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The Public Health and Welfare Committee was established under the provisions of Section 109 of the 1931 Halifax City Charter and by Chapter 56 of the Acts of 1940, an Act to Amend the Law Relating to the City of Halifax. The committee took over the duties of the former Halifax City Health Board, the Charities Committee, and the Prison Committee. Initially composed of the mayor acting as chairman along with six aldermen appointed annually by council, the mandate of the committee was to care for the health of the city, which included providing support for the city’s poor in the city home and managing the city prison.

The duties and structure of the committee changed slightly over time.

By 1964 the committee consisted of seven aldermen and the mayor, and the duties of the committee had expanded to include the supervision and management of the Halifax Convalescent Hospital and the Halifax Health Centre; to furnish support for the city’s poor in the Basinview Home; to supervise and manage the Halifax Mental Hospital and Basinview Home (with four people appointed by the province). The committee also had the power to summon witnesses and to examine them under oath in respect of any matter pertaining to city departments under its supervision and management, in addition to all powers delegated to a local board of health under the Public Health Act.

Halifax's Tuberculosis Hospital operated from 1921 until about 1959. Opened to treat the increasing numbers of T.B. patients post World War I, the hospital was first managed by the city’s Charities Committee. In 1935 the City Health Board and the City Medical Officer, who were responsible for the managing of city hospitals and communicable diseases among other things, took over the facility’s management. In 1940 the Committee on Public Health and Welfare replaced the City Health Board which then became responsible for managing the hospital with the assistance of the City Medical Health and Welfare Officer. Sources

The Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1935, c. 48, s. 49, 473.

The origins of Halifax’s Poor Asylum can be traced back to 1752 when a building on what is now Spring Garden Road became used as a workhouse to care for the city’s unemployed and criminal. In 1758 a bill passed to establish an asylum specifically for the poor. It was completed by 1759 but quickly came to house, in addition to the poor, senior citizens, orphaned children, mental patients, sailors, and medical patients. In 1867 the city and province cooperated to build another dedicated facility to house the poor and indigent of Halifax. The new Poor Asylum opened in 1869 and was located between Morris, Robie, and South Streets. Destroyed by fire in 1882, another building was constructed on the site of the former institution by 1886. The asylum’s name was changed to the City Home in 1907. Referred to as the Poor House, the Poor Asylum, and sometimes the Poors’ Asylum, the institution’s function was to accommodate, support, and relieve the city’s poor. During its years of operation the asylum saw a number of management changes. Known bodies to have managed the institution include the Commissioners of the Poor Asylum (ca. 1851-1866); Commissioners of the Hospital and Poors’ Asylum (ca. 1866-1878); and the Charities’ Committee (ca. 1878-1940). Records of this body are entered under the last name used by the body during the records' creation, and/or accumulation and use. For records of the Poor Asylum see also the later heading City Home.

Camp Hill Cemetery appears to have been first managed by a committee of aldermen called the Committee of the Cemetery who were responsible for the sale of lots. Dating back to 1851, and perhaps earlier, this committee worked under city council and with a keeper of the cemetery who kept records of the lots sold. The Committee of the Cemetery was renamed the Commissioners of Camp Hill Cemetery by 1906. Sources Beamish Murdoch, The Charter and Ordinances of the City of Halifax, (Halifax, N.S.: 1851), 61, 115.

The Committee on Camp Hill Cemetery was a standing committee of the City of Halifax that replaced the board of Commissioners of Camp Hill Cemetery in about 1924. Charged with managing and controlling Camp Hill Cemetery, the six members of the board were appointed by the mayor, approved by council, and chose their own chairman. The committee was dissolved in 1941 when the Committee of Works became responsible for managing city cemeteries.

Sources F.H. Bell and R.T. MacIlreith, revisers, The Halifax City Charter 1931, (Halifax, N.S.: 1931), 36-37, 214-215.

Major Osborne C. Crowell was appointed Director of Civil Defence in February 1942 by the Halifax Civil Emergency Committee (HCEC). Responsible to the committee, the director’s duties were to direct and coordinate the city’s emergency preparedness and civil defence during World War Two, and to implement the suggestions made by the HCEC. The divisions of the corps included air raid wardens, auxiliary fire fighters and police, first aid, rescue squads, demolition squads, water repair, emergency clothing, transport, commmunications, and mortuary service personnel. The Halifax Civil Emergency Corps was disbanded on October 31, 1945.

The Halifax Regional Library Board was incorporated under the provisions of chapter 148 of the Revised Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1954, the Libraries Act. The function of the nine member board was to operate a regional library and its powers included the ability to acquire and hold real and personal property; to equip, establish and maintain the library; to acquire and circulate books and other materials; to borrow money; and to hire staff. D.K. Crowdis served as the board’s first chairman. The board’s name changed to the Halifax (City) Regional Library Board in 1963 and then to the Halifax City Regional Library Board in 1966. The board was likely dissolved in 1996 when the regional libraries of the city of Halifax, Dartmouth, and Halifax County merged.

The Committee was to monitor the development and operation of the Burnside Waste-to-Energy facility, 1993 to ca. 1994. Its role was to:
1) examine the design of the facility and its safety provisions;
2) follow the progress of the environmental assessment process, construction, testing, permitting and operation of the facility;
3) gather information, including concerns and complaints, from local residents and from Council; and
4) review the requirements for public information and education.

In the end, the decision was made not to build the Burnside Waste-to-Energy facility

The Committee, which existed 1989-1996, advised Council on: the Dartmouth Heritage Museum; the preservation of Dartmouth’s heritage; cultural concerns; and any other cultural/heritage matter referred by Council. The Committee had eleven members who held office for one year. These members were: Two members of Council; One architect; One engineer; and Seven Dartmouth residents, preferably one from each ward. The Committee normally met monthly.

The Finance & Program Review Committee, which existed 1982-1996, advised Council on finances and programs. It also acted as the Audit Committee.