7. Technical Briefing Deck
Federal Law – Civil Law Harmonization Act, No. 4
November 21, 2022
Objective
The objective of this deck is to provide an overview of the following topics:
- What is Harmonization?
- The Harmonization Initiative
- The Fourth Harmonization Bill
- Consultations Regarding the Fourth Series of Harmonization Proposals
- Considerations
1. What is Harmonization?
- The harmonization initiative ensures accessibility to and proper application of federal legislation where it refers to provincial and territorial private law rules, principles or concepts in civil law and common law environments.
- Harmonization amendments are technical in nature, non-controversial and are not intended to alter the legislative policy underlying the targeted provisions. (See three examples of bijural problems and harmonization solutions at Annex 1.)
- Sections 8.1 and 8.2 of the Interpretation Act enunciate the principles relevant to the bijural interpretation of federal legislation.
2. The Harmonization Initiative
- Constitutional and Institutional Foundations:
- Quebec Act, 1774 and Constitution Act, 1867;
- Policy for Applying the Civil Code of Québec to Federal Government Activities (1993);
- Policy on Legislative Bijuralism (1995);
- Cabinet Directive on Law-Making (2003).
- The Civil Code of Québec came into force on January 1, 1994. Since the Civil Code of Québec serves as suppletive law for federal law, the reform of numerous rules and concepts of Quebec civil law has affected the meaning and scope of federal statutes that apply private law concepts.
- In light of the coming into force of the Civil Code of Québec, the Department of Justice established the harmonization initiative.
- In 1995, the Department of Justice adopted the Policy on Legislative Bijuralism. This Policy aims to provide Canadians with federal legislative texts that reflect, in each linguistic version, language and legal concepts proper to the legal system in use in their province or territory.
- To date, three omnibus harmonization Acts have been adopted (2001, 2004 and 2011).
- Other harmonization Acts:
- Three tax Acts, which included a series of harmonization amendments have been adopted by Parliament since 2000.
- The Act to amend the First Nations Land Management Act amended the First Nations Land Management Act to incorporate the concepts and terminology of the civil law of the province of Quebec.
3. The Fourth Harmonization Bill
- The Federal Law-Civil Law Harmonization Act, No. 4 would amend 51 statutes.
- The 51 statutes fall under the responsibility of nine departments: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, National Defence, Finance Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Justice Canada, Canadian Heritage, Health Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat and Public Services and Procurement Canada.
- The statutes to be harmonized include:
- Bank Act;
- Cooperative Credit Associations Act;
- Insurance Companies Act;
- Trust and Loans Companies Act;
- Financial Administration Act;
- Interpretation Act;
- Official Languages Act.
4. Consultations Regarding the Fourth Series of Harmonization Proposals
- The public consultations regarding the Fourth Series of Harmonization Proposals to harmonize federal law with the civil law of Quebec were held from February 1 to May 1, 2017.
- Since the public consultations, the harmonization proposals included in the fourth harmonization Bill have remained up-to-date, in so far as during this period no amendment to these proposals has been rendered necessary by the evolution of the statute book.
- In accordance with established practice, the consultation document was sent to more than four hundred key stakeholders and members of the legal community.
- Prior to public consultations being held, some stakeholders from the financial institutions sector were consulted regarding preliminary proposals to harmonize the four statutes governing financial institutions.
- The consultations have shown that the harmonization initiative continues to be favourably received by the legal community stakeholders, and confirmed that the proposed amendments are non-controversial.
5. Considerations
- Adoption of the fourth harmonization Bill would be an important step in continuing the implementation of the Policy on Legislative Bijuralism.
- Harmonization facilitates access to justice by making legislation more understandable for all Canadians, whether they are Anglophones or Francophones, and whether they belong to the common law or the civil law legal tradition.
- Harmonization contributes to the respect of both official languages, within the framework of the Canadian justice system.
- The harmonization initiative underlines a collaborative approach towards the provinces and territories, which respects their jurisdiction over matters relating to property and civil rights. This is of particular interest in Quebec’s civil law environment.
- Adoption of the Bill would show recognition of the importance of bijuralism.
Annex 1
Three Examples of Bijural Problems and Harmonization Solutions
As was the case with the three preceding omnibus harmonization laws adopted by Parliament, the fourth Bill contains standard bijural amendments, such as the following:
- The addition of proper common law and/or civil law terminology in cases where it has been omitted in federal statutes. For example, in regards to contract law, the appropriate civil law term (“mandatary”) is added to the pair of terms “mandataire / agent” in the English version of the statute.
- The replacement of common law and/or civil law terminology, which is inappropriate given the legislative policy underlying the targeted provision. For example, in regard to contract law, the terms « contract of services » in the English version are replaced by the appropriate terms both in civil law and common law (“contract of employment”) if the targeted provision refers to the concept of contract of employment.
- The replacement of common law and/or civil law terminology which is no longer used or is incompatible with a new private law legal concept. For example, in regard to leasing, the English expression “letting or hiring” is no longer applicable in civil law and is replaced by the term “lease”, which is the appropriate terminology both in civil law and common law.
Annex 2
The 51 Statutes to be Amended by the Fourth Harmonization Act:
- Bank Act;
- Cooperative Credit Associations Act;
- Insurance Companies Act;
- Trust and Loans Companies Act;
- Canada Business Corporations Act;
- Canada Cooperatives Act;
- Canada Not-For-Profit Corporations Act;
- An Act respecting the National Battlefields at Quebec;
- An Act respecting the National Battlefields at Quebec;
- The National Battlefields at Quebec Act, 1914;
- Access to Information Act;
- Auditor General Act;
- Canada Evidence Act;
- Canadian Dairy Commission Act;
- Telefilm Canada Act;
- Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act;
- Crown Liability and Proceedings Act;
- Cultural Property Export and Import Act;
- Dry Docks Subsidies Act;
- Escheats Act;
- Farm Products Agencies Act;
- Financial Administration Act;
- Food and Drugs Act;
- Canadian Human Rights Act;
- Interpretation Act;
- Privacy Act;
- Radiation Emitting Devices Act;
- Surplus Crown Assets Act;
- Visiting Forces Act;
- Hazardous Materials Information Review Act;
- Official Languages Act;
- Lobbying Act;
- Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse Act;
- Bell Canada Act;
- Museums Act;
- Plant Protection Act;
- Farm Income Protection Act;
- Federal Real Property and Federal Immovables Act;
- Status of the Artist Act;
- Contraventions Act;
- Department of Canadian Heritage Act;
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act;
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act;
- Tobacco and Vaping Products Act;
- Agricultural Marketing Programs Act;
- Anti-Personnel Mines Convention Implementation Act;
- Foreign Publishers Advertising Services Act;
- Pest Control Products Act;
- Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act;
- Conflict of Interest Act;
- Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 1.
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