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Monarchy of Canada |
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This is a list of Canadian royal commissions or commissions of inquiry since Confederation.
In Canada, royal commissions and commissions of inquiry are official inquiries into matters of national concern, either in order to look into an important general issue or to fully investigate a specific incident. They are appointed by the governor-in-Council (Cabinet), according to the Inquiries Act, by an order-in-Council that includes the names of the commissioners, the terms of reference, and the body's powers; commissions are often referred to informally by the name of the chairperson or commissioner(s), such as the "Gomery Inquiry", a commission headed by John Gomery. The findings are reported to Cabinet for appopriate action; while these are non-binding, many have a significant impact on public opinion and the shape of public policy.
The Crown in right of each province can also appoint a royal commission. Federal inquiries are limited to matters within the constitutional jurisdiction of the Parliament of Canada; they can only look at issues within provincial jurisdiction that are connected to federal jurisdiction, such as policing on-reserve, child welfare on-reserve, etcetera. Other types of federal public inquiries include task forces and departmental investigations.
Since the 1960s, royal commissions have tended to be reserved for broad topics, whereas commissions of inquiry have more focused. From 1867 to 2013, there have been almost 450 federal commissions of inquiry, with and without the royal title; more than 1,500 departmental investigations; and an undetermined number of task forces.[1]
Overview
An inquiry called by the federal government into matters of national concern are known in Canada as royal commissions or commissions of inquiry. These consist of a panel of distinguished individuals, experts, or judges convened by the governor-in-Council (the governor general acting on the advice of Cabinet) to look into and secure advice for an issue of general importance or to fully investigate a specific contentious incident.[1] The same order-in-Council forming the commission will also set out the terms of reference for, and powers of, the commission.[2][3] This is done according to the Inquiries Act, which was first passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1868 and provides royal commissions, commissions of inquiry, task forces, and departmental investigations the power to conduct investigations by subpoenaing witnesses, taking evidence under oath, requisitioning documents, and hiring expert staff.[1]
Once the commission's task is complete, its findings are reported to Cabinet for appropriate action.[2][3] While a commission's findings and recommendations are non-binding, many have a significant impact on public opinion and the shape of public policy.[3][4]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Rowell-Sirois_Commission_1938.jpg/220px-Rowell-Sirois_Commission_1938.jpg)
In practice, royal commissions can be seen as commissions of inquiry under the Great Seal of Canada that carry a royal title;[1] though, apart from this distinction, there is no effective difference between the two. Royal commissions tend to be thought of as broader in scope than other public inquiries, often holding nationwide public hearings and publishing associated research reports, as well as their formal findings and recommendations.[3][5]
There are several different kinds of commissions of inquiry, which can be established under either Part I or Part II of the Inquiries Act, or any one of 87 or more federal statutes. The mandate of a commission of inquiry depends on the nature of the issue to be considered.[4] Advisory commissions usually have a broad mandate in order to ensure that commissioners consider all options and consult all parties with an interest in the matter,[4] whereas investigative commissions typically have a more specific, focused mandate.[4] Commissions of inquiry created under Part I of the Inquiries Act are considered to government departments for the purposes of the Financial Administration Act (FAA). Oftentimes, the prime minister is given responsibility for the commission for the purposes of the FAA, thus enabling the commission to receive administrative support from the Privy Council Office.[3]
Other types of public inquiry in Canada that are closely related to royal commissions include[1] task forces, which are normally composed of knowledgeable practitioners appointed by government departments to conduct concentrated investigations into specific practical matters. In the past, they have been assigned to look into such matters as privacy and computers, immigration procedures, retirement income policy, labour market development, fisheries policy, and sports. Though usually not as wide-ranging as royal commissions, some task forces have dealt with broad issues, such as housing and urban development, government information, and the structure and foreign ownership of Canadian industry.[1][6] There are also departmental investigations, which can be established by departments and other agencies under statutory powers of the Inquiries Act.[1]
Federal inquiries are limited to matters within the constitutional jurisdiction of the Parliament of Canada. They can only look at issues within provincial jurisdiction that are connected to federal jurisdiction, such as policing on-reserve, child welfare on-reserve, etcetera.[7] The Crown in right of each province can also appoint a royal commission, although, they are not included in this list.
Royal commissions
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Period | Commission name[3] | Nickname | Commissioner/chair |
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1868-1870 | Commission to Inquire into the Present State and Probable Requirements of the Civil Service[8] | Civil Service Commission | John Langton |
1869-1870 | Royal Commission to Inquire into the Cause and Nature of the Obstruction Offered in the North-West Territories to the Peaceable Ingress of the Honourable William McDougall | Donald Alexander Smith | |
1870 | Commission to Inquire into the State of the Laws Connected with the Administration of Justice in Rupert's Land and the North-West Territories | Francis Godschall Johnson | |
Royal Commission to Inquire into the Best Means for the Improvement of the Water Communications of the Dominion and the Development of the Trade with the North-Eastern Portion of North America | Canal Commission | Hugh Allan | |
1873 | Royal Commission Relating to Canadian Pacific Railway | Charles Dewey Day, Antoine Polette and James Robert Gowan | |
Royal Commission to Inquire Into and Report Upon Claims to Rights of Cutting Hay and Common in the Province of Manitoba | John Farquhar Bain and Joseph Dubuc | ||
1873-1874 | Royal Commission to Inquire Into the Cause of the High Springs Floods Which Occur in the St. Lawrence River between the Cities of Quebec and Montreal | John Dickinson | |
1874-1875 | Royal Commission on Prohibitory Liquor Law | F. Davis | |
1876-1878 | Royal Commission to Inquire Into Conflicting Claims of Lands of Occupants in Manitoba | Alexander Morris | |
1879-1880 | Royal Commission to Inquire Into Changes Affecting the Administration of Justice in the North-West Territories | Edgar Dewdney | |
1880-1882 | Royal Commission to Inquire Into Matters Connected with the Canadian Pacific Railway | Canadian Pacific Railway Royal Commission | George McKenzie Clark |
Royal Commission to Inquire into the Organization of the Civil Service Commission | Donald McInnes | ||
1882-1884 | Royal Commission to Inquire Into Certain Claims Connected with the Construction of the Intercolonial Railway | George McKenzie Clark | |
1885 | Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration | Joseph Adolphe Chapleau and John Hamilton Gray | |
Royal Commission to Inquire Into the Enumeration of Half-Breeds in the North-West Territories | William Purvis Rochfort Street | ||
1886-1887 | Royal Commission into Claims for Compensation for Loss or Damage Arising Out of the Late Half-breed and Indian Insurrection in the North-West Territories | J. Alphonse Ouimet | |
Royal Commission on the Leasing of Water-Power on the Lachine Canal | Etienne H. Parent | ||
Royal Commission to Inquire into and Report upon the Enumeration of Half-Breeds in the North-West Territories Outside of Manitoba | Roger Goulet | ||
1886-1888 | Royal Commission on Railways | Alexander Tilloch Galt | |
1886-1889 | Royal Commission on the Relations of Labour and Capital | James S. Armstrong (1886–88) and Augustus Toplady Freed (1888–89) | |
1891-1892 | Royal Commission on Civil Service | George Hague | |
1892 | Royal Commission in Reference to Certain Charges Made Against the Honourable Sir. A.P. Caron, K.C.M.G. | Adolphe Basile Routhier and Melbourne McTaggart Tait | |
1895 | Royal Commission on the Liquor Traffic in Canada | Joseph Hickson | |
1898-1899 | Royal Commission on Lobster Industry | Edward Ernest Prince | |
1899-1900 | Royal Commission on the Shipment and Transportation of Grain | Albert Elswood Richards and Edmund John Senkler | |
1900-1902 | Royal Commission on Chinese and Japanese Immigration | Roger Conger Clute | |
1901 | Royal Commission to Investigate Charges Made Against Grain Inspectors at Montreal | David Horn | |
1902-1903 | Royal Commission on the Tobacco Trade | Duncan Byron MacTavish | |
1903 | Royal Commission to Investigate Industrial Disputes in the Province of British Columbia | Gordon Hunter | |
1903-1906 | Royal Commission on Transportation | Robert Redford | |
1904-1905 | Royal Commission on Italian Immigration | John Winchester | |
Royal Commission to Investigate Alleged Employment of Aliens in Connection with the Surveys of the Proposed Grand Trunk Pacific Railway | |||
1905 | Royal Commission to Investigate Alleged Employment of Aliens by the Père Marquette Railway Company in Canada | ||
1906-1907 | Royal Commission on Life Insurance | Duncan Byron MacTavish | |
1906-1908 | Royal Commission on the Grain Trade of Canada | John Millar | |
1907 | Royal Commission on a Dispute Respecting Hours of Employment Between the Bell Telephone Company of Canada, Ltd., and Operators at Toronto, Ont. | William Lyon Mackenzie King | |
1907-1908 | Royal Commission Appointed to Investigate Methods by Which Oriental Labourers Have Been Induced to Come to Canada | ||
Royal Commission on the Civil Service | John Mortimer Courtney | ||
Royal Commission on the Quebec Bridge Inquiry | Henry Holgate | ||
Royal Commission Regarding Losses Sustained by the Japanese Population of Vancouver, British Columbia, on the Occasion of the Riots in that City in September, 1907 | William Lyon Mackenzie King | ||
1908 | Royal Commission to Investigate Losses by the Chinese Population of Vancouver, British Columbia, on the Occasion of the Riots in That City in September, 1907 | ||
1908-1909 | Royal Commission on Cotton Factories Industrial Disputes | ||
1910-1913 | Royal Commission on Industrial Training and Technical Education | James Wilson Robertson | |
1912 | Royal Commission of Inquiry in the Matter of the Farmers' Bank of Canada | William Ralph Meredith | |
1912-1913 | Royal Commission on Weighing of Butter and Cheese | Robert Alexander Pringle | |
1912-1914 | Royal Commission on the Records of the Public Departments | Joseph Pope | |
1913 | Royal Commission to Investigate Coal-Mining Disputes on Vancouver Island | Samuel Price | |
1913-1914 | Royal Commission to Investigate the State and Management of the Kingston Penitentiary | George Milnes Macdonnell | |
1913-1916 | Royal Commission on Indian Affairs | The McKenna–McBride Commission | Nathaniel Whitworth White |
1914-18 | Royal Commission on Georgian Bay Canal | William Sanford Evans | |
1915-1917 | Royal Commission to Inquire into the Purchase by and on Behalf of the Government of the Dominion of Canada, of Arms, Munitions, Implements, Materials, Horses, Supplies, and other things for the Purchase of the Present Warmission Concerning Purchase of War Supplies and Sale of Small Arms Ammunition | Charles Peers Davidson | |
1916 | Royal Commission Appointed to Inquire Into Certain Contracts Made by the Shell Committee | William Ralph Meredith | |
Royal Commission re Parliament Buildings Fire at Ottawa, February 3, 1916 | Duncan Byron MacTavish and Robert Abercrombie Pringle | ||
Royal Commission to Inquire Into and Report Upon the Conditions in Regard to the Delivery of Cargoes of Coal to Coasting Vessels in the Maritime Provinces | Wilfred Eddy Tupper | ||
1916-1917 | Royal Commission to Inquire into Railways and Transportation in Canada | Alfred Holland Smith | |
1917-1918 | Royal Commission on Newsprint | Robert Abercrombie Pringle | |
1918 | Royal Commission Appointed to Enquire into Differences Between Metal Contract Shops and Automobile Repair Shops at Winnipeg, and Certain of Their Employees | Thomas Graham Mathers | |
Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Shipyards in Vancouver | Edward Burns | ||
Royal Commission to Inquire into the Alleged Unrest Existing in the Shipbuilding Industry in the Province of Quebec | Farquhar Stuart MacLennan | ||
1918-1919 | Royal Commission on Conditions in the Pilotage Districts of Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo and New Westminster | Thomas Robb | |
Royal Commission on the Pilotage Districts of Miramichi, Sydney, Louisbourg, Halifax, St. John, Montreal and Quebec | |||
1919 | Royal Commission on Industrial Relations | The Mathers Commission | Thomas Graham Mathers |
1919-1920 | Royal Commission in Racing Inquiry | John Gunion Rutherford | |
1919-1922 | Royal Commission on the Possibilities of the Reindeer and Musk-ox Industries in the Arctic and Subarctic Regions | ||
1920 | Royal Commission to Investigate the Dispute Between Members of the General Cartage and Warehousemen's Association of British Columbia and Certain of Their Employees | William H. Vance | |
1921-1928 | Royal Commission on Reparation Claims | James Friel | |
1922 | Royal Commission on British Columbia Fisheries | William Duff | |
1922-1924 | Royal Commission on Pensions and Re-establishment | James Layton Ralston | |
1923 | Royal Commission on Great Lakes Grain Rates | Simon James McLean | |
Royal Commission to Inquire Into Industrial Unrest Among the Steel Workers at Sydney, N.S. | James Wilson Robertson | ||
1923-1924 | Royal Commission on Pulpwood | Joseph Picard | |
1923-1925 | Royal Grain Inquiry Commission | William Ferdinand Alphonse Turgeon | |
1924 | Royal Commission to Inquire into and Report upon Affairs of the Home Bank of Canada and in the Matter of the Petition of the Depositors in the said Home Bank of Canada | Royal Commission re Home Bank | Harrison Andrew McKeown |
1926 | Royal Commission on Maritime Claims | The Duncan Commission | Andrew Rae Duncan |
1926-1928 | Royal Commission on Customs and Excise inquiry | James Thomas Brown and Francois Xavier Lemieux | |
1927-1928 | Royal Commission on Reconveyance of Land to British Columbia | William Melville Martin | |
Royal Commission to Investigate Charges of Political Partisanship in the Department of Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment | Alfred Taylour Hunter | ||
Royal Commission to Investigate the Fisheries of the Maritime Provinces and the Magdalen Islands | Alexander Kenneth Maclean | ||
1928-1929 | Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting | The Aird Commission | John Aird |
Royal Commission on the Transfer of the Natural Resources of Manitoba | William Ferdinand Alphonse Turgeon | ||
1929-1930 | Royal Commission on Technical and Professional Services | Edward Wentworth Beatty | |
1930-1933 | Royal Commission on Reparations | Errol Malcolm William McDougall | |
1931 | Royal Commission to Inquire into Trading in Grain Futures | Josiah Stamp | |