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The Dept. of Municipal Affairs was established in 1934 with the enactment of the Department of Municipal Affairs Act (SBC 1934, c. 52). Prior to that, municipal matters had been administered by a municipal branch of the Dept. of the Attorney-General.

The Dept. of Municipal Affairs was responsible for administration, review and processing of by-laws relative to municipalities, regional districts, and improvement districts; evaluation of administrative practices and procedures, including financial management, of local governments; special programs respecting building regulations; and regional planning processes for municipalities and regional districts.

In 1976, the mandate and functions of the Dept. of Housing and the Dept. of Municipal Affairs were merged and the department was renamed the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (OIC 3199/76).

In 1873, the Victoria and Esquimalt Railway was incorporated to build a railroad from Victoria to Esquimalt harbor, contingent upon the choice of the Pacific terminus for the Canadian Pacific Railway (BCS 1873, 23).

Gladys Winnifred Beall was a school teacher in Victoria, B.C. She was born in Montreal in 1889 and moved to Victoria in 1911. She began teaching in 1922, first at the Kingston Street School and from 1925 to 1950, she taught at Oaklands. She was active in the Metropolitan Church and "Canadian girls in training" program at that church. She died in Victoria in August 1977 at the age of 87.

Ed. Conway was a telegraph operator with the Grand Trunk Railway Company and was assistant engineer on the Overland Telegraph project in British Columbia. He died in Victoria in 1878.

Lorne Ross was born November 26, 1878, in Montreal Quebec. A broker by trade, he married Katherine Helen Ross, with whom he had one son, Kenneth Cameron Ross. He was a member of the Canadian Active Militia as an officer for over twelve years before war broke out in 1914; having served in the 13th Scottish Light Dragoons, 22nd Saskatoon Light Horse, the 29th Light Horse, and the 50th Gordon Highlanders.
Ross was wounded while serving in France in 1915 and was subsequently recalled to Canada, where he was offered command of the 67th battalion, with the responsibility of recruiting and training the battalion at its headquarters at Willows Camp, Victoria B.C. As commanding officer, Ross received widespread recognition for applying his experience from the front-lines in France to the selection of recruits for the new battalion. The newly formed 67th Western Scots departed for overseas service in March 1916. The battalion served in France until it was merged with other units of the 4th Division in 1917. Ross was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Mentioned in Dispatches in 1917.
Ross served until he was officially discharged on January 8, 1919. He returned to his home in Victoria, B.C. where he worked as a life insurance agent until his retirement in 1940. He died in 1951.

Thomas William Parsons was Commissioner of the B.C. Provincial Police. Parsons was born in 1882 in Old Charleton, England. He was a police officer who served forces in three countries in the course of his career, including England (as a volunteer with the City of London Artillery and the First Bedfordshire Regiment, 1899-1904), South Africa (South African Constabulary, 1904-1909) and Canada (British Columbia Provincial Police [BCPP]) 1912-1947). He emigrated to Canada in 1909, and after ranching in Alberta for a few years, was hired as a special constable with the BCPP in Peace River, and stayed with the force for 35 years, working in every region of the province and rising through the ranks to become Commissioner in charge of the force. His contributions to the force included reorganizing it into a division-district-detachment plan in 1924, designing the BCPP uniform (also in 1924), and administering the Police Training School (from its beginning in 1929). He retired three years before the dissolution of the BCPP to become administrator of the Queen Alexandra Solarium, and continued to be active in community life as provincial commissioner of the Boy Scouts Association. Parsons died in 1960 in Victoria, BC.

Agnes Deans Cameron (1863-1912) was born in Victoria, British Columbia to Jessie Cameron (nee Anderson) and Duncan Cameron. Cameron’s career in education spanned 1879-1906. She became the first female high school teacher in 1891 and the first female principal in 1894 in British Columbia’s public school system. In 1906, controversy ended her career in education and Cameron, already an accomplished writer, began her professional career in writing which focused on promoting the Canadian west. This inspired her to travel from Winnipeg to Herschel Island and back in 1908 with her niece Jessie Cameron Brown. Cameron is most known for her book documenting this adventure, "The New North", which was published in 1910. Cameron died in Victoria of pneumonia.

Agnes Deans Cameron’s parents were both from Scotland. They independently immigrated to Sacramento California, her mother moving for adventure and her father for gold mining opportunities, and this is where they met. In 1860, the Cameron’s moved to Victoria BC to follow the Fraser River gold rush. The family lived in James Bay, at the corner of Birdcage Walk (now Government St) and Superior St. Cameron was the youngest of five children: William, Charles, Margaret (d.), and Barbara who were born in Sacramento and Jessie who, like Agnes, was born in Victoria.

There was no public school system in British Columbia until 1872 and the first high school was opened in Victoria in 1876. Cameron was among the first students to be accepted into the teacher’s training program at Victoria High School when it opened. She taught in British Columbia from 1879-1906, starting her career at Angela College, a private school in Victoria, before moving into the public school system where she taught at rural schools in Port Augusta (now Comox) and Hastings Mill in Burrard Inlet. In 1891, she was hired at Victoria High School where she taught third division, becoming the province’s first female high school teacher in the public school system. Cameron also became the province’s first female public school principal when she was hired at South Park Elementary in 1894.

Cameron was a controversial figure in the public school system and clashed on more than one occasion with education officials. In 1901, Cameron fought the Board of School Trustees on a proposed pay raise for male assistant teacher but not for women. Cameron was featured in the Daily Colonist newspaper speaking out against the proposed wage disparity, however was unsuccessful in preventing it. Cameron became embroiled in public controversy again in 1905 when the students graduating from South Park elementary were accused of cheating in the technical drawing portion of their high school entrance exams. The exam evaluator gave zero marks for all of the drawing books submitted from South Park School. Cameron appealed this decision and was fired for insubordination with her teaching certificate suspended for three years. This decision led to public outcry from Victoria residents and as a result, the board asked for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the issue which was adjudicated by Peter Secord Lampman in 1906. After analyzing the books and questioning the students and witnesses, the inquiry found in favour of the board.

Cameron, who was already an accomplished writer, was able to support herself through her writing. Cameron began writing quite early in her life, writing for her high school newspaper and writing articles for the Daily Colonist and Victoria Times. She published her first short story, "Avatar of Jack Pemberton", in 1903 in the Pacific Monthly. Cameron joined the Women’s Press Club in 1906 and that year attended their annual meeting in Winnipeg. The Western Canadian Immigration Association (WCIA) sponsored part of this conference and took the participants on a trip through Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. After their trip, Cameron was offered a job at the WCIA as an editor of the Canadian West Magazine and she moved to Chicago, where they were located.

Cameron is best known for her book, "The New North", published in 1910, for which she gained international recognition. This book documents her six month trip to Herschel Island and back with her niece Jessie Cameron Brown. They booked their journey through the Hudson’s Bay Company and in 1908 they set off, travelling from Chicago to Winnipeg. From there they travelled to Edmonton by train and continued to Athabasca Landing (now Athabasca) by horse-drawn mail coach. They continued by boat up to Herschel Island in the Beaufort Sea via the Athabasca and Slave River, through Great Slave Lake to the Mackenzie River, then up to the Beaufort Sea. Cameron and Brown took many photographs and collected samples of the local vegetation during their trip. Cameron wrote of her travels, describing in detail the places she went, the landscape, natural resources available, wild life in the area, the people she met, and the industries such as whaling and sealing. Their return trip took them through the Peace River to Fort Vermilion, Peace River Crossing, Lesser Slave Lake, then back to Winnipeg.

In her personal life, Cameron was an avid traveller, athlete, and activist. She travelled to places like Chicago, San Francisco, and the Hawaiian Islands. She became the first female Centurion, cycling a hundred mile course within the specified time limit. Cameron was also an activist for women’s rights, writing articles and giving lectures to fight for women’s right to vote, to equal pay, to enter the same professions as men, and to be recognized as equal citizens. She belonged to many women’s groups such as the Council of Women of Victoria and Vancouver Island, British Columbia Women’s Council, Canadian Women’s Press Club, Ladies of the Maccabees, YWCA, Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and the National Council of Women of Canada.

In 1912, Cameron was diagnosed with appendicitis and admitted to St Joseph’s Hospital where she underwent surgery, later catching pneumonia. She died a few days later at the age of 49.

First established as a North West Company trading post in 1803, known as Fort of the Forks, the fort was located near the confluence of the Mackenzie River and the Liard River and abandoned by 1811. The fort was reestablished in 1822 as a Hudson's Bay Company post after the merger of the two companies in 1821. It was named Fort Simpson after George Simpson, Governor of Rupert’s Land.

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a Roman Catholic religious congregation that was founded in 1816 by Eugène de Mazenod (1782-1861), an aristocrat and Catholic priest from Aix-en-Provence, France. During the French Revolution, Mazenod’s family left their wealth behind and fled to Italy, where they travelled around as refugees. At the age of twenty, Mazenod returned to France, where he became more regularly involved in the church and in charity work. Mazenod was ordained as a priest on 21 December 1811, dedicating himself to evangelizing the poor, imprisoned people, and youth.

Officially founded on 25 January 1816 when Mazenod first invited other priests to join him in his work, the OMI congregation was originally called the Missionaries of Provence. Although initially starting with four members, the community of priests expanded in number and in location, and on 17 February 1826, they received formal approval from the Pope. Officially a congregation, the Missionaries of Provence changed their name to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (Missionnaires Oblats de Marie Immaculée). Over time, the OMI expanded their missionary outreach worldwide. Today, Oblates continue to work in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. Their motto is, “He has sent me to evangelize the poor” (Evangelizare pauperibus misit me…pauperes evangelizantur).

The OMI’s first foreign mission was established in 1841, when Ignace Bourget, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Montreal, asked Mazenod to send missionaries to Canada. By 1844, ten Oblates were stationed in Canada, and in 1847, five Oblates arrived in what was then the Oregon Country region. Oblate work extended quickly throughout what would later become known as the Province of British Columbia: in 1849, Timothee Limfrit, OMI, built a chapel and school at Fort Victoria; in 1858, Louis d’Herbomez, OMI, established a mission at Esquimalt; and in 1859, Charles Pandosy, OMI, established the Sandy Cove Mission in the Okanagan. More Oblates arrived in the region throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century, and missions were established in New Westminster, the Fraser Valley, Fort Rupert, Williams Lake, North Vancouver, Sechelt, Fort Nelson, Fort St. James, Kamloops, and various other locations. This mission work continued to expand throughout the twentieth century, as Oblates established missions, parishes, schools, colleges, retreat centres, and hospitals throughout British Columbia.

In British Columbia, as in the rest of Canada, a significant portion of the work of the Oblate missionaries was the evangelization of Indigenous peoples. As part of this work, the OMI opened and/or administered ten residential schools in British Columbia. These included:

● Cariboo Residential School (1891-1981): Also known as Williams Lake Residential School or St. Joseph’s, located just southwest of Williams Lake

● Christie Residential School (1900-1983): Also known as Kakawis, located on Meares Island between 1900-1971, then moved to Tofino where it operated from 1971-1983

● St Eugene’s Residential School (1890-1970): Also known as Cranbrook Residential School, located just north of Cranbrook

● Kamloops Residential School (1890-1978): Also known as St. Louis, located in Kamloops

● Kuper Island Residential School (1890-1975): Located on Penelakut Island (formerly called Kuper Island), near Chemainus

● Lejac Residential School (1917-1976): Also known as Fraser Lake School, located at Stuart Lake (1917-1922), and then at Fraser Lake (1922-1976)

● Lower Post Residential School (1951-1975): Located at Lower Post, on Highway #97, just south of the British Columbia-Yukon border

● Sechelt Residential School (1904-1975): Also known as St. Augustine’s, located in Sechelt

● St. Mary’s Residential School (1867-1984): Also known as Mission Residential School, located in Mission

● St. Paul’s Residential School (1899-1959): Also known as the North Vancouver Residential School and the Squamish School, located in North Vancouver

In addition to these ten residential schools, the Oblates administered the Anahim Lake Dormitory (also known as Ulkatcho), funded by the Government of Canada between 1968-1977. The Anahim Lake Dormitory housed children who attended the Anahim Lake Day School.

The OMI Central Government has been located in Rome, Italy, since 1905. Previously, it had been located in France (in Marseilles until 1861, when it was relocated to Paris) and in Liège, Belgium (1903-1905). The central government includes the Superior General, the Vicar General, two Assistant Generals, a number of General Councillors (representing the OMI’s different international regions), a Secretary General, and a Treasurer General. Reporting to the central government are the OMI’s various provincial governments, each lead by Provincial Superiors, which operate in various locations internationally. The Oblate Constitutions and Rules gives each province a great deal of autonomy. Based on civil law, each Province is a separate legal entity.

In Canada, there are currently three OMI provinces: OMI Lacombe Canada (headquarters located in Ottawa), Notre-Dame du Cap (headquarters located in Richelieu), and Assumption Province (headquarters located in Toronto). The structure of Oblate provinces in Canada has changed significantly over the years. Some of the administrative changes relevant to the OMI records held at the BC Archives include:

● 1926 – St. Peter’s Province established

● 1963 – Provincial Delegation of Peru attached to St. Peter’s Province

● 1968 – St. Paul’s Vice-Province established

● 1973 – St. Paul’s Vice-Province becomes St. Paul’s Province

● 1983 – St. Paul’s Province is united with the Vice-Province of Whitehorse to form a new St. Paul’s Province

● 2003 – Reformation of Canadian provinces, leading to the establishment of the OMI Lacombe Canada province

Due to these administrative reorganizations, Oblate missionaries in both British Columbia and the Yukon have reported to the Provincial Superiors of various provinces: St. Peter’s Province, St. Paul’s Vice-Province, the Vice-Province of Whitehorse, St. Paul’s Province, and OMI Lacombe Canada. For a time, Oblates in British Columbia and the Yukon had their headquarters in Vancouver, at the Oblate Provincial House; this location was the previous administrative home to St. Paul’s Province, and later to the BC/Yukon Community of OMI Lacombe Province.

Sir John A. Macdonald was the first Prime Minister of Canada.

Sister Mary Osithe (1867-1941) was baptized Elizabeth Labossière in Sorel, Quebec, and moved to Marlboro, Massachusetts as a young child. She entered the order of The Sisters of St. Ann in 1894, and her first mission was teaching primary classes in Montreal. Her artistic talent was soon identified and nurtured, and Sister Mary Osithe was named to study art under Sister Mary Helen of the Cross (Marie-Hélèn-de-la-Croix) at the Motherhouse art studio in Lachine.

In 1897, Sister Mary Osithe was called to take over the art department at St. Ann’s Academy in Victoria. There she taught students oils, watercolours, and china painting, and completed numerous secular and religious works herself. She taught art classes at St. Ann’s Academy and Little Flower Academy until 1940. Additionally, Sister Mary Osithe taught art classes to upper-class women in Victoria, and took commissions to bring in money for the order.

Sister Mary Osithe was also a self-taught architect, designing a number of SSA buildings including a gymnasium for St. Ann’s Academy Victoria, the 1921 expansion of St. Ann’s Duncan, and the Foundress Hall at Little Flower Academy.

A government agent was first stationed at Revelstoke by 1890. The Revelstoke Agency was part of the West Kootenay district from 1900 to approximately 1920. There was a government agent in Revelstoke until at least 2004.

The government agency system of British Columbia has its origins in the two colonial offices of Gold Commissioners and Stipendiary Magistrates. Over time, the title "Gold Commissioner" became restricted to those officials performing the administrative and judicial duties laid out in mining legislation (Gold Commissioners held their judicial responsibilities until they were repealed by the Mineral Act of 1897). The more general title "Government Agent" was increasingly used for those officials with broader responsibilities and was consistently used to describe these multifunctional roles by the 1880s.

The several functions of a Government Agent are legally separate powers and appointments, which were often, but not always, held concurrently by the same individual. After confederation, Government Agents continued to fulfill a multitude of roles. By the turn of the century, a single agent’s duties could include:

Government Agent, Supreme Court Registrar, County Court Registrar, Sheriff, Gold Commissioner, Mining Recorder, Water recorder, Welfare Officer, Vital Statistics Recorder, Meteorological Recorder, Provincial Registrar of Voters, Federal Registrar of Voters, Game Warden, Land Commissioner, Assessor, Collector of Revenue Taxes, Financial Officer, Marriage Commissioner, Local Board of Health Sanitary Inspector, Cattle Brand Recorder, Maintainer of Government Buildings, Coroner, Gaoler, Constable, and Court clerk.

New functions were added as government services were created. For example, during prohibition, agents issued permits to purchase liquor. They also became involved with the administration of the Motor Vehicle Act by registering vehicles and licensing drivers. By 1900 policing functions were formally removed from Government Agents and transferred to police forces, though they continued to work closely with some police constables, particularly in rural areas, until the BC Police force was replaced by the RCMP in 1950.

Into the twentieth century, the staff in government agencies was growing substantially from one person who fulfilled all government functions, to offices with multiple staff supervised by the Agent.

The location of agencies and the headquarters of each agency where an Agent was located changed over time, based on the movement of population. There were often sub-offices or other outposts throughout a district with other government officials, such as Mining Recorders, who reported to the Government Agent at the district's headquarters.

Agents reported directly to the Provincial Secretary in Victoria until 1917 when they were became part of the Department of Finance, as one of their primary roles was tax collection. Starting in 1920 and increasingly after 1945, the role of the Government Agent was reduced and eroded by the growth of other more specialized and centralized branches of government. For example, Agents provided social services and acted as informal Social Workers by dispensing income assistance and child welfare responsibilities until they were replaced by trained Social Workers in the 1930s.

Into the 1950s the Government Agent in some small communities continued to act as Magistrate, Gold Commissioner, Mining Recorder, Maintainer of voters lists, Recorder of vital statistics and many other duties. However, these roles were increasingly done by representatives of different government branches. The role of Government Agent continues to exist in 2022 as an administrator with limited authority in several communities across the province.

The Cowan family, C.G. and Vivien Cowan, owned the Onward Ranch which was located at 150 Mile House, B.C.

I. E. Cornwall was a naturalist and engineer at the William Head Quarantine Station from 1907 to 1936.

Clive Greerson Cornish was a bank clerk and author from Vancouver, B.C.

James Murray Yale was the Hudson's Bay Company Chief Trader at Fort Langley. Yale was born near Lachine, Quebec in 1798. At the age of sixteen, he entered
the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company [HBC] as clerk. Yale came west to Fort Wedderburn in Athabaska country with John Clarke in 1815. In 1821, he was put in charge of Fort George, New Caledonia, and seven years later began over thirty years of service at Fort Langley. In 1859, Yale was granted a year’s furlough, after which he retired in Victoria, where he died at his home, Stromness, West Saanich, on May 7, 1871.

Magnus Colvin was a carpenter at Cowichan Station, a resident of Saltspring Island and secretary of Native Sons of B.C. Post No. 1.

John Young Copeman was a lawyer from Victoria, B.C. He was born in Aylsham, Norfolk, England in 1886, the son of landowner Thomas Copeman. He was educated at St. John's College, Hurstpierpoint, Sussex and, upon graduation, began to train as a solicitor. Once his training had been completed, he emigrated to Canada and settled in Victoria in 1911, where his income as a lawyer, combined with his quarterly remittance from England, had a greater purchasing power than in England. He worked initially in the City of Victoria solicitor's department before going into private practice. He joined the British Army's 2nd Leicestershire Regiment in 1914 with the outbreak of war and saw action in France and Mesopotamia. After his discharge in 1919, he briefly visited England to settle some family matters before returning to Victoria in 1920. He rebuilt his law practice, and at one time served as solicitor to the City of Duncan. He was involved in the United Farmers of British Columbia, and, in 1924, was asked to run for the Legislature as a member of the Provincial Party, but he declined. He also served on the Board of Governors of the Shawnigan Lake School, where C.W. Lonsdale, first headmaster of Shawnigan Lake School, was one of Copeman's personal friends. Copeman died in 1958 at the age of 71.

The Sisters of Saint Anne was founded in Lachine, Quebec in 1850 by Blessed Marie Anne Blondin (baptized Esther Blondin) under the oversight of Bishop Ignace Bourget. In 1858, the Bishop of Vancouver Island, Modeste Demers, requested the order to send Sisters to the colony of Vancouver Island to assist in educating the growing settler population. The Sisters of St. Ann began operating in the West in 1858, and was in incorporated in 1892. The name was anglicized from Anne to Ann during their early years in Victoria.

The first school operated by The Sisters of St. Ann was established in Victoria in 1858 on the territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən speaking Coast Salish Songhees and Xwsepsum peoples, and initially offered schooling to girls only. Quickly after the order established themselves as educators, they were asked to assist with providing healthcare for the region, and were instrumental in the creation of St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1876.

Throughout the next 100 years, the Sisters of St. Ann, frequently referred to as the SSA, established or staffed parochial, residential and day schools, as well as healthcare facilities throughout British Columbia, with expansions into the Yukon and Alaska, and a school in Port Angeles, Washington. Each local house, though reasonably autonomous, is subject to the leadership of the Provincial Administration which govern matters affecting all houses in its jurisdiction.

The designation of the Western region as St. Joseph’s Province came about in 1896, when the jurisdiction of the Superior General in Quebec became too extensive and provincial superiors were created. St. Joseph’s Province refers broadly to the West Coast and Alaskan activities of the order, though many Sisters were missioned in Japan, Chile, Haiti and other areas outside of the Provincial boundaries. The Provincial Administration has always been centralized in Victoria, with core functions such as the Provincial Bursar, Provincial Superior, and Provincial Council overseeing all houses from that city. The Province then reports to the General Administration, which is located in Montreal.

The SSA began downsizing the corporation in the latter years of the twentieth century. In June 2019, St. Joseph’s Province was suspended and a new Local Community was founded. As of 2023, the The Sisters of St. Ann remains an active organization.

The Coal and Petroleum Control Board was established in 1937 by the Coal and Petroleum Products Control Board Act (SBC 1937, c. 8). The creation of the board was the result of a recommendation by the Coal and Petroleum Products Commission (1934 to 1937) to the Pattullo government.

The mandate of the Coal and Petroleum Control Board was to regulate and control the coal and petroleum industries through licensing and to gather and report statistics on the marketing of coal and petroleum products. The chairman of the board from 1937 to 1949 was W.A. Carrothers, followed by D.K. Penfold (acting), and Percy E. George. In 1951, under the Hart government, the act was amended, repealing most of the board’s mandate. Those functions were transferred to the Public Utilities Commission. The board was disestablished in 1953 under the Coal and Petroleum Products Control Board Act Repeal Act (RSBC 1953, c.9).

The County Court system in BC, which lasted until its merger with the BC Supreme court in 1990, dates back to colonial times – 1856 in the case of the Colony of Vancouver Island (established in 1849), and 1859 in the case of the mainland Colony of BC (established in 1858). Both were based on the English County Court system created in 1846 by the County Courts (England) Act of 1846.

The Inferior Court of Civil Justice of Vancouver Island was intended to deal with minor matters (small debts, petty suits, etc.). Initially it sat only in Victoria, subordinate to the Supreme Court and presided over by Chief Justice David Cameron. In 1866 the District Courts Act extended its jurisdiction to the rest of the island, by empowering the Governor to create Inferior Court Districts and appoint local Justices of the Peace (JP) or Stipendiary Magistrates (SM) as judges to preside over cases involving less than $250.

On the mainland, the British Columbia Small Debts Act, 1859 , proclaimed by Governor James Douglas, empowered him to commission any individual to act as a County Court Judge in the colony “to hear and determine all personal pleas and all actions of tort cognizable by the County Courts in England”, the amount recoverable not to exceed £50. In practice this meant commissioning JPs or SMs and giving them the same powers in small debt actions as English County Court Judges although the former lacked the same qualifications. The 1859 Act was replaced by the “County Court Ordinance” of 1866 which set up County Courts under a County Court Judge, with jurisdiction in civil actions up to $500 and procedures based on English County Court legislation. The County Courts Jurisdiction Ordinance of the same year affirmed that County Court Judges in BC, who continued to be SMs (either existing or appointed as such), possessed the same general powers as their [more qualified] counterparts in England, except for the probate of wills and administration of intestate estates.

After the union of the two colonies in 1866, the County Court Ordinance, 1867 replaced the previous legislation in both colonies dealing with county courts and standardized the county court system and procedure for the united colony. Appointment was by the Governor, a Supreme Court Judge could act as a County Court Judge, duties of the Clerk of the Court were to be performed by the County Court Judge, and the amount recoverable was limited to $500. Six County Court Judges were appointed, selected from the existing Stipendiary Magistrates, and assigned to informal districts based in Victoria, Nanaimo and Comox, Lillooet, Richfield (Cariboo district), Yale, and New Westminster), although not all the Judges resided in their areas.

This legislation, with a few amendments - including appointment by of County Court Judges by the Governor-General of Canada after July 1871, essentially remained in effect until 1881. The six incumbents retained their positions. In 1873, County Courts were given jurisdiction over Mining Courts, which had been set up on the mainland in 1865. After a series of disallowed acts, in 1878 legislation was passed by which SC Judges would preside over the County Courts, rather than the lay magistrates acting as County Court Judges, contingent upon the appointment of two additional Supreme Cout Judges (for a total of 5). The relevant sections came into effect in January 1881.

In 1883, a new County Court Act was passed, coming into effect in 1884 which not only reinstated the independent position of County Court Judge , but formally established the County Courts of Victoria, New Westminster, Yale, Cariboo, Kootenay, and Nanaimo, with jurisdiction in districts as defined by electoral district and polling division. Each such court was constituted a Court of Record with a Registrar appointed by provincial order-in-council. Jurisdiction was expanded to include Grant of Probate and Letters of Administration for those dying within the territorial limits of the County Court District. As with the Supreme Court, the original of each will was to be sent to the Supreme Court Registrar in Victoria. Supreme Court Judges retained the right to act as County Court Judges. The first appointment under the 1883 Act was made in 1884; the rest followed in 1889 and later. The first County Court Rules published in BC appeared in 1885 and replaced the English County Court Rules.

In 1888, an Act was passed to constitute “County Court Judge’s Criminal Courts” in BC to hear criminal cases under the provisions of the federal Speedy Trials Act , i.e. in which the defendant consented to be tried by a judge only.

In 1891 the BC Supreme Court Act was amended to make provision for having County Court Judges commissioned as Local Judges of the Supreme Court, i.e. within their respective districts.

In 1905, the 1883 Act, as amended up to that point, was replaced with a new County Courts Act which incorporated much of the Revised Statutes 1897 c.52 version. The County Court and District of Atlin was added to those previously created by the 1883 Act, and a subsequent order-in-council separated the County Court of Kootenay into East and West Kootenay, making a total of nine County Court Districts. The jurisdiction in probate was set at $2500. The 1905 County Court Rules were declared in force, replacing the 1885 Rules.

Between 1905 and the merger of the County Court system with the Supreme Court, there were only minor amendments. By the 1960s the overlap between County and Supreme Court functions increased and by 1969 the abolition of County Courts was already being considered. In 1978 there was an amalgamation of the County Courts of Victoria and Nanaimo as the County Court of Vancouver Island, and of the County Courts of East and West Kootenay as the County Court of Kootenay (SBC 1978 c.11).

In 1987, provision was made for a County Court Judge to be appointed “Chief Judge of the County Courts” for BC to have “general supervision of … judges of the County Courts.” Previously, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had fulfilled this function. There was never a central County Court, as with the BC Supreme Court and BC Court of Appeal, only District Courts.

The Supreme Court Act of 1989 (SBC 1989, c.40) which came into effect on 1 July 1990, repealed the County Court Act (RS 1979 c.397). The functions of the County Courts were absorbed by the Supreme Court system.

Oregon Columbus Hastings, better known as O.C. Hastings, was born in Pontoosuc, Illinois in 1846. He arrived in British Columbia in 1877, with his wife of 10 years, Matilda Caroline Birch. In 1881, Hastings was widowed; he remarried Sylvestria T. Layzell in 1884. The 1881 census lists Hastings as married, an infidel, and an American citizen.
When Hastings moved to Victoria he apprenticed in photography with S.A. Spencer. In 1881, Hastings and Spencer partnered; Hastings photographs are signed O.C. Hastings or Spencer and Hastings, Artist & Photographer. After learning the ropes of portrait photography, Hastings traveled with Indian Affairs Superintendent Dr. Israel Powell to Metlakatla and Haida Gwaii. In 1894, Franz Boas employed the photographer for his services in Tsaxis (Fort Rupert).
Hastings also achieved fame among local astronomy circles for his home-built observatory; his residence was located on Observatory Hill.

Stephen Allen Spencer was a major photographer in British Columbia in the second half of the 19th century.

Born in New London, Connecticut, Spencer established his presence in British Columbia in 1859. In the 1860s, he traveled around the region, photographing Sitka, Alaska, Haida Gwaii, and Barkerville. In 1872, he purchased the Theatre Photographic Gallery in Victoria from J.A. Craigg. The gallery closed in 1879. In 1882, Spencer partnered with fellow photographer O.C. Hastings to open the Spencer and Hastings photographic portrait studio. In 1883, Hastings bought out Spencer, who moved to Alert Bay.

Spencer is buried in Ross Bay cemetery, in Victoria.

The Provincial Emergency Program (PEP) was established in 1974. Its function is to maintain effective awareness, preparedness, response and recovery programs to reduce the human and financial costs of actual or imminent emergencies and disasters under the Emergency Program Act (RSBC 1996, c.111).

Emergency management programs co-ordinated by PEP were established by provincial, municipal, and federal governments, and private sector agencies and individuals, to address natural and human-made hazards. Programs include: prevention programs designed to prevent or mitigate the effects of emergencies; preparedness programs designed to ensure that individuals and agencies will be ready to react effectively once emergencies have occurred; response programs designed to combat emergencies when they have occurred; and, recovery programs designed to help restore the environment or community after an emergency or disaster. Recovery programs help those British Columbians impacted by disaster to cope with the cost of repairs and recovery from disaster-related property damage.

The Provincial Emergency Program has reported to the Ministry of Attorney General, Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Ministry of Solicitor General, and the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness. Prior to 1974, emergency preparedness functions were under Civil Defence, PEP’s predecessor beginning in 1950.

From its inception in 1936, School Broadcasting in Canada was designed to enrich and supplement existing school curriculum and to promote Canadian unity and citizenship. The majority of school broadcasts were organized at the provincial level, between Departments of Education and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, although cooperation between educators and broadcasters took place at the municipal and national levels as well. The CBC provided free production and administrative staff, transmitter time, studio facilities and network charges, and were responsible for arranging presentation and distribution of school broadcasts. Departments of Education were responsible for paying all direct costs, such as the salaries of actors and musicians, and were in charge of program planning and content. Certain costs, such as the salary of the Director of Programming, were shared. In 1943, a National Advisory Council on School Broadcasting was set up by agreement between the the Canadian Education Association and the CBC to represent Departments of Education and other national bodies concerned with the development of education in Canada.
Although educational radio programs were being broadcast in Vancouver as early as 1927, regular scheduling of school broadcasts in British Columbia did not begin until 1936, when the Okanagan Valley Teachers’ Association used surplus funds to initiate a project involving the use of radio in B.C. classrooms. A provincial committee of enquiry was set up to investigate the potential of radio as a teaching aid, particularly in rural or isolated areas.
In 1938, $500 from the Department of Education funded an initial series which was broadcast as “The British Columbia Radio School” between October 1938 and March 1939. The series included broadcasts on music, science, social studies and history. By 1940, the need for a full time administrator for program planning and supervision resulted in the appointment of Kenneth Caple as Director of School Broadcasts for the province of B.C. Separate schedules for autumn and spring programing were developed and program guides and manuals were distributed to teachers throughout the province. New subject areas such as language, health and art were added to the existing series. By 1942 over 500 schools in B.C. were equipped with radio.
In 1968 the Division of School Radio Broadcasts and the Division of Visual Education amalgamated to form the Division of Audio-visual Services.

Jennie Long McCulloch Longstaff was born in Stratford, Ontario on July 5th 1879. She came to Victoria with her parents in 1885. She joined the staff of the King's Printer and rose to the position of Chief Clerk. In 1913 she became active in the Alpine Club of Canada where she met Frederick Victor Longstaff; they married in 1921. After marriage she retired and devoted her time to various cultural interests. She died in Victoria in 1957.

Frederick Victor Longstaff was born June 15th 1879 in Ben Rhydding, Ilkley, England. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and came to Canada in 1909 as a machine gun instructor seconded to the Canadian Active Militia. He settled in Victoria in 1911 where he practiced as an architectural draughtsman, in which capacity he was involved in the design of Saint John's, Quadra Street and the James Bay Anglican Hall. From 1921 until his death he devoted himself entirely to historical and geographical studies, publishing works on naval, local and ecclesiastical history. He was interested in military affairs, naval history, mountaineering, the Anglican Church and the history of BC in general. Longstaff died in Victoria in 1961.

The Returned Soldiers' Aid Commission (RSAC) developed from the Provincial Returned Soldiers Commission of British Columbia. The latter was formed by Order-in-Council on 29 November 1915 to deal with the provision of farm lands for settlement by returned First World War soldiers and sailors, the provision of academic, technical, and agricultural training for returned men, the establishment of province-wide bureaux to assist veterans seeking civilian employment, and the 'provision of a supply farm for use in conjunction with the Military Convalescent Hospital at Esquimalt, B.C.

The Returned Soldiers' Aid Commission worked closely with the Dominion government's Military Hospitals Commission, an agency which also assisted returned men. The Military Hosptitals Commission (which, in 1918, expanded to become the Department of Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment) looked after a number of hospitals and convalescent homes in the province. These institutions were under the command of Colonel James Swan Harvey (1872-1932), a Nanaimo-born officer who was responsible for all demobilization in British Columbia and the Yukon.

The report was dated March 16, 1916, Dr. H. E. Young, LL.D., M.L.A., chairman. The Returned Soldiers' Aid Commission was re-organized by order-in-council in Nov 1919. The reorganized commission consisted of twelve members, with the Provincial Secretary (the Hon. J.D. MacLean) as Honorary Chairman. Over seventy local committees directed by provincial and federal government officials and by representatives of various veterans' organizations, were also established at this time to help demobilized servicemen throughout the province. Until the RSAC was closed in 1929, it provided aid to veterans and aid to dependents of those who gave their lives during the Great War of 1914-1918.

Robert Connell was born in Liverpool. Early in life he became an Anglican minister and missionary. In the 1890s he moved to the Northwest Territories and later to Calgary. In 1901, Connell moved to British Columbia and became an archdeacon. He was the rector at St. Luke's and St. Savior's, and secretary to the Anglican Theological College in Vancouver from 1918 to 1928. In 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, Connell entered BC politics. The next year he became house leader for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). He was also a leisure watercolour artist.

The Rev. Augustine Clark Mackie (1879-1965) and his brother Hugh (1882-1971) emigrated from England to Vernon, B.C. in October 1913 with the intention of establishing an independent school for boys. Vernon had been recommended to them by a nephew, Gordon Mackie, who recognized that a private school, conducted along the lines of an English public school, would be well supported by the British immigrants who had settled in the Okanagan Valley. A.C. Mackie, generally known as Austen, opened the Vernon Preparatory School (VPS) in January 1914. Hugh Mackie, who had practiced as a solicitor in Wales before emigrating to Canada, decided to move to Calgary, where he opened a law office; however, he returned to Vernon a few years later, to join his brother and the VPS teaching staff. The Mackie's operated the school until 1945, during which time VPS acquired the reputation as being one of the leading boarding schools in Western Canada. The school continued under different management until 1972.

Austen Mackie - classicist, pedagogue, and divine - was the kind of gentleman euphemistically known as a "muscular Christian." While devoted to contemporary ideals of "godliness and good-learning," he was also an ardent sportsman who delighted in hunting, hiking and other outdoor pursuits. Shooting and freshwater fishing were among his keenest pleasures. He was perhaps best known, however, for stalking rattlesnakes. He became an expert in the haunts and habits of the reptiles which infested the semi-arid hills near VPS, and he devoted a considerable amount of time and energy to killing them.