This sub-series contains records related to the incoming and outgoing political correspondence sent and received by Allan Rock as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. All the correspondence was managed by the Minister's Correspondence Unit and his Executive-Assistants (EA). The correspondence is primarily between Minister Rock and other ministers from the government, as well as other Liberal MPs. The records are mostly memoranda to the Minister created by his Executive-Assistants to summarize the correspondence Rock received on a daily basis. We only find a few pieces of incoming correspondence. Most of the records are memoranda and copies of outgoing correspondence from Allan Rock (the originals were sent to the recipients). The original folders of this sub-series have been identified by the donor as the "Minister CHRON" for the Minister Allan Rock's chronological correspondence, and the "EA CHRON" as the Executive-Assistants' chronological correspondence. The Minister's executive assistants identified in the folders "EA CHRON" are Cyrus Reporter, Paul Monahan and Penny Lipsett. Each folder has been given a volume number, and each volume contains records from a specific period. The original title of the folders for this sub-series has been preserved.
The series testifies eloquently to the relationship between Allan Rock and his counterparts on Parliament Hill, foreign dignitaries, and the Canadian population. Topics closely track the major news stories of the time, such as the gun registry, reforms of the Canadian Criminal Code, the 1995 referendum in Quebec, nominations within the federal justice system, cases in front of the Supreme Court of Canada, and new legislation promoted by his office during his mandate.
To describe the creation process of those records, correspondence was managed by the Minister's staff throughout the years. Each piece of correspondence received by the Minister's Office was analyzed by an executive assistant. Then a memorandum was created to summarize the content of the letter for Minister Allan Rock. We can also find on these memoranda several suggestions from the executive assistants on how to proceed, as well as decisions that the Minister must make in order to properly respond to significant requests.
Records consist of, but are not limited to, correspondence, memoranda, draft letters, briefing notes, handwritten notes from the Minister and his executive assistants, speeches, notes from phone calls received to the Minister's Office, curriculum vitae, news clippings, and transcripts.