Need to see what a BC statute or regulation used to look like? QP LegalEze includes consolidations of BC legislation back to 1991, and regulations back to 2003. 

CanLII has current BC legislation, but the point-in-time only goes back to 2009. Meanwhile, QuickLaw/LexisNexis includes repealed BC statutes since 1997, and point-in-time from 2000 onward. 

QP LegalEze is an electronic product available to use, free of charge, at most BC Courthouse Libraries. Only the bound print versions of the statutes (check availability) are official.

Finding a Consolidation

  Click the QP LegalEze icon to open the program.

 Click the Agree button (bottom centre of page). 

Scroll down and click the date you want.  For example, I’d like to see what the Bee Act said in March 2003 about beekeepers entering property, so I’ll click the last consolidation date before that.

Click the + sign next to the consolidation number (top left of page):

It'll open a list of statutes, organized alphabetically.  Click the + sign for the suitable letter of the alphabet, then the act's title.  The act should open.

Tip: If clicking the title won't open the act, that means there's other content, like a table of changes. In that case, click the plus sign next to the title, and then choose the material that you want to view.

Searching within a Consolidation

Click the Search tab at the top of the page:

Choose the act(s) you want to search by checking the box to the left of its title. Enter search terms and click Search.

Tip: Select the Advanced search tab so QP LegalEze finds different forms of your search words (e.g. enters and entering in addition to enter). You can also select "Find synonyms."

My search terms are highlighted in blue in the results.

Clicking a blue highlighted term will show it within the context of the act. Note that my search terms enter and property are still highlighted. 

Updating

The consolidation is for February 13, 2003, but my bees escaped in March 2003.  To check for changes, I turn to the Table of Legislative Changes at the end of a 2004 volume of the Statutes of British Columbia. It doesn't show any in-force changes between the date of the QP LegalEze consolidation and my date of interest. 

Printing Tips

Use the Print Preview button on the top right instead of the browser's printer option.

If you'd like to print a page showing the consolidation date and that information isn't on the act itself, click the consolidation number. 

This should produce a page with the consolidation date (only works for 1997-Feb 2006 consolidations).

If you'd like help updating a BC statute in the print version, please call or visit the Vancouver Courthouse Library.