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Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Minutes of decision of Joint Indian Reserve Commission
General material designation
- textual record
- cartographic material
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on contents of the series.
Level of description
Series
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1876-1949; predominant 1876-1907 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
78 cm of textual records and 3 reels of microfilm [B16974-B16976]
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
The Dept. of Lands and Works was established in 1871 under the Constitution Act (SBC 1871, c. 147). Prior to that, the origins of the department were in the offices of the Surveyor General for the Colony of Vancouver Island (1859-1866) and the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works and Surveyor General for the Colony of British Columbia (1859-1871).
The mandate of the department was to grant permission for the pre-emption of unoccupied, unsurveyed, and unreserved Crown lands, issue Crown grants and grant leases of Crown lands, oversee all survey and map functions, and construct and repair roads, bridges and buildings for public services. It was also responsible for promoting immigration. The Dept. of Lands and Works was headed by the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works and Surveyor General.
By 1899, the department was organized into two branches: Lands Branch and Works Branch. In 1908 the Dept. of Lands and Works was disestablished with an amendment to the Constitution Act (SBC 1908, c. 12). Its functions were assigned to two new departments: the Dept. of Lands (SBC 1908, c. 31) and the Dept. of Public Works (SBC 1908, c. 41).
Name of creator
Administrative history
The Joint Reserve Commission was created between the governments of British Columbia and Canada to determine the boundaries of Indian reserves in British Columbia, after several years of dispute. An agreement in principle on the creation of the commission was reached in November, 1875, and the Joint Reserve Commission was officially established in 1876 by federal orders-in-council 444/1876 and 779/1876. It consisted of three commissioners, one was appointed by the Canadian government (A.C. Anderson), one by the provincial government (Archibald McKinley), and a third selected jointly by the two levels of government (Gilbert Malcolm Sproat).
The Joint Reserve Commission operated until 1878 when it was restructured, leaving Gilbert Malcolm Sproat as the sole commissioner of the renamed Indian Reserve Commission. Sproat acted as commissioner until 1880, when he was replaced by Peter O'Reilly who acted until his retirement 1898. O'Reilly was then replaced by A.W. Vowell, until the commission was dissolved in 1910.
In 1913 the commission's work was continued by the Royal Commission on Indian Affairs for the Province of British Columbia (The McKenna-McBride Commission).
Custodial history
Scope and content
The series consists of minutes of decision of the Joint Indian Reserve Commission (1876-1878) of governments of Canada and British Columbia and of the Indian Reserve Commission (1878-1907) of the government of Canada regarding allotment of Indian reserves in British Columbia.
Records consist of correspondence, memoranda, reports and coloured maps of the reserve allotments. Although these records are called Joint Reserve Commission records, they probably form part of the British Columbia Department of Lands and Works fonds. Most of the records are stamped with the Lands and Works Dept. stamp and also have Lands and Works file numbers assigned to each, after they were received from the Commission. Some files then had additional related records added to by Department staff, as reserves were surveyed or related issues came up. Additional records were added to several files by Department of Lands staff up to 1949.
In addition, the series includes an item level precis of each document, created by the Dept. of Lands in 1980. The precis are filed in the first file of each box.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Transferred by the Surveyor General Branch, Lands and Water Management Dept., Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, 1995. A separate list of maps was transferred in 1997.
Arrangement
At some point, the department stored the maps separately in binders and created a list arranged by "binder/map" numbers. Although the maps were reintegrated into the files before they were transferred to the BC Archives, the map list (in box 6, file 11) is still arranged by the old binder/map numbers. A conversion list from binder/map number to box, file and number is provided at the end of the finding aid.
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
A full set of photocopied records are available for reference use, including colour copies of maps. The photocopies are located in containers 000370-0001 to 000370-0006.
Restrictions on access
There are no access restrictions.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Associated materials
See all series in the Joint Reserve Commission Collection.
Many of the records in this series, including minutes of decision, and sketch maps have been digitized by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and are available online through their library https://jirc.ubcic.bc.ca/
GR-0123 - Dept. of Indian Affairs records with regard to British Columbia
GR-1751 – Dept. of Indian Affairs Central Registry Black Series (Western), microfilm (reels B00271-B00361), in particular file 3756 (reel B00279).
Accruals
General note
Accession number(s): 92-5205
Conservation
Researchers are required to use the photocopied records, microfilm or digital copies of the records.
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Anderson, Alexander Caulfield, 1814-1884 (Subject)
- Joint Reserve Commission (Subject)
- McKinlay, Archibald, 1811-1891 (Subject)
- O'Reilly, Peter John, 1827-1905 (Subject)
- Sproat, Gilbert Malcolm, 1834-1913 (Subject)
- Vowell, Arthur, 1841-1918 (Subject)
- British Columbia. Dept. of Lands and Works (Subject)
- British Columbia. Dept. of Lands and Works. Chief Commissioner (Subject)
- British Columbia. Dept. of Lands (Subject)