About Learning about the Law

This wikibook from People's Law School will help you understand the law in Canada. It focuses on your legal rights and responsibilities under Canadian law.

We tried to keep the language easy, but some parts may still be hard. The words that are in italics are defined in the section, What the Words Mean.

Be sure to use the information in the section Find Out More at the end of the wikibook. It refers you to a wide range of resources that will answer your questions and provide help if you have a legal problem.

This wikibook was developed from a three-part series of booklets, Learning About the Law. The three booklets in the series are:

• Learning about the Law: Fundamentals of Law, Criminal Law, Civil Law
• Learning about the Law: Family Law, Young People and the Law, Older People and Elder Law
• Learning about the Law: Working in BC, Renting a Home

The Learning about the Law Wikibook © People’s Law School is, except for the images, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada Licence. This licence lets others share, reuse, remix, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as they credit the copyright holder and license their new creations under the identical terms. You cannot reproduce the images without permission of shutterstock.com.

Acknowledgements

• Content contributors: Gayla Reid, Diane Rodgers, Lou Cruz, Andrew Sakamoto
• Legal reviewers: Aman Sanghera, Nighat Afsar, Kristine Chew, Martha Jane Lewis
• ESL reviewers: Harvinder Dhariwal, Randy Keats, Bachan Rai
• Publications coordinator: Terresa Augustine
• Technical support: Courthouse Libraries BC and People's Law School
• Publisher: People's Law School

The People's Law School acknowledges the contribution of The Justice Education Society in the earlier versions of this publication. The explanation of getting legal help in the section on criminal law is based on the Legal Services Society booklet, If You Are Charged with a Crime. The section on family law is based on Legal Services Society booklet, Living Together or Living Apart. You can read this free booklet on the Family Law in BC website. The section is also based on the Legal Services Society publication Guide to the New BC Family Law Act on the Family Law in BC website. BC's Legal Services Society holds the copyright to all information on their site. None of its material may be commercially reproduced, but copying for other purposes, with credit, is encouraged.

This project is made possible through funding from the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia.

For more information on learning about the law, public legal education events or referral services, visit publiclegaled.bc.ca or contact contact the People's Law School at 604-331-5400.

The People’s Law School operates with an annual budget to keep publications up-to-date. Booklets are available in print and online formats as funding permits. Please check our website for resource availability.

The responsibility for using and interpreting this information is with the user.

The People's Law School

The People's Law School is a non-profit charitable society whose purpose is to provide British Columbians with reliable information about their rights and responsibilities under the law.

Suite 150 - 900 Howe Street

Vancouver, BC V6Z 2M4

Telephone: 604-331-5400

Email: info@publiclegaled.bc.ca

Website: www.publiclegaled.bc.ca