User Guide for Hansard Indexes

A sitting index is provided each time the House sits and is organized on the Debates (Hansard) page. 

Sitting indexes are available for previous sessions and parliaments and can be found by navigating to the correct parliament (e.g. 42nd parliament for sitting indexes 2020-2024 and 39th parliament for sitting indexes 2009-2013) using the dropdown menus on the Debates (Hansard) page. 

The sitting index provides information on proceedings for a specific sitting, including legislation debate, introductions by members, oral question period, statements, motions and other debate.

The cumulative Business Index provides users with all of the procedural and legislative business that occur during debate.

Common business index entries include:

• Bills by name
• Bills by number
• Blessings and acknowledgments
• Budget
• Divisions recorded
• Documents tabled
• Introductions by member
• Ministerial statements
• Motions
• Oral questions
• Petitions
• Points of order
• Prayers and reflections
• Private members' statements
• Privilege
• Rulings and statements by Chair or Speaker
• Speech from the Throne
• Statements by members

The cumulative Members Index organizes subject matter and items of business under each MLA's name and is a good way to search for pieces of legislation a particular Member has voted on, or to view topics a Member discusses during debate proceedings.

The cumulative Subject index is the largest Hansard index and covers all business items during debate as well as the various topics and subject matter that arise during House proceedings.

Subject headings generally reflect government portfolios and topics particular to British Columbia, such as:

• Agriculture
• Children and youth
• Education
• Energy
• Health
• First Nations
• Housing
• Forests and forest industry
• Labour
• Tourism
• Transportation

The cumulative Voting records index reflects each member's votes during a session.

To view an MLA's voting record, navigate to a specific session and find their name in the alphabetical list. The records will provide each stage of legislation and any other motion that the member voted on.

Committee indexes for current and previous sessions are available: All Committee Indexes for current and previous sessions.

Indexes for LAMC, the Legislative Management Committee, are available for the entire parliament, and can be found on the main Indexes to Hansard Debates page under Current Session Information, Select Standing Committees. 

Public parliamentary committee meetings that include presenters are indexed by subject and witness entries. Links can be found on the Committee Meetings page beneath each meeting. 

Note: Indexes for House debates are prioritized by the indexing team, and indexes for some parliamentary committees may not be available for the current session.

Index entries are included for places, people, organizations, legislation, ministry estimates, committees, programs, initiatives and publications.

Subject headings reflect government portfolios and topics particular to British Columbia, such as:

• Agriculture
• Children and youth
• Education
• Energy
• Health
• First Nations
• Housing
• Forests and forest industry
• Labour
• Tourism
• Transportation

Subject entries refer to British Columbia unless otherwise stated. The main heading "British Columbia" or "British Columbia by region" is used for specific references to the province.

Examples of geographical coverage include:

• Alberta
• Fraser-Nicola constituency and area
• Kamloops, B.C.
• Richmond North Centre constituency and area
• Saanich Inlet
• Sicamous, B.C.
• Tumbler Ridge, B.C.
• Ukraine

Hansard Indexes use various abbreviations for common procedural entries, including:

• Amdts: Amendment(s)
• sec. or cl.: Section or Clause (of a bill)
• 1R: First reading
• 2R: Second reading
• C: Committee stage
• 3R: Third reading
• RA: Royal assent

Index entries are included for legislative procedure and events in the House, individual bills and ministry estimates. 

All bills introduced during the session are listed in alphabetical and then numerical order under "Bills by name" and "Bills by number." 

Oral questions appear in the index under the main headings "Oral questions by member" and "Oral questions by subject". 

Budget estimates are indexed under the name of the ministry (e.g. Environment Ministry). 

The Hansard Indexes occasionally use cross references to direct users to subject matter that is similar to what they are already searching, or subject matter that is filed under a different main heading.

See directs the user to the subject heading under which entries will be found in the index:

• Doctors See Physicians

To refer to a different term under the same main heading, the phrase "above/below" is used: 

• Forests and forest industry/Remanufacturing industry See Value-added sector below

See also directs the user to related subjects or definitive headings:

• Bankruptcy See also Personal debt under Debt
• British Columbia Transit See also Transit services; particular services 
• Education See also Post-secondary education

 Hansard Indexes are a useful tool to search for specific legislation on particular topics. To search for legislation, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the Debates page (note: this link will take you to the debates page for the current session)
2. Under Indexes, choose Subject Index or Business Index and browse the list (or use CTRL+F search) for the title of the legislation (e.g. Forest Act)
3. If the title of the bill is not known, choose the subject of the legislation in the Subject Index (e.g. Sales tax). There may be references to that topic, and if there was legislation about it, there will be a cross-reference under the subheading "Legislation" to link to the name of the act:
   
            Sales tax
                  Legislation See Provincial Sales Tax Act 

Note: it is often helpful to look up the same subject over multiple sessions to trace the history of debate on an issue 

To search for specific ministry estimates, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the Debates page (note: this link will take you to the debates page for the current session)
2. Under Indexes, choose Subject Index or Business Index and browse the list (or use a CTRL+F search) for the name of the ministry estimates (e.g. Agriculture Ministry)
3. If you know the name of the Minister, you can choose Members Index, find the Ministers name and look for the "Estimates debate" subheading

Note: Information about a ministry itself (e.g. budget or staffing) will be under the ministry name, as well as the sittings and speakers on the estimates. Information about the subjects relevant to a ministry portfolio will be under topical subheadings (e.g. Health care system, Mental health, Physicians)

To search for specific topics in parliamentary committee meetings, please use the following guidance:

1. Navigate to the Parliamentary Committees page
2. Choose "Committee Meetings"
3. Select a specific meeting
4. Choose Subject-Speaker Index and browse the list (or use CTRL+F search) for topics and speeches by Members, committee staff and witnesses