2025 LawMatters grants are here, with offers going out this week! Curious what might be coming to your library? You can find all our newly updated collections guides on our website, including the Law Books for Libraries list, Law Books for Kids, and the Retention and Weeding list.
In anticipation of your new purchases this year, let’s take a look back at your top purchases from 2024!
In 2024, our most popular topic area remained Children and Youth, a subject area which includes our popular Law Books for Kids list. This topic area included our most-purchased title:
The Law is (not) for Kids: A Legal Rights Guide for Canadian Children and Teens: This title discusses the rights of children and young people at home, school, work, and in their relationships. This updated second edition includes legislative changes to Indigenous child welfare legislation, the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the Divorce Act, and other provincial child and family laws.
After Children and Youth, our most popular subject areas were:
- Indigenous legal titles, focused on Indigenous-specific legal topics and reconciliation.
- Rights and Social Justice, featuring titles discussing human rights, discrimination, and equity.
- Criminal law.
- The Legal System, which features titles to help your patrons understand and navigate the legal system in BC and Canada.
Our other top titles were:
Basic Guide to Canadian Family Law: What Everybody Needs to Know About Canadian Family Law but Could Never Afford to Ask: This title is written with the average Canadian in mind and aims to inform readers about their legal rights and obligations when it comes to marriage, divorce, parenting arrangements, family violence, and more.
Geographies of the Heart: Stories of Newcomers to Canada: In this title, 18 newcomers tell their stories and show the many paths travelled by those coming to Canada. The book challenges misconceptions and assumptions about immigration and invites critical thinking about topics like belonging, exclusion, and displacement.
The Life and Death of Freedom of Expression: This title discusses freedom of expression as a social right and its unique values and potential for harm. It includes chapters on the regulation of advertising, hate speech, and public protest, as well as the impacts of social media.
Canada’s Parliament: A Primer: This title tracks the development of Canada’s Parliament over time, informing readers about the functions of political parties, the House of Commons, the Senate, and the Governor General.
Canada and Colonialism: An Unfinished History: This title provides both a historical overview of Canada’s colonial past and a contemporary accounting of Canadian’s continued support and participation in colonialism both here and abroad; by doing so, the author shows how both must be reckoned with before reconciliation and decolonization can take place.
Suing for Silence: Sexual Violence and Defamation Law: This title examines how abusers use defamation lawsuits to silence those who try to hold them accountable. The book draws on media reports, courtroom observations, and interviews with people across Canada to show the impacts of these lawsuits on those looking to report and on public discourse.
Métis Like Me: A title from our Law Books for Kids list, this colourful picture book lets Métis and non-Métis readers alike share, learn, and explore Métis culture and heritage.
Refugees Are (Not) Welcome Here: The Paradox of Protection in Canada: This title explores how the refugee claim system in Canada operates, from its origins to current day. The book reveals the bureaucracy of the program, which paradoxically welcomes previously unrecognized groups as refugees while making it harder for all to secure protection.
This article is a LawMatters Blog post written for current awareness at the time of publishing. Please check the publication date as some information may have changed since then.