LAC Forum on Canadian Democracy

Parliament

Parliament in Canada is made up of three parties: the Queen, represented by Canada's Governor General; an appointed Senate; and an elected House of Commons. Together, these three groups are responsible for making laws in all areas of jurisdiction not specifically reserved for the provincial legislatures. Bills, which can be introduced in both the House of Commons and (on occasion) the Senate, must be approved by both Houses and then assented to, in the Queen's name, by the Governor General in order to become law. In addition to the business carried out within the Senate and the House of Commons, members of both of these Houses sit on a number of committees. Committee work might involve examining bills clause by clause and drafting amendments, overseeing the work of a particular department, reviewing a certain government policy, studying the condition or needs of a certain group of Canadians, or exercising mandated procedural or administrative duties for Parliament. In each of these instances, a committee will report its findings to the House to which it is responsible.

Canada's parliamentary tradition has its roots in the mid-nineteenth century, when British North American colonies first secured the right to representative government elected by the people and to responsible government answerable to the majority of the elected assembly. The Fathers of Confederation based the new central government on the system that was in use throughout what is now eastern and central Canada. Library and Archives Canada collects and makes available a vast array of records generated through the responsibilities of Parliament as well as those individuals reporting to or working within the legislative branch of the Government of Canada.

1. Records Created by Canadian Parliament

LAC describes, within three archival fonds, the "public" records of the three institutions that make up the Canadian Parliament:

• House of Commons fonds
• Senate of Canada fonds
• Library of Parliament fonds

Note: These fonds do include records series for some of the offices of the Parliamentary bureaucracy (e.g., Records of the Clerk of the House of Commons).

2. Private Records of Officers of the Canadian Parliament (i.e., the Parliamentary bureaucracy)

LAC holds "private" records of a number of individuals whose careers included service as an officer within the bureaucracy of one or the other of the three institutions of the Canadian Parliament (e.g., Clerk of the House of Commons, Clerk of the Senate, Parliamentary Librarian, Usher of the Black Rod, Sergeant-at-Arms). Examples of such fonds/collections are:

• Alistair Fraser fonds [Assistant Clerk, Clerk of the House of Commons]
• Gustavus William Wicksteed fonds [Law Clerk to the House of Commons, and also occupied similar positions in pre-Confederation legislatures]
• John George Bourinot fonds [Clerk of House of Commons]
• Austin Ernest Blount fonds [Clerk of the Senate and Clerk of the Parliaments]
• William Francis O'Connor fonds [Law Clerk of the Senate]
• Henry Judson Coghill fonds [Sergeant-at-Arms, House of Commons]
• Martin Joseph Griffin fonds [Parliamentary Librarian]
• Alpheus Todd fonds [Parliamentary Librarian and also Legislative Librarian, Upper Canada and Province of Canada]

3. Records of Parliamentarians

LAC holds "private" fonds (multi-media) of a number of individuals who have served as Members of the House of Commons or as Senators. Included are records of individuals who have served as Prime Ministers, as members of  Cabinets, as Leaders of the Opposition, as national party leaders, as Speakers of the House of Commons and of the Senate, and as individual MPs and Senators.

4. Records created by Agencies that report direct to Parliament

A number of agencies are either offices of Parliament or report direct to Parliament, rather than to Parliament through a Minister. Examples include the Office of the Information Commissioner, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, the Auditor General, the Official Languages Commissioner, the Chief Electoral Officer, the Office of the Ethics Commissioner, or the Office of the Senate Ethics Officer. LAC does not yet hold archival records created by most of these offices, exceptions being:

• Office of the Chief Electoral Officer fonds
• Auditor General of Canada fonds
• Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages fonds

5. Records of Individuals occupying positions within Federal Agencies that report direct to Parliament

LAC holds "private" fonds (multi-media) of a few individuals who have served with such agencies. Examples include:

• Keith Spicer fonds [Commissioner of Official Languages]
• Henri Guillaume LaMothe fonds [Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, a predecessor of the Chief Electoral Officer]
• Maxwell Yalden fonds [Commissioner of Official Languages]

6. Records (not created by Parliament) that document the precincts and activities of Parliament

This is a broad and very general category including such records as:

• Canadian Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) fonds [audio-visual records including the proceedings of Parliament and its Committees]
• An enormous quantity of multi-media records (documentary art, photographs, audio-visual records, cartographic and architectural records) that document the Parliamentary precincts, Parliamentarians, visits of dignitaries to the Canadian Parliament, etc. Records of the Department of Public Works relating to the buildings in the Parliamentary precinct are an example, with countless other records from both the public and private sector holdings.

7. Records created by "Pre-Canada" Parliaments

LAC captures the "public" records of the Pre-Canada Parliaments within three archival fonds:

• Parliament of Lower Canada fonds
• Parliament of Upper Canada fonds
• Parliament of the Province of Canada fonds

Note: LAC does not hold the equivalent original "pre-Canada" parliamentary records of the other colonial jurisdictions. See the relevant provincial archives. Records equivalent to those described in categories 2, 3 and 6 above, with respect to the Canadian Parliament, could readily be identified for the "pre-Canada" Parliaments.

8. Published Material

Library and Archives Canada holds an extensive collection of  parliamentary publications in print and microform, including the Journals and Debates of the House and Senate, the minutes of proceedings and evidence of parliamentary committees, sessional papers,  the Canada Gazette, the sessional and revised statutes. LAC also has an extensive collection of pre-Confederation official publications including Journals, sessional papers, official gazettes, and statutes in print and microfilm formats.

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:

• Canada. Parliament. House of Commons
• Canada. Parliament. Senate
• Legislators – Canada
• Bourinot, Sir John George
• Todd, Alpheus
• Canada. Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
• Parliament Buildings (Ottawa, Ont)