Thursday, November 27, 2025

The Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs has the honour to table its

SECOND REPORT

Your committee, which was authorized by the Senate to examine and report on the 2025 Annual Report prepared in accordance with the Statutes Repeal Act, tabled in the Senate on May 29, 2025, and the list of Acts or provisions of Acts proposed not to be repealed, tabled in the Senate on November 5, 2025, has, in obedience to the order of reference of November 6, 2025, examined the said report and list and now reports as follows:

The Statutes Repeal Act causes the automatic repeal of legislation that has not been brought into force within 10 years of receiving Royal Assent, absent a resolution adopted by either House of Parliament to defer the repeal of Acts or provisions listed in the annual report. The intent of the Act is to prevent legislation that has received Royal Assent but not been brought into force from “sitting on the books” indefinitely. This Act does not apply to legislation that comes into force upon Royal Assent, or legislation that comes into force on a day or days specified within the legislation itself. However, in many cases Acts, or provisions within Acts, come into force on a day to be fixed by the Governor in Council.

Section 2 of the Statutes Repeal Act requires that the Minister of Justice prepare an annual report listing the Acts of Parliament, or provisions of Acts of Parliament, that received Royal Assent nine or more years before December 31 of the previous calendar year but that have not yet come into force. The report is laid before both houses of Parliament. A list of items proposed not to be repealed is then prepared by federal departments and ratified by Cabinet. Until 2023, the usual practice had been for the Senate to adopt a corresponding motion to defer the repeal of the Acts or provisions of Acts as specified in the prepared list.

On November 6, 2025, the 2025 Annual Report and list of items proposed not to be repealed was referred to your committee for further study, the third time this annual report and list have been referred to any parliamentary committee. The goal of this process is to provide senators with the opportunity to invite department officials to appear before the committee to provide further information regarding the Acts and provisions listed in the 2025 Annual Report, and for officials to answer questions from committee members.

On November 19 and 20, 2025, your committee met with government officials from various departments responsible for the 28 Acts or provisions included in the 2025 Annual Report, including from:

• Employment and Social Development Canada

• Global Affairs Canada

• Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

• Department of Justice Canada

• Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces

• Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

• Department of Finance Canada

• Public Services and Procurement Canada

• Privy Council Office

• Transport Canada

• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

• Environment and Climate Change Canada

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

•Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

• Parks Canada

• Public Safety Canada

Prior to this meeting, the relevant departments provided written explanations of the Acts or provisions proposed not to be repealed, justifications for why they had not yet come into force, and timelines for their implementation where applicable, to the committee.

Your committee encourages the government to, in future, provide a statement of reasons explaining why the Acts and provisions listed in the annual report have not yet come into force, as well as a timeline for their implementation, when tabling the required annual report under the Statutes Repeal Act.

Alternatively, if future annual reports under the Statutes Repeal Act are to be referred to the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, or any other committee, for further study, the committee recommends that a consolidated document containing the following information be provided to the clerk prior to the start of the study, as this will greatly assist the committee’s work:

•A brief summary of each item contained in the annual report prepared pursuant to the Statutes Repeal Act.

•An explanation in plain language of why the item has not come into force.

•An indication of whether the government proposes to defer the repeal of the item, or to allow the item’s repeal.

•A justification for the proposal to defer or repeal the item, as the case may be.

•A costing or budgetary explanation of the financial implications associated with the repeal or deferral of each item, if relevant to the decision regarding the repeal or deferral of the item.

•A timeline for the implementation of any items for which deferral of repeal is proposed.

•A clear and harmonized numbering system to ensure ease of reference for members.

The committee notes that the coming into force of every statute or provision included in the 2025 Annual Report has been delayed at least a decade, and some for a significantly longer period. The committee acknowledges the repeal of items contained in the 2025 annual report could lead to negative consequences, and that deferral of repeal under the circumstances may be the best course of action.

The committee also acknowledges that some of the items included in the 2025 Annual Report have not come into force due to reasons beyond the government’s control, including the necessity of waiting for preconditions such as treaty-ratification, other legislative changes, or decision-making by third parties such as other states, provinces and territories, or First Nations.

The committee requests a progress report on the continuing study of the issues related to the coming into force of section 2 of an Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Act, the Civil Marriages Act and the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, S.C. 2015, c. 29, which is listed as item number 26 in the 2025 Annual Report. The committee requests that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada provide this report within six months.

Finally, the committee extends its sincere appreciation to the many officials involved in this study, including those who provided materials and who appeared before the committee to respond to questions. The committee appreciates the increasingly comprehensive information being shared through this annual process.

Respectfully submitted,