Royal Commission on Reconveyance of Land to British Columbia (Canada) : The Royal Commission on Reconveyance of Land to British Columbia was established under Order in Council P.C. 422, 8 March 1927, 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 on arguments of the Government of the Province of British Columbia in support of its claim for the reconveyance to the Province by the Government of Canada of the land conveyed by the Province to the Dominion pursuant to Paragraph II of the Terms of Union, and such evidence as may be material to the consideration of such claim by the Government of Canada. The commissioner was William Melville Martin.
When British Columbia entered Confederation in 1871, it retained control over its public lands. By section 11 of the Terms of Union, the Government of Canada promised to begin construction of a railway, within two years from the date of union. The Province of British Columbia was supposed to be connected to the railway system of Eastern Canada by 1881, but had to wait 15 years before the railway was completed.
Because of the railway, the Government of Canada wanted land in British Columbia. It intended to make grants to any company which undertook construction of the railway or to sell land to help pay the costs of railway construction.
Pursuant to section 11 of the Imperial Order in Council, which admitted British Columbia into Confederation, that province agreed to convey to the Government of Canada, "in trust", certain public lands along the line of the proposed railway (afterwards known as the "Railway Belt") for which it was to receive 00,000 per year in compensation. Moreover, in 1883, the Province of British Columbia transferred an additional 3.5 million acres of land in the Peace River District to the federal government in lieu of land unfit for settlement along the "Railway Belt".
Since a total 12,832,000 acres of land transferred to the Government of Canada "in trust" were not used for purposes of the trust, in February 1926, the province passed an Order in Council calling on the federal government to reconvey the administration of the unalienated portion of the "Railway Belt", as well as the Peace River District, back to provincial control. The Government of Canada responded by appointing a federal royal commission to examine the position of the Province of British Columbia in regard to its claim for reconveyance of the land as well as for the administration and control of its natural resources. (See: Chester Martin, "Dominion Lands Policy", ed. Lewis H. Thomas, Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, 1973, pp. 39, 45-46, 204-206 and 209; Report of the Royal Commission, Reconveyance of Land to British Columbia, Ottawa, King's Printer, 1928.)
Hearings of the commission were held in Victoria from 21 to 23 June 1927. RG33-109 General Inventory
