Commission to Inquire into and Report upon Industrial Relations in Canada : The Commission to Inquire into and Report Upon Industrial Relations in Canada was established under Order in Council P.C. 670, 4 April 1919, on the recommendation of the Minister of Labour. No indication of the authorizing statute is given in the Order in Council. The Commission was mandated to inquire into and report to the government on the following matters, namely: (1) To consider and make suggestions for securing a permanent improvement in the relations between employers and employees. (2) To recommend means for ensuring that industrial conditions affecting relations between employers and employees shall be reviewed from time to time by those concerned, with a view to improving conditions in the future. For the above purposes the commission was to: (1) Make a survey and classification of existing Canadian industries; (2) Obtain information as to the character and extent of organization already existing among bodies of employers and employees respectively; (3) Investigate available data as to the progress made by established joint industrial councils in Canada, Great Britain and the United States. The commissioners were Thomas Graham Mathers, Chairman; Smeaton White, Charles Harrison, Frank Pauzé, Thomas Moore, John W. Bruce, and Carl Riordon (Order in Council, P.C. 784, 9 April 1919). The secretary was Thomas Bengough.
Canada was faced with a period of severe labour unrest immediately following the Great War. On 22 March 1919, a labour sub-committee, of the Reconstruction and Development Committee of the federal Cabinet, recommended that the Government of Canada appoint a Royal Commission on Industrial Relations. The purpose was to find out whether the labour unrest was the result of legitimate grievances or radical agitation.
According to the report of the royal commission, which was appointed by the Government of Canada on 4 April 1919, the chief causes of discontentment were: unemployment, the rising cost of living, long working hours, lack of collective bargaining rights, the housing shortage, restrictions on freedom of speech and the press, and unequal educational opportunities.
The Commissioners viewed the number of labour disputes which had occurred, particularly in Western Canada, as evidence that serious unrest existed. The Commissioners attributed it mainly to "the upheavals in Europe and the disturbed state of the public mind generally owing to the war." They were convinced that the majority of workers did not believe in extreme ideas and would welcome cooperation and industrial harmony.
Faced with industrial uncertainty, the Commissioners set out to recommend ways of improving relations which existed between employers and employees. Ironically, the Winnipeg General Strike occurred as the Commissioners worked toward finding a solution to labour problems. (See Report of the Commission appointed under Order-in-Council (P.C. 670) to Enquire into Industrial Relations in Canada together with a Minority Report, Ottawa, King's Printer, 1919).
Hearings of the commission were held in 28 towns and cities in Canada from 26 April to 13 June 1919. RG33-95 General Inventory
