1988-12-20|Department of Justice/Canadian National Printing Bureau
01 | Title
Statutes of Canada CD-ROM
02 | Department of Justice
I would like to present to you an ambitious proposal to put the Statutes of Canada on an electronic medium called CD-ROM.
CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory) is an emerging technology that promises to hold a vast amount of data on optical discs. Its application allows a book, a dictionary and even an encyclopedia to be published electronically on a 12-cm Compact Disc. Already, there are more than a dozen companies in North America starting to publish various information in this new medium, and I firmly believe that Canada could spearhead this new technology with a strong government initiative and support.
This technology, connected with a personal computer, is best suited for materials that require a lot of information searching. There are clear academic and industrial evidences that search time is considerably reduced if the electronic means is used.
Hypermedia Canada Inc. is a company being federally incorporated in Canada's Capital Region to apply the CD-ROM technology to the legal profession. We would like to publish the entire Statutes of Canada in a CD-ROM format called "Hyper-Statutes Canada" (to be trademarked). This would lead to a drastic productivity enhancement for your department as well as other federal departments, judges, lawyers, parliamentarians, schools and libraries throughout this country.
Using the CD-ROM technology, the 10-volume Revised Statutes of Canada which has been updated once in 15 years or so (the latest edition is 1985, while the previous edition was 1970), could be compressed into a single disc for the CD-ROM version and the whole set could be updated and issued every year. Thus, although the unit cost of the CD-ROM disc is expected to be higher than the 10-volume set which costs $675 CAD, the real savings result not only from significant productivity increase but also from tremendous reduction in shelf, cabinet and storage spaces in the offices.
This great opportunity to exploit the state-of-the-art technology, however, needs fair amount of Research and Development due mainly to Canada's unique bilingual requirement. For your information, the U.S. constitution papers have already been made available in CD-ROM format by a U.S. company, and the National Library of Canada is also actively pursuing the CD-ROM for various library applications.
Here is what I have in mind.
A 15-year exclusive licensing agreement with the Department of Justice to make Hypermedia Canada Inc. the sole "official" supplier of the Hyper-Statutes Canada products on optical discs.
Access to the source text if it has already been captured on a computer storage medium by your department. If not, we will retype the entire text.
Final proof-reading by your department.
Financial assistance from your department is not requested.
If you think this proposal has any merit and kindly introduce me to your expert staff for technical negotiation and contract, I would be delighted to pursue this Canadian dream with you.
Thank you very much for your attention.
03 | Queen's Printer
I am looking for an opportunity to produce and distribute the Statutes of Canada electronically using an optical disc technology called CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory).
As shown attached, I have communicated with the Department of Justice, and Mr. Pepper of the Revised Statute Commission has kindly indicated that I could receive more insight information from you regarding the production of the Statutes of Canada.
HyperInfo Canada Inc. is a new company established to exploit the optical disc publication technology in legal profession, and we are looking for a status of "official supplier" of the Statutes of Canada on CD-ROM format, should the Revised Statute Commission decide to choose the optical disc technology as the medium of electronic distribution, just as Micromedia Canada Ltd. is the official supplier of the Statutes of Canada on microfilm format.
Unlike the microfilm version which is essentially a photograph of the paper version, electronic version should be properly stored and indexed. Alternatives like scanning and offshore typing are not the answer in dealing with such an important piece of document that is fundamental to our democracy. I was informed that your department could provide the source text files essential for high-quality production of CD-ROM format, and I would like to pursue the possibility of close cooperation among Canadian National Printing Bureau, Department of Justice and HyperInfo Canada Inc.
I am ready to give a brief presentation (30 minutes) at your disposal to you and Mr. Pepper of the Revised Statute Commission on the proposal, and I am looking forward to an opportunity to explain to you the potential capability of this information technology.
