🧭 CCJ Citizen Toolkit — Part 1 of 4 Learning How Government Actually Works (And Where to Look)

🧭 CCJ Citizen Toolkit — Part 1 of 4

Learning How Government Actually Works (And Where to Look)

This is the Canadian Citizens Journal.

A lot of Canadians feel overwhelmed trying to follow government, policy, and the news.
That is not a personal failure. It is how the system has been made to feel.

Most people only see decisions through headlines, clips, or commentary.
Very few are shown where government decisions actually come from.

I am learning how to follow government using primary sources, not media summaries.
I am sharing them so others can learn alongside me if they want to.

Government decisions are recorded in public documents:
• Parliament transcripts
• Provincial press releases
• Court decisions
• Emergency notices
• Official statements

These sources are public, but they are not made easy to understand.

The House of Commons publishes a verbatim record of what Members of Parliament say.
This record is called Hansard.

Provincial governments publish press releases before media coverage appears.
Municipal alerts show what is happening locally.
Courts publish decisions that quietly affect rights, housing, and healthcare.

This is where policy actually lives.

Core sites to know:

House of Commons Hansard
https://www.ourcommons.ca/en/parliamentary-business/hansard

New Brunswick Government News
https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news.html

Council of Atlantic Premiers
https://cap-cpma.ca/news/

Municipal & Emergency Notices (example: Saint John)
https://saintjohn.ca/en/news
https://www.saintjohn.ca/en/emergency-notices

Court Decisions (CanLII)
https://www.canlii.org

You do not need to understand everything at once.
You just need to know where to look.

That is what this toolkit is for.

This is the Canadian Citizens Journal.