The national Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations was established by Privy Council Order-in-Council (P.C.1908) on August 14, 1937 under Prime Minister William L. Mackenzie King. Chief Justice Newton W. Rowell of Ontario was appointed chairperson, subsequently replaced by Professor Joseph Sirois of Laval University Quebec City in 1938, with Justice Thibaudeau Rinfret of Supreme Court of Canada, John Wesley Dafoe, lawyer of Winnipeg MB, Professor Robert Alexander Mackay of Dalhousie University Halifax NS, and Professor Henry Forbes Angus of University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC appointed as co-commissioners.
Its mandate was to examine the divisions of power and revenue between the federal and provincial governments; investigate the current taxation system for efficiency and equity; examine the public spending accounts and debts; and to investigate the existing system of federal grants and subsidies paid to the provincial governments. Their goal was to determine the facts of the situation and make recommendations for stabilizing government finances and strengthening the federation of Canada.
The Royal Commission made visits to each provincial premier in September and October 1937 before conducting 85 days of public hearings at Ottawa and at each provincial capital city starting in Winnipeg, MB on November 29, 1937 and ending in Ottawa on December 1, 1938. Only governments, recognized public organizations, and selected individuals were eligible to appear at hearings and/or submit briefs. The Commission collected over 10,000 pages of evidence, 427 exhibits, and 154 briefs.
At the same time as hearings were being conducted, they launched a detailed research programme on the economic history of Dominion-provincial relations including the national income, the financial history of Canadian governments, the economic effects of the Canadian taxation system, the role of municipalities, transportation, social welfare services, and labour legislation. In addition, they researched constitutional and legal matters such as the historical context of Confederation and the growth of governmental functions from 1867 to 1940. They also conducted a comparative study of public finances from questionnaires sent to all provincial Ministers of Finance covering 1915 to 1940.
Professor Joseph Sirois submitted their final report to Prime Minister William L. Mackenzie King on May 3, 1940 and the Royal Commission disbanded.
This federal Royal Commission was appointed by Order in Council on 7 October 1927 in response to depressed economic conditions in the fishing industry at a time of good catches. The commission was to investigate what could be done to increase the demand for fish, examine the price spread between the producer and consumer, determine how to further develop the inshore fisheries, examine the need for restrictions on the use of steam trawlers, review the privileges available to American fishing boats in Canadian waters and vice-versa, determine if fishing bounties should be continued, whether a system of inspection of product quality was warranted and to determine if modifications to the lobster fishery laws were needed. Alexander Kenneth MacLean, President of the Exchequer Court of Canada, was appointed as commission chair. The commissioners apppointed were Henry Ryder Locke Bill of Lockeport, Nova Scotia; the Hon. Joseph George Mombourquette (MLC) of L'Ardoise, Nova Scotia; Professor Cyrus MacMillan of Montreal and John George Robichaud of Shippigan, New Brunswick. G. Fred Pearson of Halifax was appointed as commission counsel. The commission reported on May 4, 1928.
In 1890 the British Parliament formally abolished colonial courts of vice-admiralty when it enacted legislation empowering self-governing dominions to establish their own courts of admiralty. The Parliament of Canada conferred admiralty jurisdiction on the Exchequer Court of Canada in 1891 when it passed the Admiralty Act. Canada was divided into several admiralty districts, each with its own judge. The chief justice of Nova Scotia was appointed judge of the Admiralty District of Nova Scotia. Cases pending in the Court of Vice-Admiralty were transferred to the newly established district court of admiralty. The Exchequer Court of Canada retained admiralty jurisdiction until 1971, when it was superseded by the Federal Court of Canada.
The national Commission to Inquire into the Problems of Marketing Salted and Cured Fish Produced in the Atlantic Provinces, also referred to as the Atlantic Salt Fish Commission, was created by Privy Council Order-in-Council (PC#1964-1672) dated October 29, 1964. Dr. D.B. Finn, former Deputy Minister of Fisheries for Canada, was appointed sole Commissioner. His mandate was to inquire into and report upon the export marketing problems of the salt fish industry in the Atlantic Provinces and Quebec, and the advisability of establishing a marketing board to control exports of cured fish. Commissioner Finn made a detailed study of existing reports, especially the Newfoundland Salt Fish Marketing Report 1963. He held public hearings in St. John’s NF, Halifax NS, Fredericton NB, and Quebec PQ from February 1 to 15, 1965. He submitted his final report to the Governor General of Canada in 1965 and the Commission disbanded.
The Camping Association of Nova Scotia (CANS) is a non-profit residential camping association that was established in May 1941 in partnership with other international, national, and provincial associations. The association supports the development and promotion of organized camping by providing opportunities for the training and development of camping leaders, acting as a referral source for information pertaining to camping, establishing and promoting accreditation standards for camping in Nova Scotia, and educating the public regarding camps and camping.
Robert Henry Campbell was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 3 August 1915, the son of Ross Douglas and Lily Alice (Wier) Campbell. He was educated at public schools in Dartmouth and Halifax. He attended Dalhousie University, graduating with a BA in 1936, a Diploma of Education in 1937, and a MA in History in 1939. He first taught at a private school in Stanstead, Quebec, for a year before returning to Nova Scotia to continue his career. He married Doris Jollymore in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in July 1941, and they had one daughter, Margaret. He was associated with the Lunenburg school board for 36 years as a teacher, vice-principal and finally as supervisor of schools for 10 years, retiring in 1977. He was an elder of the Central United Church; a Director of Pine Hill Divinity Hall, Halifax; of Fishermen's Memorial Hospital, Lunenburg; of Lunenburg Heritage Society; and of the Lunenburg Academy Foundation. He was also a member of the Lunenburg Board of Trade and the Curling Club. He was an accomplished amateur photographer, gardener, and craftsman. He died in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on 27 March 1983 and was buried in Hillcrest Cemetery.
John Campbell, originally from Argyllshire, Scotland, arrived in Pictou, N.S., in 1821 and relocated to Cape Breton before 1838. He served as lighthouse superintendent of St. Paul Island ca. 1843 and was appointed superintendent of the "humane establishment" for shipwrecks on the island in 1846. In 1874, John's son, Samuel Cunard Campbell, was appointed superintendent of St. Paul Island and was succeeded by his own son, John Malcolm Campbell, ca.1893.
James Malcolm Cameron was born in New Glasgow, N.S. in 1913. In the 1930s he began his career in journalism as a proof-reader with the New Glasgow Evening News, and later became a reporter and city editor. From 1939 to 1946 he served in Canada and overseas with the Royal Canadian Artillery. From 1946 to 1952 he was editor and publisher of the Eastern Chronicle. In 1953 he was founder and manager of CKEC radio station. Cameron sold his publishing and broadcasting interests in 1964 and moved to Ottawa, where he served as a member of the Canadian Pension Commission. From 1977 to 1979 he sat on the Pension Review Board. He retired to New Glasgow where he died in 1995.
Mary Byers and Margaret McBurney have researched and published a number of publications on pre-confederation architecture in Ontario and Nova Scotia, including: Atlantic Hearth: Early Homes and Families of Nova Scotia, (1994); Rural Roots: Pre-Confederation Buildings of the York Region of Ontario, (1979); The Governor's Road: Early Buildings from Mississauga to London; Homesteads: Early Buildings and Families from Kingston to Toronto; and Tavern in the Town: Early Inns and Taverns of Ontario.
Alex Busby was born on 10 April 1960. He was educated at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Cooper Union in New York and at the Banff Arts Centre. He began working in film making in 1988 with the Atlantic Filmmakers Co-operative. He has also worked with the National Film Board. He has worked in a number of roles in production and post-production as both a film director and producer. He was responsible for the Genie nominated production 'Folk Art Found Me' in 1993. This short documentary won twelve awards in North America after its release.
Gary Clayton Burrill was born in 1955 at Woodstock, N.B. The son of a United Church minister, he grew up in various communities throughout the Maritimes. Burrill graduated from Queen's University in 1978 with an MA in history. He held the position of managing editor of New Maritimes as well as contributing a number of articles to the journal and serving on its board of directors. He taught sociology at Mount Saint Vincent University, Saint Mary's University, and the Maritime School of Social Work. In 1992 Burrill was ordained as a minister in the United Church of Canada and became minister in Upper Musquodoboit. He was co-editor of the book People, Resources, and Power (1987) with Ian MacKay and also authored Away: Maritimers in Massachusetts, Ontario and Alberta (1992).
Dr. George Edward Buckley practiced as a physician in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia for 69 years. Buckley was born in 1847 in Sydney, N.S. the son of Rev. James Buckley (originally from Ireland) and Abigail (Brown) Buckley. His brother was Albert Hall Buckley (1862-1957), a Halifax druggist and his nephew was William Hall Buckley (1874-1950) a Guysborough jeweler and photographer. Buckley attended Sackville Academy and College in New Brunswick before studying under Dr. Samuel Muir of Truro, NS, for eighteen months. Buckley graduated from the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1867. In the same year he moved to the town of Guysborough where his parents were living and began practicing medicine. In 1872 Dr. Buckley married Eva Georgina Campbell of Guysborough, she later died in 1877. One of their children was Abigail Georgina Buckley (1874-1961) who married John Alexander Tory (1868-1950). Dr. Buckley's second marriage was to Celia Mary Pearson of Montreal in 1879 and they had four children. Dr. Buckley was known to be a traveling doctor, but a hip injury in May 1927 caused him to stop all travel, but continued the practice in his home until May 1936. Buckley was a member of the Canadian Medical Association and an honorary member of the Nova Scotia Medical Society. He died in Guysborough in July 31, 1936 at the age of 89.
Douglas George Buckley was born on January 16, 1891, in Guysborough, Nova Scotia. His parents were George Edward Buckley and Cecil Mary Pearson. After completing high school, Douglas left Nova Scotia for Toronto where he worked as a cashier for the Sun Life Assurance Company. When war broke out, Douglas enlisted with the rest of his Argonaut Rowing Club. He was stationed in Flanders, Belgium, with the 19th Battalion in 1915 until he was badly injured early in 1916. In the trenches, part of a sandbag wall fell on him causing severe damage to his left wrist. The injury became badly infected, leaving his left wrist and hand mostly immobilised. This was later diagnosed as septic arthritis. He was medically discharged from the army because of the injury, although he did spend nearly the full year in France and England in various hospitals convalescing. Douglas returned to Canada in December 1916 and was officially medically discharged form the army on October 31, 1917. He was able to return to in employment at Sun Life Assurance in Toronto, but never regained full use of his wrist. In December 1917, he married Mabel Louise Hall, and the couple went onto have three children. Both their twins, Margaret and Elizabeth, and son, Douglas George Jr., served in the Second World War. Douglas passed away in 1967, ten years after his wife Mabel.
William Hall Buckley (1874-1950) was born at Guysborough, N.S., son of James Buckley, merchant, and his wife Mary (Scott). William Buckley learned watchmaking at Waltham factory, Boston, Mass., and opened a watchmaking and jewellery store, Guysborough, 1894. He married, 1897, Effie M. Hadley of Guysborough. They had nine children, three of whom, Mary Abigail, Edith Willena, and Walter Guy, participated with their father to some degree in a photography business out of the jewellery store. Another son, Carman, became a professional photographer at Antigonish. William Buckley sold his photographs and "real photo" postcards, many of the latter by Walter and Mary as well as a few by Edith. He also had photographs published as postcards by Nerlich and Co., Toronto. Buckley became an optometrist, as did his son Walter, who ran the family business with his father. Walter Buckley revived the family's postcard business, having photographs from 1931-1952 printed by Thatcher Winger Associates. He sold the store in 1968, but continued as an optician out of his home until 1980.
Writer and novelist Ernest Redmond Buckler was born 19 March 1908 in Dalhousie West, N.S. He received a BA from Dalhousie University in 1929 and an MA in philosophy from the University of Toronto in 1930. For most of his life, he lived at his family's farm near Bridgetown, N.S., where he became interested in writing and published numerous short stories, magazine articles, book reviews, and radio plays. His best known work was his first novel, The Mountain and the Valley (1952). Buckler was the recipient of the Canadian Centennial Medal in 1967, the Order of Canada in 1974, and three honourary doctorates. He died at Bridgetown in March 1984.
Gunter Peter Buchta was born in Plauen, Germany, on 26 April 1924. Following a leg wound on the Russian front during the Second World War he used dancing as therapy to rehabilitate his leg. Dancing was to become a lifelong passion. He and his wife immigrated to Canada in 1950 and that same year he was invited to organize the ballroom dance department at the Maritime Conservatory of Music. In 1951 he founded the Corte Club and the Ballroom Dancing Club of Halifax. The square dancers became known as the Buchta Dancers and from 1954 to 1971 performed weekly on the Don Messer Show. In 1975 Buchta was appointed executive director of Dance Nova Scotia (DANS). He served as the first head of the ballroom branch of the Canadian Dance Teachers' Association, was the first Canadian to hold a fellowship from the Dance Teachers' Association of Great Britain and was a founder of the Canadian Championship for Ballroom Dancing. He also served as a judge both nationally and internationally. He died in Halifax on 3 July 1997.
John MacLennan Buchanan was born on 22 April 1931 in Sydney, N.S. He graduated from Sydney Academy and later attended Mount Allison University where he received a B.Sc. and Engineering Certificate in 1954. He then studied metallurgy at the Nova Scotia Technical College and law at Dalhousie University. He received an LLB in 1958 and began practicing law in Halifax. He entered politics in 1967 and was elected for the Progressive Conservatives in the new provincial riding of Halifax Atlantic. He was re-elected in the general elections from 1970 to 1988. From September 1969 to October 1970 he served as minister of fisheries and public works. On 6 March 1971 he was elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party. After winning the general election of September 1978, Buchanan was sworn in as premier on 5 October 1978. On 17 April 1982 he became a member of Privy Council along with other Canadian premiers who had participated in negotiations for repatriation of the Canadian constitution. He resigned as premier in September 1990 when he was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Buchanan was the recipient of numerous awards and honours including five honourary degrees from Nova Scotia institutions. He married Mavis Forsyth of Bear River in 1954 and they had five children.
Charles Ernest Bryant was born circa 1885 near Sheerness, Kent, England the son of Charles and Frances Priscilla Bryant. He immigrated to Canada as a young man working with Furness Withy Lines in Halifax, Nova Scotia, an international liner ship company with head offices in London, United Kingdom. He married Daisy Hutcheson on 3 June 1909 in Newport Landing, Nova Scotia. They had two children: Ian and Norma and lived in Halifax. Norma married into the Stairs family. He died on 11 May 1969 and was buried in Fairview Cemetery.
Elizabeth Olive Roberta Browne was born on 17 April 1897 at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, the daughter of Rev. Robert M. and Leila J. (Murphy) Browne. She was a former director of the Junior Red Cross. She died in Windsor, Nova Scotia, on 23 December 1984 and was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Born in Lowther, England, Richard Brown (1805-1882) trained as a mining engineer in the coal mines belonging to Viscount Lowther. In 1825 he was sent to examine and report on the coal mines in Cape Breton, N.S. Brown became general manager of Sydney Mines at Sydney, N.S., where he met and married Sibella Margaret Barrington (1808-1880), daughter of Captain Charles and Elizabeth Barrington, in 1834. They had six children: Margaret Sibella (1836-1854), Richard Henry (1837-1920), Charles Barrington (1839-1917), David Edward (1841-1906), Henry Yorke Lyell (1843-1928), and Sibella Harriott (1847-1911). Brown retired from the mine in 1864 and returned to England. He was succeeded by his son Richard Henry, who served as general manager until 1901. Richard Henry married Barbara Davison (1842-1898) in Pictou, 1864. Their five children were all born at Sydney Mines: twins Margaret (1866-1961) and Elizabeth (1866-1951), Annie (1869-1918), Richard (1872-1928), and Lillian (1878-1967).
Richard Henry Brown was born in Sydney, N.S., the eldest son of Richard and Sibella (Barrington) Brown. He studied at Harvard University from 1860 to 1861 and returned to Sydney where he succeeded his father as general manager of Sydney Mines, retiring in 1901. He was also an amateur photographer and artist. Brown married Barbara Davison (1842-1898) in Pictou, 1864. Their five children were all born at Sydney Mines: twins Margaret (1866-1961) and Elizabeth (1866-1951), Annie (1869-1918), Richard (1872-1928), and Lillian (1878-1967).
John Brown was born on February 1, 1771 at Draffan in the Parish of Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, the sixth son of John Brown and Margaret (Hamilton) Brown. He first sailed for North America in March of 1794. He lived and worked in New York, Newark and Philadelphia before returning to Scotland in 1796. In 1799 he married a widow, Janet Balfour. Between 1801 and 1813 he was employed as a foreman/book-keeper for manufacturing or mercantile businesses in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1813 he sailed to Halifax under engagement for Mr. MacWirter but was unable to find a suitable location for a store. He subsequently met Capt. Theophilus Crosby of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, who suggested a partnership. After 1814 John Brown carried on this business solely on his own. His wife and sons came to Nova Scotia in 1815 and they all settled in the Yarmouth area. He retired and transferred ownership of his business to his son, Stayley Brown, in 1824 and then with his wife retired to their farm, "Draffan," situated at the head of Lake Hebron. His wife died on April 12, 1844 and John Brown died on April 24, 1863.
Chester "Chet" Brown was a native of Wollaston, Massachusetts, who arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 10 December 1917.
Photojournalist Bob Brooks was born in 1927 at Watertown, Conn. After completing his education in the United States, Brooks moved to Yarmouth, N.S. in September 1949. In 1957 he established a commercial photography firm, Bob Brooks Illustrative Photography. His work appeared in Time Life, The Star Weekly, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, McCall's, Harper's, Maclean's, Chatelaine, The London Times, Paris Match and National Geographic, as well as 26 other publications. He was on retainer for The Star Weekly (Toronto) for eight years (1960 to 1968) but concurrently held other major commercial accounts. These included the Halifax Herald Ltd., for whom he covered events in western Nova Scotia. After The Star Weekly closed in 1969, he managed race tracks in Yarmouth and Halifax, and in Barrie, Ont., and supplemented his income by doing freelance photography. Brooks returned to full-time photography in 1972, working on contract for the Nova Scotia Communications and Information Center and joining its permanent staff at Halifax in October 1974. He remained there until his retirement in April 1992. Brooks received over forty international photography awards, which included Master of Photographic Arts (the highest award in Canada for professional photographers) in 1988, the Award of Excellence from the Maritime Professional Photographers Association, and the Art Directors' Award for Canada three times. He was a member of the American Society of Magazine Photographers, the Maritime Professional Photographers Association and the Professional Photographers of Canada. He was one of the original photographers who joined Image Bank International of New York in 1974. Brooks died in September 1999 and is buried in Yarmouth.
George Brinley was the fifth and youngest son of Col. Francis Brinley of Roxbury, Massachusetts. He married Mary Wentworth (1743-1819) on 29 October 1765. He was forced to leave the United States with his brother Thomas when they were proscribed as Loyalists by the state in 1778. During that same year George and his wife, Mary, moved to Nova Scotia. His wife's sister was Lady Frances Wentworth, wife of the Governor of Nova Scotia, Sir John Wentworth (1737-1820). In 1797, he was appointed Commissary-General for His Majesty's Forces in British North America, holding the office until at least 1808. He died at Halifax in 1809.