Lower Canada. Surveyor of Roads and Bridges (Grand Voyer) : The surveyor of roads and bridges (grand voyer) and his officials in the districts had responsibility for investigating the state of the colony's roads and bridges and ensuring their construction and repair. Among the duties of the office was the allocation of labour for these public works. The system had operated under the French régime and was adopted and adapted by the British to maintain control over the laying out of routes, the construction and maintenance of roads and related activities. The discussion of matters brought to the attention of the Executive Council by the grands voyers and others concerned with the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges was generally confided to a committee of the Executive Council for investigation. During the final years of the Province of Quebec régime, the Council sat as a Board of Homologation, reviewing the procès-verbaux submitted by the grands voyers, hearing the opposing claims of the parties involved, and ratifying the reports of the grand voyer where warranted. The Council had ordered that a record should be kept separately of its proceedings as a Board of Homologation, and a separate minute-book of its deliberations in that capacity dates from 1 July 1785.
Changes were made to the structure and the functioning of the committee after 1791. Separate minute books of a Board of Homologation appear to have no longer been kept. Consequently, the record of the Executive Council's deliberations and decisions will be found in the state minute books (see the State Minute Books of the Executive Council series, elsewhere within this fonds). The Act of 1815 (55 George III, chapter 7) effected a major reorganization of public works under Commissioners for the Improvement of Internal Communications. The Commissioners' reports were submitted to the Governor and to both Houses of the Legislature. After several changes in the legislation governing the Commissioners' activities, a Board of Works was established in 1839 in a provisional capacity, under the authority of an Ordinance of 1838 of the Special Council (2 Victoria, chapter 64). The Board, which was made up of five members, had authority to supervise projects and to make recommendations on public works, but had no power to authorize expenditures without the sanction and approval of the Governor. The action of the Special Council in creating the Board of Works was ratified and the Board given a permanent status in Lower Canada by an Ordinance of 1840 (4 Victoria, chapter 38). Records of this Board, ancestor of the Department of Public Works, are found in the Department of Public Works fonds (R182, formerly RG 11).
