Royal Commission to Inquire into and Report upon the Organization, Authorization and Dispatch of the Canadian Expeditionary Force to the Crown Colony of Hong Kong (Canada) : The Royal Commission To Inquire Into and Report Upon the Organization, Authorization and Dispatch of the Canadian Expeditionary Force to the Crown Colony of Hong Kong was established under Order in Council, P.C. 1160, 12 February 1942, under Part I of the Inquiries Act (R.S.C. 1927, c.99) and on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Commission was mandated to inquire into and report upon the organization, authorization and dispatch of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, the selection and composition of the Force and the training of the personnel thereof; the provision and maintenance of supplies, equipment and ammunition and of the transportation therefor; and as to whether there occurred any dereliction of duty or error in judgement on the part of any of the personnel of any of the departments of the government whose duty it was to arrange for the authorization, organization and dispatch of the said Expeditionary Force resulting in detriment or injury to the expedition or to the troops comprising the Expeditionary Force and if so what such dereliction or error was and who was responsible therefor. The commissioner was Lyman Poore Duff. The secretary was W. Kenneth Campbell.
In September 1941, the Government of Canada agreed to the British request to send two infantry battalions (the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada) to reinforce the garrison at the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong. The Canadians arrived in Hong Kong on 16 November, and on 8 December the Japanese attack began. Badly outnumbered, the defenders fought courageously but on Christmas Day, 1941, Hong Kong surrendered. Out of a total of 1,975 Canadians sent to the British Colony, 557 were either killed in action or died in Japanese prisoner of war camps over the next four years.
Shortly after the fall of Hong Kong, George Drew, leader of the Conservative Party of Ontario, charged the Government of Canada of sending poorly trained and ill-equipped troops to the Far East when war with Japan was imminent. For example, in a speech of 12 January 1942, Drew cited the reason for the lack of training of the men as the shortage of manpower in the army. As one authority on this subject, Carl Vincent, put it:
"This was the kindling spark, and as the prisoners of war started to drop like files in Japanese Camps, the politicians back in Canada commenced to jockey for position, the Opposition seeking to make political capital out of the government's presumed negligence and the government attempting to deny or belittle the charges."
On 21 January 1942, J.L. Ralston, the Minister of National Defence, defended the government's position in the House of Commons. He did admit, however, that a few men sent to Hong Kong had received less than 16 weeks training, and that the battalions had arrived without any support vehicles.
This revelation, and the political debate which followed, forced the government to act. At first, both opposition parties wanted a parliamentary committee to investigate the circumstances of Canada's involvement at Hong Kong. Later, Prime Minister King secured their agreement for a royal commission instead. The federal conservatives, led by R.B. Hanson, as well as other pro-conscriptionists, wanted the terms of reference for the inquiry broadened to include an investigation of the manpower situation in the armed forces, but King refused.
The Hong Kong inquiry, appointed on 12 February 1942, under the Chief Justice of Canada, Lyman Duff, did not censure the government to any degree. Duff's findings provoked a political debate which lasted long after the end of the Second World War. (See: Carl Vincent, No Reason Why: The Canadian Hong Kong Tragedy - An Examination, Stittsville (Ontario), Canada's Wings, 1981; and David Ricardo Williams, Duff: A Life in the Law, Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, 1984).
Hearings of the commission were held in Ottawa from 2 March to 31 March 1942. The commission filed 295 exhibits. RG33-120 General Inventory
