New Library of Parliament Publications

The Library of Parliament recently produced 2 new legislative summaries pertaining to bills in front of the Canadian House of Commons:

• Bill C-18: An Act to amend certain Acts in relation to DNA identification: "The bill amends the Criminal Code, the DNA Identification Act, and the National Defence Act to facilitate the implementation of Bill C-13, which was given Royal Assent on 19 May 2005 but has, save for a few sections, not been declared in force. One of the notable features of Bill C-13 is that it expanded the list of offences for which a DNA data bank order can be made."
• Bill C-44: An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act: "The bill repeals section 67 of the federal human rights statute... The CHRA, enacted in 1977, prohibits discriminatory practices on the basis of an exhaustive list of grounds in areas of employment, accommodation and the provision of goods, services or facilities that are customarily available to the public. The CHRA applies to federal legislation, federal government departments, agencies and Crown corporations, and federally regulated businesses and industries such as banking and communications. The sole exception of this nature in the CHRA, section 67 has affected primarily First Nations people governed by the Indian Act, explicitly shielding the federal government and First Nations community governments from complaints of discrimination relating to actions arising from or pursuant to the Indian Act".

More info, including the status of the bills as well as additional background information, can be found on the LEGISinfo website. LEGISinfo provides RSS feeds to track the progress of individual bills:

• Bill C-18
• Bill C-44