Fonds consists of transcripts of hearings, exhibits, subject files and newspaper clippings.
Canada. Royal Commission on the Textile Industry : The Royal Commission on the Textile Industry was established under Order in Council P.C. 223, 27 January 1936, under Part 1 of the Inquiries Act (R.S.C., 1927, c.99) and on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance. The Commission was mandated: to determine the responsibility of employers and to enable appropriate action to be taken in safeguarding the interests of employees, the public, and the industry itself, the government must be fully advised on all matters surrounding the operations and conduct of the industries immediately concerned and interrelated and allied industries; that in this connection it is essential that full and complete information be available to the government over a period of years on costs, profits, wages, salaries and bonuses, tariff protection, investment and volume of production, and in particular, the extent to which the employer can reasonably and properly be expected to maintain employment over periods of temporary difficulty. The Commissioner was William Ferdinand Alphonse Turgeon and the secretary was Albert Spense Whiteley.
On 17 January 1936, the Dominion Textile Company closed its rayon mill at Sherbrooke, Quebec, and laid off over 1000 employees. The layoffs were expected to place upon the City of Sherbrooke, and upon the provincial government, an additional financial burden because the closure occurred during the winter when unemployment was high. On 18 January Sherbrooke city council sent a telegram to the Prime Minister of Canada and the minister of finance asking the government to intervene and "take immediate steps to remedy this condition." At the same time representations appeared in the press to the effect that uncertainty in the textile market, due in large part to Japanese competition in certain artificial silks, had forced the closure of the rayon plant and that it would remain closed until the present situation in the industry was clarified. An official of the federal Department of Labour was sent immediately to Sherbrooke to report on existing conditions and after an investigation recommended the appointment of a public inquiry. As a result of this suggestion, the Government of Canada appointed a royal commission on 27 January (see Order in Council P.C. 223, 27 January 1936).
Hearings of the Commission were held from 20 February 1936 to 20 March 1937 in Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières, Montreal, Quebec City, Montmagny, Louiseville and Valleyfield, Quebec; and in Ottawa, Toronto, Dunnville, St. Catharines, Paris and Cornwall, Province of Ontario. 1380 exhibits were filed with the Commission. RG33-20 general inventory
