Sub-series consists of documentation created by and sent to the Minister's Office, the Deputy Minister's Office, and the office of the Associate Deputy Minister Correspondence as well as memoranda from a variety of senior executive offices are captured on these files. The records constitute the institutional record for the offices of the department's minister, deputy minister, and associate deputy minister. All aspects of the Minister of the Environment's mandate for the period from the mid-1960s, dating back to before the department was actually created, to the early-1990s are essentially covered by these files.
The files are arranged within a block numeric file classification system. The majority of the files are general and administrative in nature and include the following blocks: Administration (0000-1499); Finance (1500-1999); Personnel (2000-2499); Buildings, Lands and Properties (2500-2999); Equipment and Supplies (3000-3999). The largest and most significant file block of the administrative file classification system lies within the 1000-1499 file number range. Subjects within this block of files cover Environment Canada's enabling acts and legislation, ministerial correspondence with business and environmental interests, interdepartmental relations, and liaison with national and international environmental, federal agencies and other non-government organizations, such as the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee. The other administrative file blocks (1500- 3999) concern various aspects of Environment Canada's administrative and employment practices, the administration of the Minister's office, budgets and estimates, travel arrangements, and communications and public relations.
The operational file blocks more specifically reflect the functions, activities, and structures of the various branches and services of the department, and include the following blocks: the Environment Protection Service (4000-4999); Fisheries and Marine Program/Parks Canada (5000-5999); the Lands Directorate (6000-6999); the Inland Waters Directorate (7000-7999); the Atmospheric Environment Service (8000-8999); and the Canadian Wildlife Service (9000-9999). Among the operational files, the 4000-4999 file classification block (Environment Protection Service) describes Environment Canada's efforts to control pollution, to monitor the impact of resource extraction on the environment, departmental efforts to bring about and monitor the disposal of dangerous wastes, and other related topics. The Parks Canada file block (5000-5999) deals primarily with the management of park facilities and properties. The Lands Directorate files (6000-6499) concern land use policy and files on foreign ownership of Canadian lands. The 6500-6999 file block was allotted to the Canadian Forestry Service. The large group of Inland Waters files (7000-7999) deals with a wide variety of water resource-based issues, including federal-provincial flood conservation arrangements; a small Atmospheric Environment Service file block (8000-8999) primarily concerns AES weather-monitoring facilities. The Canadian Wildlife Service's files (9000-9999) address the issues of the protection of wildlife, wildlife habitat, and the impact of resource development on the environment as a whole.
This sub-series also contains an abundance of public comments in the form of petitions, inquiries, complaints, and letters to the Minister of the Environment from individuals and special interest groups. These documents detail how Canadians reacted to changes and developments in federal environmental legislation, how federal environmental polices were modified and justified as a result of discursive interactions with the public, and how the federal environmental landscape was shaped and modified by public opinion.
