Early Debates
The Early Debates of Parliament
Official reporting of the debates of Canada’s Parliament began in 1871 in the Senate and in 1875 in the House of Commons. Prior to this, there was no official record of what was said in Parliament, creating a gap in the documentation of Canada’s history. Further, Senate debates which began in 1871 were produced in English only.
The Parliament of Canada in collaboration with the Library of Parliament initiated a project to reconstitute the early debates of the Senate from 1867 to 1870, and of the House of Commons for the years 1867 through 1874, using newspaper reports of the day as the source of information. We have also translated official English reports of the Senate from 1871 to 1874.
These reconstituted and translated records offer a unique view of our parliamentary history. Debates for 1867 to 1873, and an additional Senate translation for 1874 of this ongoing project are made available here to all Canadians.
