those of us who long for the days of old school library technology, I’m happy to report that microfilm is alive and well at the Legislative Library. The library has an extensive collection of Manitoba newspapers on microfilm (dating back to 1859) that continue to be well used given the delicate nature of newsprint.
Our members might also be interested in the Digital Collection of Manitoba Government Publications, a digital collection of published Manitoba government documents dating back to the early 2000s. The collection includes reports of Inquiry Commissions and Task Forces, Departmental Studies, Annual Reports, and Financial Publications. Much of this collection has been converted using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, meaning that many documents have searchable text.
The Digital Collection is currently undergoing maintenance but copies can be retrieved by contacting the Legislative Library at 204-945-4330 or legislative_library@gov.mb.ca.
Finally, I had the opportunity to see the library’s rare book collection, which is housed in a climate controlled room that helps to preserve the books. The rare book collection includes 350 volumes (including law books) that were part of the Red River Library that served the Selkirk Settlers, as well as a bible belonging to Chief Peguis!
The Legislative Library of Manitoba’s two locations (the Library and the Reading Room) are open to Members and staff of the Legislative Assembly, to government employees, and to the public.
HeinOnline has added new journal titles to their flagship journal database, the Law Journal Library. We’ve evaluated these new titles and are highlighting the ones we think you’ll be most interested in. All of these journals are available to our members on HeinOnline behind the Law Society Member Portal.
Amicus Curiae
The official journal of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. Its mandate is to promote communication and cooperation within the legal community, and covers UK, European, Foreign, International and Comparative Law. This includes Canadian coverage, for example:
Corporate Liability for Breaches of Fundamental Human Rights in Canadian Law: Nevsun Resources Limited v Araya Amicus CURIAE 505 (2020) Peter Muchlinski
Criminal Justice Studies
A quarterly journal that publishes theoretical, empirical and interpretive studies of crime and criminal justice. The journal focuses on critical assessments of criminal justice policy and practices, with an emphasis on social science methodologies. Published in the US with an international scope, the journal includes Canadian content, for example:
Correctional Outcomes of Offenders with Mental Disorders 27 CRIM. Just. Stud. 63 (2014) Lynn A. Stewart & Geoff Wilton
Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees
A Canadian non-profit, open-access journal that publishes articles from academics, policy-makers, and practitioners in the field of forced migration. The journal offers a mix of social science and legal articles, for example:
Not Just the Luck of the Draw? Exploring Competency of Counsel and Other Qualitative Factors in Federal Court Refugee Leave Determinations (2005-2010) 37 REFUGE 61 (2021) Jamie Liew , Pia Zambelli, Pierre-Andre Theriault & Maureen Silcoff
Research in Law and Economics
This journal covers the intersection of law and economics, providing a mix of legal analysis, policy research, and social science articles. Although largely American in scope, there is some Canadian coverage as well, including:
An Economic Justification for a Private Standard in Merger Policy: The Merger of Superior Propane and ICG Propane 21 Rsch. in L. & ECON. 409 (2004) Richard O. Zerbe Jr. & Sunny Knott
Tocqueville Review
A social science journal in the spirit of Alexis de Tocqueville, with an emphasis on the comparative study of social change. American and French in scope, with articles in English and French. The journal does offer some Canadian coverage with a legal focus, for example:
Research Ethics as Social Policy: Some Lessons from Experiences in Canada and the United States 24 Tocqueville Rev. 61 (2003) Michael McDonald & Eric M. Meslin
One of the strengths of the Manitoba Law Library is our range of texts on evidence. We have titles specific to criminal law and family law, digital evidence, expert evidence, and section 24(2) of the Charter.
To help you browse, we’ve compiled some of our most recent print and online titles into this virtual book display.
How to use this display
Click on the image of a title you’re interested in to view the catalog listing (includes the abstract and subject headings).
Our library catalog allows you to create a reading list and keep track of titles. Click “select” at the bottom left of the book’s catalog record. You can add as many titles as you like to your list and email or print it for future reference.
We hope you enjoy this digital book display!
Print
The following print titles are available:
24(2) Exclusion of Evidence under the CharterThe Law of Evidence in CanadaModern Criminal EvidenceProof: Canadian rules of evidenceEvidence “rules” every family law lawyer needs to knowWatt’s Manual of criminal evidence 2018
Print & Online
The following titles are available in print as well as online in Emond’s Criminal Law Series available through the Law Society Member Portal:
Expert Evidence in Criminal Law: the scientific approach
The Law of Evidence, 8th ed.
Journals
We also subscribe to journals that exclusively cover the topic of evidence. These journal titles from HeinOnline Law Journal Library are available behind the Law Society Member Portal:
Digital Evidence and Electronic Signature Law Review – vols. 1-18 (2004-2021)
International Commentary on Evidence – vols. 1-14 (1998-2016) are available in full text
International Journal of Evidence & Proof – vols. 1-22 (1996-2018) are available in full text
As a student librarian doing a co-op at the Great Library, one of the first things I learned was locating point-in-time legislation. “Backdating” is the act of tracing the history of an act through its previous versions. In the short time I’ve been at the Great Library, I’ve had several questions about locating historical point-in-time legislation, especially for Manitoba statutes.
I thought I would conduct a quick refresher on how to access these documents using the HeinOnline database behind the Law Society Member Portal.
Let’s say for example you were interested in tracing back the Cemeteries Act to find out what the Act looked like in 1980.
Remember that:
Federal statutes were revised in 1886, 1906, 1927, 1952, 1970, and 1985
Manitoba statutes were revised 1892, 1902, 1913, 1924 (consolidated amendments), 1940, 1954, 1970, and Re-enacted: 1987-1990
In our example, the closest revision year was 1970. The Cemeteries Act in 1980 will include the 1970 version plus any amendments made up until 1980.
Next, look up the amendments and the 1970 version of the Act. We’ll do this by navigating to the LSM Member Portal and accessing HeinOnline.
Although the year we are interested in is 1980, it’s a good idea to go one year past the year you’re looking for. This way you catch amendments that were made in 1980, but weren’t published until 1981. Select the link for 1980-1981.
Scroll down the left-side menu to click on “List of Statutes in Continuing Consolidation”. Acts are listed alphabetically, and under the Cemeteries Act, we can see the 1970 Revised Statutes of Manitoba version and its chapter, as well as a list of amendments up until 1980, including chapter and section:
The next step is to put all of the amendments into context within the 1970 Act, and then we’ll have a picture of how the Cemeteries Act was comprised in 1980.
Did you know that Lexbox, the free online legal workspace, allows users to set up amendment alerts on CanLII to receive notification that a piece of legislation has changed?
All you need is a free Lexbox account and then sign up for amendment alerts by selecting a piece of legislation on CanLII. Click on the “Set up amendment alert” button and save it to a folder in your Lexbox workspace.
Lexbox will track amendments to the Act and notify you when there are updates. You can receive daily or weekly email alerts, or when you sign in to the Lexbox platform.
Lexbox will even tell you the estimated number of alerts you can expect. For example, 3 alerts per year are expected for The Public Schools Act.
Using amendment alerts with Lexbox is a great way to stay on top of changes to key statutes and regulations for your practice.
Due to the planned demonstrations at the legislature Friday, February 4, 2022, library staff will be working from home. We hope to be able to provide you the same great service as when we’re here, but there may be some items we can’t retrieve. We plan to be back to our regular service on Monday.
Please contact us by email only until then. Thank you.
The Manitoba Law Library would like to acknowledge with gratitude that we are situated on Treaty One Territory, the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, Cree and Dakota peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation.
Printing and Photocopying
If you need to use the library’s printing and photocopying services you will need to create an account. See us at the front desk for assistance.
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