Canada. Royal Commission on Veterans' Qualifications : The Royal Commission on Veterans' Qualifications was established under Order in Council P.C. 2486, 10 April 1945, under Part I of the Inquiries Act (R.S.C., 1927, c.99) and on the recommendation of the minister of labour. The Commission was mandated to inquire into and report on the problems involved and appropriate measures that may be taken to enable members of the Armed Forces to obtain appropriate credit in re-entering civilian occupations upon discharge, for trades, technical or other educational training or experience gained while in the Armed Forces; and to make recommendations as to what measures are advisable and appropriate in cooperation with the provinces, employers, or trade and labour organizations or otherwise to this end. The original commissioners were: Wilfred Bovey, Chairman, D.S. Lyons, J.C.G. Herwig, F.S. Smelts, Hector Dupuis and F.S. Rutherford. Rutherford resigned in 1945 and Stewart R. Ross was appointed commissioner (P.C. 3342, 8 May 1945). The secretary was A.E. Fortington.
On 18 August 1944 the Inter-departmental Co-ordinating Committee on Rehabilitation (a committee of the Department of Labour and the Department of Pensions and National Health) concluded that the federal government should appoint a commission to inquire into how to evaluate the skills that Armed Forces personnel acquired and how these skills should be recognized in civilian occupations. On 23 August 1944 Humphrey Mitchell, the Minister of Labour, wrote to Ian MacKenzie, the Minister of Pensions and National Health, recommending the appointment of a commission for this purpose and on 7 September 1944, MacKenzie endorsed Mitchell's recommendation.
As early as 1940 the Government of Canada had appointed an Advisory Committee on Demobilization and Rehabilitation and by 1943 the main lines of a plan of re-establishment had been completed. Measures included giving several veterans positions in the civil service and to reinstating as many of them as possible in pre-enlistment employment. The Department of Veterans Affairs and its predecessor the Department of Pensions and National Health, along with the Department of Labour, also had to deal with demobilization. As well, the provincial departments of education and labour conferred with various federal government departments to try to agree on ways to deal with the many problems. As J.C.G. Herwig of the Royal Canadian Legion put it:
"While veterans naturally look to the Dominion Government for their rehabilitation assistance, the Dominion Government is not entirely a free agent and must seek the cooperation of provincial governments who have jurisdiction in education and vocational training and in the licensing of many trades where standards of proficiency have been set up. It is obvious, therefore, that all these various elements must co-operate if the veteran is to receive his due. It would be fatal to permit jurisdictional controversies to arise."
The main purpose of the royal commission, appointed in April 1945, was to seek the cooperation of government bodies, employers, trade unions, labour organizations, and others to determine the real value of the instruction given and the experience gained by personnel in the Armed Forces. It was necessary to relate this experience to civilian industry and to academic and vocational training programmes. Commenting on the commission, the Minister of Labour said:
"Due to the highly specialized duties of the Armed Services in this mechanized war, a great deal of trade and vocational training has been acquired by the men and women in the Forces. It would be a definite loss to Canada and to Canadian industry, and in many cases a tragedy to the individual, if upon re-entering industry proper account were not taken of this vocational training while with the Armed Forces." (See Records of the Department of Labour, RG27, file 22-5-11-2, Vol. 2346; The Legionary, No. 1, Vol. XXI, July, 1945, pp. 12-13; R. England, "Veterans Rehabilitation," Encyclopedia Canadiana, 1975, Vol. 10, pp. 225-229; and the Labour Gazette, vol. XLV, May 1945, no. 5, p. 726.)
Hearings of the commission were held in the capital cities of nine provinces of Canada, and in Ottawa, Montreal, Sherbrooke, St. Marguerite, Ste. Hyacinthe, Rimouski, Val D'or, Moncton and Vancouver from 11 May 1945 to 28 February 1946. There were 122 exhibits filed with the commission. RG33-68 General Inventory
