Canada has two legal systems and two quite different answers to the question this page raises. In the common-law provinces there is no undergraduate law degree at all — the JD is a graduate qualification taken after a first degree. In Quebec there is: the baccalauréat en droit is an undergraduate civil-law degree, and it is the route into the Quebec bar.
How this list is ordered: Ordered by each university's QS World University Rankings position where it has one, then by research citations recorded by OpenAlex; one programme per university, and universities with neither measure are left out.
Same 114 records.
Counted from the intake stated on 20 of 114 records. A programme listing more than one intake is counted under each.
Ethics, society and law at Trinity College, part of the University of Toronto. The course looks at how ethical thinking, social justice and legal systems fit together.
This is not a professional law degree: in Canada outside Quebec, law is a graduate qualification taken after a first degree.
University of Calgary
· Alberta
Law and society at the University of Calgary, offered as a Bachelor of Arts. You study how legal rules shape the way people behave, and how society shapes the law in return.
It suits policy, government and regulatory work, and it also serves as a first degree before law school.
Dalhousie University
· Halifax
Law, justice and society at Dalhousie University, in Halifax. The course covers how legal systems, social justice and social structures connect.
Graduates work in non-profit organisations and in government relations. Dalhousie also has a law school for students who continue.
Jobs graduates go into
Simon Fraser University
· British Columbia
Criminology at Simon Fraser University, one of the best established criminology programmes in Canada. The course looks at crime, behaviour and the justice system from several directions at once.
It runs four years in British Columbia, with autumn and winter entry.
Jobs graduates go into
Criminology at York University, in Toronto, covering crime, criminal behaviour and the justice system in both theory and practice.
Entry asks for a recognised school diploma with strong marks, specific subjects including English and social sciences, and relevant coursework or research helps. International students need IELTS 6.5 overall with no part below 6.0.
Entry requirements, as the university states them
Université du Québec à Montréal
Quebec is the exception in Canada: it uses civil law for private matters, and its law degree is taken at undergraduate level rather than after one.
UQAM teaches in French, covering constitutional law and the other main branches of the legal system.
The named destinations split between government policy analysis and private litigation practice, which are very different working lives.
Jobs graduates go into
Toronto Metropolitan University
Toronto Metropolitan's criminology degree examines crime, justice and the way a society responds to both.
Theoretical frameworks and research methods make up the academic core, taught as tools rather than as history.
The three named routes show the spread: criminal justice research, social work in criminal rehabilitation, and consultancy to law enforcement.
Jobs graduates go into
An arts degree combined with a law degree, run by Wilfrid Laurier University with the University of Sussex in England.
That arrangement needs care: a UK law degree qualifies you towards practice in England and Wales, while practice in Canada needs a Canadian JD and provincial licensing. Graduates are listed as going into public relations and non-profit management.
Jobs graduates go into
Criminal justice at Ontario Tech University. The course examines the justice system across policing, the courts and corrections, drawing on several subjects.
Criminal justice is the study of the system rather than training for a job inside it, and policing in Canada is entered through a service's own recruitment.
Law and society at Acadia University, in Nova Scotia. The course covers justice, human rights and the way legal systems affect everyday life.
Entry asks for a school diploma with a strong record, ideally with social sciences or humanities, and a clear interest in legal and social questions. International students need IELTS 6.5 or higher with no part below 6.0.
Entry requirements, as the university states them
A law degree at the Université de Moncton, in New Brunswick, Canada's officially bilingual province. The course covers constitutional, criminal, civil and administrative law.
French-language legal education outside Quebec is rare and valuable for serving French-speaking communities in common-law provinces.
Université du Québec en Outaouais
A law degree at the Université du Québec en Outaouais, described in French and listed at three years — the usual length for Quebec's undergraduate law degree.
Subjects include civil law, commercial law and other main areas. The start is autumn. Three years to a law degree is faster than the graduate route used in the rest of Canada, if you can study in French.
A Bachelor of Arts with a criminology major at Thompson Rivers University, covering criminal behaviour, the justice system and the effect of crime on society.
The intake note says you can apply at any time, which is unusual for a Canadian university.
Jobs graduates go into
Criminal justice at Mount Royal University, in Calgary. The course covers crime prevention, law enforcement and the rest of the justice system from several angles.
It runs four years and starts in autumn only, so there is one application deadline each year.
Jobs graduates go into
Criminal justice at Nipissing University, in northern Ontario. The course covers law enforcement, the courts and corrections, along with crime theory and the effect of law on society.
Smaller universities usually mean smaller classes and more time with teaching staff, which helps if you need strong references for law school.
In Quebec, yes — the baccalauréat en droit is an undergraduate civil-law degree leading to the provincial bar's training and examinations. Everywhere else in Canada the law degree is a graduate JD taken after a first degree in any subject, followed by the provincial law society's licensing process.
No. Law and society, law and justice, and ethics and law degrees study law as a social institution rather than training you to practise it. They lead towards policy, government relations, non-profit and research work, and they are a perfectly good first degree before a JD — but they are not themselves a professional law qualification.
The entries titled Droit and Baccalauréat en droit are, and one record is written in French throughout. Studying law means reading and writing precise legal text all day, so the language requirement is considerably more demanding than everyday fluency. Confirm the language of instruction and of assessment with each university.
Not directly. Quebec's private law is civil law and the rest of Canada is common law, so moving between them requires further qualification through the receiving province's law society. Decide where you intend to practise before choosing, because that decision is harder to reverse than the choice of university.
Canadian law schools admit from every discipline and look at your grade average and admission test score, so the best preparation is the degree you will do well in. That said, the law and society and criminology degrees here build the reading, reasoning and writing that law school assumes, which makes the transition easier.
