Royal Commission on Possibilities of Reindeer and Musk Ox Industries in the Arctic and Sub-arctic Regions (Canada) : The Commission to Investigate into and report upon the potentialities of the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Regions of Canada as a Grazing Country for the Development of Musk Ox and Reindeer Herds for Commercial and National Purposes was established under Order in Council P.C. 1079, 20 May 1919, under Part I of the Inquiries Act (R.S.C., 1906, c.104) and on the recommendation of the Minister of the Interior. The Commission was mandated to inquire into and report upon the potentialities of the Arctic and the sub-Arctic regions of Canada as a grazing country for the development of a musk-ox and reindeer industry from a business and national standpoint. The commissioners were John Gunion Rutherford, Chairman, James Stanley McLean, James Bernard Harkin and Vilhjalmur Stefansson. Stefansson resigned on 12 March 1920. The secretary was J.C. Campbell.
On 11 November 1918, at the Empire Club in Toronto, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, the Canadian Arctic explorer, proposed a scheme for the introduction of domesticated reindeer into the Arctic and sub-Arctic of Canada. He also was in favour of the domestication of musk-ox which were of potential commercial value not only for meat, but also for wool. Stefansson submitted the same proposal to Duncan Campbell Scott, the Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, and Arthur Meighen, the Minister of the Interior as well. Both men appeared interested in it and Meighen arranged for Stefansson to speak before a joint session of the House of Commons and the Senate. On 6 May 1919, Stefansson told the parliamentarians of his plans for converting the vast grazing lands of Northern Canada into a wool and meat producing area. Following his speech, Meighen's recommendation to the Cabinet that the Government of Canada appoint a royal commission to look into the possibility of developing a musk-ox and reindeer industry met with approval.
But one authority, Richard Diubaldo, questioned the government's decision in establishing a royal commission:
"One wonders why the Canadian government embarked upon the course of creating a royal commission, when for all intents and purposes a government policy had been established on the question almost one year prior to the commission's creation and even before Stefansson's earnest compaigning."
After all, the government had granted grazing privileges to the North American Reindeer Company for reindeer herds as early as July 1918. Diubaldo suggests that the proposed domestication of the musk-ox, which was declared a protected species in 1917, might have had something to do with the need for further investigation. At any rate, the government recognized Stefansson's efforts in promoting the scheme by appointing him a Commissioner. His service to the royal commission, however, was short lived. He was forced to resign, in March 1920, because he applied for a lease to carry out his own project for the domestication of reindeer on Baffin Island. (See Richard J. Diubaldo, Stefansson and the Canadian Arctic, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1978, pp. 135-148).
Hearings were held in Ottawa from 24 January to 12 May 1920. RG33-105 General Inventory
