Where can I find the full texts, parliamentary debates, and status updates for Bills C-2, C-8, C-9, and C-63?
Executive summary
You can find bill texts, debates and status updates on official Parliament sites (LEGISinfo and the House of Commons pages) and government releases; for Bill C‑2 the government press release and Justice Canada charter statement and analyses detail contents and changes (see Government of Canada [1] and Justice charter statement [2]). Open-source watchdogs and NGOs (Citizen Lab, Greenpeace, OpenMedia, Michael Geist) provide detailed commentary, flagged concerns and timeline context around C‑2 and related border/security content [3] [4] [5] [6].
1. Where to get the official full texts and status updates — Parliament’s databases
The canonical places to retrieve full bill texts, readings, votes and legislative status are Parliament’s own tools: LEGISinfo lists bills and tracks files across sessions and sponsors [7] and the House of Commons site posts the official business, debates and records including Hansard (ourcommons.ca) where daily proceedings and full‑length transcripts are published [8]. OpenParliament (an independent aggregator) also mirrors bill pages and mentions from debates and is useful for searchable quotes and stage‑by‑stage mentions for bills such as C‑2 [9] [10].
2. Where to find government summaries, charter statements and press material
When government ministers introduce bills they publish press releases and a Department of Justice “Charter Statement” summarizing legal and Charter implications. For example, the government’s press release on the border bill explained elements of Bill C‑2 and linked to measures aimed at law enforcement access and mail controls [1], and Justice Canada’s Charter Statement for Bill C‑2 provides an official legal framing and explanation of specific parts of the bill [2].
3. Where to find parliamentary debates (Hansard) and mentions of C‑2/C‑9/C‑8/C‑63
Full debate transcripts and votes are recorded in House of Commons records (Hansard) accessible through ourcommons.ca; OpenParliament surfaces second‑reading dates and context for speeches (for example, C‑2 second reading and Commons remarks are archived there) [8] [10]. LEGISinfo’s bill pages will show procedural stages — introduction, readings, committee referrals, amendments and whether a bill died on the order paper — and thus let you track status and associated debate dates [7].
4. Useful independent analyses and watchdog coverage to add context
Specialist groups and academics published detailed reads of C‑2 and related bills that highlight privacy, surveillance and treaty implications. Citizen Lab’s preliminary analysis situates Bill C‑2 in the context of data‑sharing treaties and technical briefings from Justice Canada (noting the connection to the “Second Additional Protocol” and CLOUD Act context) [3]. NGOs such as Greenpeace and OpenMedia published explanatory and critical guides explaining perceived surveillance, encryption and civil‑liberties implications of C‑2 and similarly named bills [4] [5]. Legal commentators such as Michael Geist tracked specific reversals and redrafting of surveillance provisions in C‑2 [6].
5. The state of Bill C‑63 and C‑9: what reporting shows about fate and re‑use of provisions
Parliamentary reporting indicates Bill C‑63 (the “Online Harms Act”) died on the order paper after prorogation on Jan. 6, 2025, and some hate‑speech elements were reintroduced in Bill C‑9, the Combatting Hate Act [11]. That means for full texts and debate you should check LEGISinfo and Hansard for both the original C‑63 record and the separate C‑9 proceedings that repackaged parts of it [7] [8] [11].
6. Practical steps to pull the documents quickly
1) Search LEGISinfo for each bill number (C‑2, C‑8, C‑9, C‑63) to get the bill text, amendments, status and legislative timeline [7]. 2) Open the House of Commons site (ourcommons.ca) for Hansard transcripts and the order paper for debate dates and votes [8]. 3) Check Justice Canada for Charter Statements tied to government bills (for example, C‑2’s Charter Statement) [2]. 4) For context and critical reads, consult Citizen Lab, OpenMedia, Greenpeace and columnists such as Michael Geist for issue‑by‑issue analysis [3] [5] [4] [6].
7. Caveats, competing viewpoints and what’s not in the provided sources
Official government releases present C‑2 as a public‑safety and border security measure emphasizing law enforcement tools [1]. Civil‑society sources and academic analysts emphasize privacy and international data‑sharing risks and report technical briefings and possible treaty linkages [3] [4] [5]. Michael Geist reports the government removed some contested lawful‑access provisions in a later drafting of the border bill [6]. Available sources do not mention exact URLs for every Hansard debate transcript for C‑8, and a complete list of debate dates for every clause of C‑8 and C‑63 is not provided in the current reporting — for those specific items use LEGISinfo and Hansard searches [7] [8].
If you want, I can run targeted searches of LEGISinfo and the House of Commons pages for each bill number and return direct links to the bill text, Hansard debate dates and the latest status entries.