The following are shortcuts to some of the most requested types of Canadian Government information and publications:
Budget & Government Finance
Despite its name, the Budget is not a detailed account of projected spending. Rather, it is a policy document that includes an overview of the current state of the economy, development prospects, proposed taxation amendments, and the government's main priorities for the upcoming fiscal year.
- The Budget is tabled in Parliament by the Minister of Finance and acts as a major indicator of confidence in the government. Should the Budget fail to pass it could trigger an election.
- Major components of the Budget are a speech by the Minister of Finance, fact sheets and a "budget in brief." You can find the Budget:
- Online, from 1968 to present on the: Department of Finance Canada website
- in print, from UBC Library. Note, each component of each budget is catalogued separately under its own title. For example, you will find the 2009 budget speech by searching the Library catalogue for keywords "Canada" "budget" "speech" and "2009;" and you will find a wide array of related budget publications by using keywords "Canada" "finance" "budget" and a specific year.
If you want to examine detailed spending estimates for each federal department and agency you will need to look at the Budget Estimates. These "provide information on the total projected spending requirements of departments, agencies and appropriation-dependent Crown corporations for the upcoming fiscal year."
- The Estimates are available online from 1996 to present on the website for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.
- The Estimates, parts 1 & 2, are available in print from UBC Library for:
- 1886 - 1968 (some volumes are missing) at call number HJ13.A4
- 1968/69 - present at call number HJ13.A4.
- Note, even greater detail is available by consulting the Report on Plans & Priorities and the Departmental Performance Report for each department and agency. These are published separately under their own titles/authoring agencies and may be found by searching the UBC Library catalogue.
If you want to see how government monies were actually spent, the Public Accounts are the official record of expenditures by every federal department and agency for the fiscal year. These are prepared by the Receiver General of Canada and are available online for the current year on the website for the Receiver General, and for past years back to 1995 from Library & Archives Canada.
- The Public Accounts are also available in Print from UBC Library for 1870 - present at call number HJ13.A11. Note, some volumes are missing or damaged but will be in the Sessional Papers of Canada over the years..
Canadian Research Index
Canadian Research Index is a catalogue of Canadian federal, provincial, territorial, regional, and local government publications:
- "Includes federal, provincial, and municipal documents of research value issued by the federal government, the ten provinces, and two of the three territories (does not include Nunavut).
- Also has hard to find publications issued by hundreds of Canadian government agencies and departments; scientific and technical report literature issued by research institutes and government laboratories; policy, social, economic, and political reports; Statistics Canada monographs, and some serials."
- An excellent source of irregular publications that are elusive and difficult to acquire by other methods.
These publications have been filmed and are available in the Microlog microfiche collection, located at the Koerner Library Microforms area on floor two beside the print station.
- Each title within the collection has been catalogued separately and you can locate their call numbers by conducting title/author/keyword searches in the UBC Library catalogue.
- There is a print index to this collection covering 1979 - 2003 at call number Z1373 .M534.
- There is also an online index covering 1982- that is available here. Note, access to this online resource is limited to UBC students, faculty and staff and patrons working at UBC Library workstations
UBC Library also has a print index for Canadian Federal documents covering 1977 and 1978, called Publicat at call number Z1373.P824
- Although UBC Library does not have the Publicat microfiche collection, most of the publications referenced within the index are available from the library on an individual basis. You can locate all available documents by searching the library catalogue here.
Crime
Federal crime statistics are collected and/or disseminated primarily by Statistics Canada and are available in table format or, occasionally, as narrative publications.
Downloadable tables are generally available in Statistics Canada's CANSIM database.
- Statistics Canada also provides a collection of data files, Justice Statistics, which contains data from a variety of crime and justice surveys, including the Adult Criminal Court Survey, the Homicide Survey, the Transition Home Survey, the Uniform Crime Survey and more. The data are available in Beyond 20/20 table format. These data files are restricted to UBC students, faculty and staff.
Other key sources of crime statistics:
- Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics Series. This is a Statistics Canada publication that "provides analysis on a variety of topics and issues concerning victimization, offending and public perceptions of crime and the justice system. The profiles primarily draw on results from the General Social Survey on victimization." This publication is free to all and is issued at irregular intervals.
- Juristat. This freely available Statistics Canada publication is focused on the justice system and contains many reports on crime at the provincial and occasionally even the muncipal level. "Five issues of Juristat are produced each year. Each issue contains several articles on variety of topics, including crime, homicide, the court system, and correctional services."
- Statistics Canada also freely distributes the annual publication, Family Violence in Canada: a Statistical Profile. Though each issue has a different focus, the overall purpose of this report is to provide "the most current data on the nature and extent of family violence in Canada, as well as trends over time..."
Immigration
The two major sources of statistics and information about immigration in Canada are the Census of Canada and Citizenship & Immigration Canada.
Census of Canada has long asked a question about the country of birth or the immigration status of respondents. Thus, you can find Census tables with a wide array of immigration statistics, including languages spoken, mobility & migration, age at time of immigration, place of birth and current citizenship.
- You can access the Census of Canada in print from UBC Library in person at Koerner Library, floor 2 on the Census shelves.
- You can also access recent Census tables online on the Statistics Canada website.
- Census of Canada provides free access to analytical articles, reference materials and geographical tools related to immigration and citizenship at http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/rt-td/immcit-eng.cfm.
Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) has both research and statistics available on-site for free at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/menu-research-stats.asp
Royal Commissions/Commissions of Inquiry
A more comprehensive guide to locating Canadian federal Royal Commissions & Commissions of Inquiry is available from the UBC Library Guide to Parliament of Canada.
In brief:
- Commission Reports and all related research publications are usually published as individual documents.
- You can find print and microfiche copies in the UBC Library catalogue under their titles/authors. The author is usually the name of the commission or the commissioner.
- Both Library and Archives Canada and the Privy Council Office for the Government of Canada have digitized copies of recent as well as some past Commission Reports.
- Some Commission reports from before 1900 are also available via the subscription database Early Canadiana Online
A wide variety of indexes to Canadian Federal Royal Commissions and Commissions of Inquiry are available in print and online. See the Royal Commissions section of the UBC Library Guide to Parliament of Canada for more information.
