LAC Forum on Canadian Democracy

Crown

In Canada, the Governor General is the representative of the Crown and acts as head of state. Governors in the British North American colonies historically were the head of the colonial government, but the Governor General's responsibilities regarding the governance of Canada since Confederation have mainly been symbolic. As the Crown's representative, the Governor General is responsible for ensuring continuity of government in Canada, acts as the Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces, and presents a number of medals and honours, including the Order of Canada.

Library and Archives Canada holds the records of the Office of the Governor General of Canada, which document the functions and responsibilities that Governors General have carried out since Confederation, as well as the personal papers of numerous former Governors General.

1. Public Records

• Office of the Governor General of Canada fonds

This is a very voluminous body of records dating from 1765. The Office of the Governor General was established in 1878, reflecting the lessening role of Britain in Canadian administration. Prior to Confederation, the functions of the Governor General were carried out by Governors-in-Chief and Lieutenant Governors. Many of these earlier records are included in the Office of the Governor General fonds. In 1947, a new letters patent delegated the powers of the British monarch in Canada to the Governor General.

Within this fonds, several series document the changing role of the Governor General in domestic and foreign relations, along with many other matters illustrating the role of the Governor General, including:

• Correspondence with the Colonial Office
• Office of the Governor-in-Chief of the Province of Canada series
• Numbered registry files of the Secretary of the Governor General
• Files from the 1909-1941 central registry system series

2. Private records

LAC holdings also include the private fonds of all but a few of the individuals who held the post of Governors General from Confederation in 1867 until 1990. (Individuals who served as Governors General after this point may have their records on deposit at LAC, but these records have not been formally acquired and are not available to researchers at this time.) Restrictions may apply to all other private records held by LAC.

• Charles Stanley Monck, 4th Viscount Monck fonds
• John Young, Baron Lisgar fonds
• Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava fonds
• Sir John Douglas Sutherland Campbell, Marquess of Lorne and 9th Duke of Argyll collection
• Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne fonds
• Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby fonds
• John Campbell Hamilton Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair fonds
• Gilbert John Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto fonds
• Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey fonds
• Arthur William Patrick Albert Connaught, 1st Duke of Connaught fonds
• Victor Christian William Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire fonds
• Julian Hedworth George Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy fonds
• John Buchan fonds
• Alexander Augustus Frederick William Cambridge, Earl of Athlone fonds
• Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis fonds
• Massey family fonds [Vincent Massey]
• Georges P. Vanier fonds
• Roland Michener fonds
• Jules Léger fonds
• Jeanne Sauvé fonds
• Ramon J. Hnatyshyn fonds
• Romeo LeBlanc fonds

3. LAC Collection – Published Material

Published Materials

As a national catalogue, AMICUS not only shows the published materials held at Library and Archives Canada but also those located in over 1300 libraries across Canada. AMICUS contains over 30 million records for books, magazines, newspapers, government documents, theses, sound recordings, maps, electronic texts, as well as items in braille and large print.

Using the Advanced Search option in AMICUS and selecting "Publication Type", you can limit your search to "Government publications – Federal/national" or "Government publications – State, prov., terr. etc." You can also narrow your search by language and date, as well as format. Specifying "Web documents" in the latter will limit the search to full-text electronic publications.

Here are some sample Subject Keyword searches:

• Buchan, John
• Monarchy
• Executive power – Canada
• Canada – Kings and rulers
• Governors general – Canada
• Lieutenant governors – Canada