Commission to Inquire into and Report upon Certain Charges Preferred against Many Government Officials in the Yukon Territory (Canada) : The Commission to Inquire into and Report upon Certain Charges Preferred Against Many Government Officials in the Yukon Territory was established under Order in Council P.C. 2371, 7 October 1898, under An Act Respecting Inquiries Concerning Public Matters (R.S.C., 1886, c.114) and on the recommendation of the Minister of the Interior. The Commission was mandated to inquire into and report upon the charges and complaints as set forth in a communication dated at Dawson, Yukon Territory, 25 August 1898, addressed to the Prime Minister of Canada, signed by George T.C. Armstrong, Chairman, et. al., representing a Miner's Committee; in which it is alleged that many of the Government Officials have forfeited their claims to the people's confidence and respect by their conduct and action in certain matters and into any other charges or complaints that any person in the Yukon Territory may desire to make against the officials of the Government of Canada in that Territory. The Commissioner was William Ogilvie and the Secretary was J.N.E. Brown.
On 25 August 1898, a Miner's Committee of the Yukon Territory represented by George T.C. Armstrong, Chairman; Percy McDougall, Secretary; and 11 others, wrote to Prime Minister Laurier complaining about the conduct of some government officials in the Yukon Territory regarding the administration of the laws and mining regulations. The committee requested that the government appoint a commission of inquiry to investigate their grievances. Among the complaints were the following:
(1) That "the Gold Commissioner's Office is practically closed... to the miner who has not the means or desire to bribe the clerks in order to obtain knowledge of records which ought to be public."
(2) That "wholesale information with regard to unrecorded ground is conveyed to certain individuals, outside the [Gold Commissioner's] office, who obtain men to stake, and record ground in consideration of an interest in the same."
(3) That "dissatisfaction has arisen, this particularly owing to the fact that the Crown Prosecutor, being the only person to whom the Gold Commissioner could look for legal advice, permitted himself at the same time to be retained as advocate by one of the contestants."
(4) That the Crown Prosecutor "in his capacity as Dominion Lands Agent is openly charged with serious breeches of trust and malfeasance in office in that favoritism has been shown to persons by whom he had been retained as Attorney."
(5) That "injustice has been done and great dissatisfaction thereby occasioned, owing to the incompetentcy of some of the officials of the Recorder's office."
(6) That "the Mining Inspector's want of experience and conversance with the most ordinary methods of mining cause hardship to many of the claim owners."
(7) That "the Crown Timber Agent has granted such extraordinary concessions and laid down such stringent regulations that only a few parties have the privilege of supplying the town with cord wood this coming winter."
On 7 October 1898, the Government of Canada appointed William Ogilvie a Royal Commissioner with authority to investigate and report upon these charges (Order in Council, P.C. 2371, 7 October 1898).
Hearings of the commission were held in Dawson from 6 February to 11 March 1899. There were 23 exhibits filed with the commission. RG33-76 General Inventory