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.
The national Royal Commission on Financial Arrangements Between the Dominion and the Maritime Provinces was created by the Committee of the Privy Council’s Order in Council (P.C. 2231) on September 14, 1934. Sir Thomas White, lawyer of Toronto, was appointed chairperson of the Commission, with Justice John Alexander Mathieson, Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island, and Edward Walter Nesbitt of Woodstock, Ontario as co-commissioners. It was set up at the request of the three Maritime Premiers of the day: L.P.D. Tilley of New Brunswick, Angus L. Macdonald of Nova Scotia, and W.J.F. MacMillan of Prince Edward Island. Its mandate was to deal with the recommendation of the national Royal Commission on Maritime Claims of 1926 (also called the Duncan Commission), to change the financial arrangements under which the Maritime Provinces joined Confederation. The aim was for a more equitable sharing of revenues between the Maritimes and the rest of Canada. Sir White submitted their report to the Rt.Hon. R.B. Bennett, Prime Minister of Canada, on February 9, 1935. A dissenting opinion was submitted by Commissioner John A. Mathieson on February 16, 1935, and the Royal Commission disbanded.
The national Royal Commission on Maritime Claims, also referred to as the Duncan Commission, was created by Prime Minister Mackenzie King by Privy Council Order on April 7, 1926 (P.C. 505). It was established in response to the claims of the Maritime Rights movement. Sir Andrew Rae Duncan, British expert on coal industry regulation, was appointed Chairperson along with Hon. William Bernard Wallace, Justice of the County Court of District One in Nova Scotia, and English Professor Cyrus Macmillan from Prince Edward Island, working at McGill University in Montreal, as co-commissioners. (Professor Macmillan would later become federal Fisheries Minister.) The Royal Commission’s mandate was 1) to examine and make recommendations to address the Maritimes’ grievances against higher costs for transporting goods by the Canadian National Railway (freight rates), formerly called the Intercolonial Railway, as compared with other parts of Canada; 2) the lack of overseas shipping of Canadian trade goods through Maritime ports; and 3) the lack of action on economic policies promised at the time of Confederation. Public hearings were held in Halifax NS, Saint John NB, Charlottetown PE, Sydney NS, Amherst NS, Yarmouth NS, and in Montreal PQ from July 21 to August 31, 1926. In addition, many informal visitations to local Boards of Trade in the 3 provinces were made, along with a visit to Winnipeg to investigate the transport of grain, and private meetings held in Montreal and Ottawa ON. Evidence was received from over one hundred witnesses, including representatives from Government, trade, commerce, railway administration, and private citizens. The final report, submitted on September 23, 1926, recommended freight rate reductions, an increase in federal payments to the provinces (equalization payments), and new port management for Halifax and Saint John New Brunswick. After fulfilling its duties, the Commission ended.
The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Oil and Gas Board’s Socio-Economic Review Panel (SERP) was created on December 8, 1982 under Section 7 of the Canada-Nova Scotia Agreement on Offshore Oil and Gas Resources Management and Revenue Sharing. A two-person panel was set up with Mr. Hector Hortie, retired federal official, appointed by the Canadian Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources and Mr. Walter Miller, retired president of Scott Maritimes Ltd., appointed by the Nova Scotia Executive Council. The Review was initiated by Mobil Oil Canada Ltd.’s proposed development of the Venture oil well just east of Sable Island. The Review Panel’s mandate was to examine the socio-economic implications of production system options related to this development, in particular the economic aspects, labour and employment requirements, social services such as health care and education, infrastructure requirements such as transportation and municipal services, and socio-cultural impacts. The Review Panel worked jointly with the Sable Island Environmental Assessment Panel. Together, they held public information sessions in 11 towns in NS from Apr 30 to May 14, 1983, held public meetings in Guysborough, Port Hawkesbury, Sydney, New Glasgow, Dartmouth, and Halifax from September 25 to October 14, 1983, and accepted written submissions (briefs) from all stakeholders and interested citizens. The Panels’ main focus was the Socio-Economic Impact Statement (SEIS), part of the larger Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), written by Mobil Oil Canada Ltd. The Panel submitted its final report to the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Oil and Gas Board in January 1984 and then disbanded.
Founded in 1951, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (C.A.U.T.) is the national voice for academic staff representing 70,000 teachers, librarians, researchers, general staff and other academic professionals at some 123 universities and colleges across the country. CAUT is an outspoken defender of academic freedom and works actively in the public interest to improve the quality and accessibility of post-secondary education in Canada.
The Nova Scotia District of the Canadian Bible Society began in 1810 in Truro and 1813 in Pictou and Halifax as separate Auxiliary units of the British and Foreign Bible Society in London, United Kingdom (UK). The purpose of the Society was to translate and distribute the Christian Bible to the world. In 1814 Truro joined the Halifax society while Pictou remained independent until 1910. There was also a Yarmouth Auxiliary for a time. By 1840 the NS Auxiliary had 28 branch societies throughout the province. In 1848 the branches and independent auxiliaries (except Pictou) joined to form the Nova Scotia Auxiliary. In 1904 all bible society auxiliaries in Canada joined together and Nova Scotia became an Auxiliary of the Canadian Bible Society. From 1923 to 1950 Nova Scotia District included Newfoundland. In 1929 the national society changed its name to British and Foreign Bible Society in Canada and Newfoundland until 1961, when the name changed back to the Canadian Bible Society and Nova Scotia became a District once more, without Newfoundland. Activities of the Nova Scotia society end after 2009, and the national society’s status as a non-profit association in the province ended in 2023.
Cape Breton Island was made a separate colony in 1784, due primarily to the lobbying of American Loyalists looking for positions and land. The new colony's first lieutenant-governor was Joseph F.W. Des Barres, who governed with an executive council. The British government did not provide funds for an elected assembly, seeing little value in the island, its only resources being coal and fish, which were plentiful and cheaper elsewhere. Despite serving for only two years, Des Barres was an active governor. He opened coal mines, attracted settlers, and began to build the capital, Sydney. He was dismissed for spending unauthorized money to aid starving settlers. A lack of funds plagued succeeding governors, as the island's post-Loyalist settlers were mainly poor Highland Scots forced off their land by closure. The colony faced a crisis when Richard Gibbons, Jr., a lawyer, began a revolt against the levying of a rum tax, claiming that it was illegal to tax people without representation. However, the British government believed the population was too poor and ill-educated to support an elected assembly and refused to grant one. The inability of the council to raise funds, combined with pressure from the governors of Nova Scotia to have Cape Breton returned to their control, resulted in the colony being re-annexed to Nova Scotia in October 1820.
The Report of the Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall Jr. prosecution had recommended that the issue of compensation for Marshall be revisited. On March 22, 1990 an Order-in-Council was passed appointing Gregory T. Evans, Chief Justice of the Ontario High Court, as a commission of one to examine the adequacy of compensation paid to Donald Marshall Jr., in light of what the Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall Jr., Prosecution found to be factors contributing to this wrongful conviction and continued incarceration. W. Wylie Spicer was appointed Commission Counsel. Hearings were held early in April 1990 and the Commission reported its findings on July 5, 1990.
Arthur “Art” Joseph Arsenault (1906-1994), hotel waiter and wine steward, was born in Bathurst, New Brunswick to Joseph Arsenault (from Montreal) and Lucy (Withers) Arsenault. He worked at the Nova Scotian Hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia from 1941 until retirement in 1972. He married Margaret Louise MacDonald (1911-1991) of Antigonish, daughter of Sherwood MacDonald and Mary Ann (MacMaster) MacDonald, on 9 August 1930. Margaret also worked in the service industry. They lived at 11 Dresden Row in Halifax and raised 5 children: John, André, Patricia, Simone, and Joan Marie. Their daughter Patricia “Pat Sea” Lillian Arsenault (1932-2016) married George Earl Coolen (1925-1987) of Prospect, NS in 1954. Pat Sea ran a canteen, then a general store and post office from their home while George earned money fishing, then eventually became the custodian for Atlantic Memorial School in Shad Bay, NS. They had 6 children: Susan M. (b.1955), Mark A., Michael A., Denise G., Christopher C. and Kelly L. After George’s death in 1987, Pat Sea continued living in Prospect, became a folk artist making hooked rugs, paintings and displays of objects in and around her home. She died in 2016.
Jean Hazel (Nickerson) Crook (1920-2011) was born 14 August 1920 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She studied piano and organ at Maritime Academy of Music in Halifax from 1935 to 1941 and began teaching piano at age 16. She was a founding member of the Dartmouth Chapter of the NS Registered Music Teachers Association, was a member of staff at the Academy of Music 1943-1944, organist and choir director for St. Albans Anglican Church in Dartmouth, NS during the 1940s, then for Emmanuel Anglican Church from the 1970s until retirement. She married George W. Crook on 4 September 1948 and had 3 children. She continued to teach piano lessons in her home until the 1990s. She died 21 June 2011, in Dartmouth, NS.