An Act to amend the Interpretation Act and to make related amendments to other Acts

How it changed on the way

60% of the text as introduced was changed or removed by the time it became law (3,151 words introduced, 1,496 passed).

substantial changeintent narrowed

The bill as passed kept the core amendment to the Interpretation Act but dropped most of the related amendments to other acts that appeared in the introduced version. Several specific repeals and updates were removed while a handful of new repeals were added.

• The introduced version added a new clause updating the Fisheries Act; this was removed in the passed version.

  Before: “2.3 This Act is to be construed as upholding the rights of Indigenous peoples recognized and affirmed by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 , and not as abrogating or derogating from them.”

• The introduced version replaced the heading and section in the Canada Marine Act; the passed version kept only a new subsection.

  Before: “Aboriginal Rights 3 For greater certainty, nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from the application of section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 to existing aboriginal or treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada.”

  After: “Rights of Indigenous peoples (2) This Act is to be construed as upholding the Aboriginal and treaty rights of Indigenous peoples recognized and affirmed by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 , and not as abrogating or derogating from them”

• The introduced version repealed section 3 of the Canada Petroleum Resources Act; the passed version retained only the repeal heading.

  Before: “3 Nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any existing aboriginal or treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 .”

How precisely it is written

mostly preciseChallenging the law: ModerateDisputing a charge: Hard

The bill adds a uniform rule of construction to the Interpretation Act that references the exact text of section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and supplies a matching definition. It then lists specific repeals and heading changes in other statutes without adding new discretionary powers or subjective standards.

Clear-cut

• “Every enactment is to be construed as upholding the Aboriginal and treaty rights of Indigenous peoples recognized and affirmed by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 , and not as abrogating or derogating from them.”

  The clause supplies an objective interpretive directive tied directly to a fixed constitutional provision rather than a variable test.

• “Indigenous peoples has the meaning assigned by the definition aboriginal peoples of Canada in subsection 35(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982 .”

  The term is defined by cross-reference to an existing statutory definition, eliminating ambiguity.

• “Section 2.3 of the Fisheries Act is repealed.”

  The amendment identifies the exact provision to be removed by number and statute, leaving no interpretive discretion.

Discretion. No new authority is granted to ministers, officials or regulations; the bill only alters rules of statutory interpretation and removes existing clauses.

Challenging the law itself. A vagueness or overbreadth claim under section 7 of the Charter could be advanced because the construction rule applies to every enactment, though the fixed constitutional reference narrows the scope.

Disputing a charge under it. The bill creates no conduct offences or prohibitions, so disputes would arise only in later litigation over how other statutes are interpreted rather than whether a person breached this Act.

Read by a language model from the royal assent text; every quoted phrase appears in the bill. A reading of the drafting, not legal advice.