Canada. Royal Commission on Pilotage : The Royal Commission on Pilotage was established under Order in Council P.C. 1575, 1 November 1962, under Part I of the Inquiries Act (R.S.C. 1952, c.154) and on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Commission was mandated to inquire into and report upon the problem relating to marine pilotage provided in Canada, more particularly under the Canada Shipping Act, and to recommend the changes, if any, that should be made in the pilotage system now prevailing, having regard to safety of navigation, development of shipping and commerce, the interests of pilots, shipowners, masters and the public generally, with particular reference to: (a) the extent and nature of marine pilotage requirements, including compulsory pilotage, compulsory payment of pilotage dues and the granting of exemptions; (b) the duties, responsibilities and status of marine pilots; and (c) the adequacy of the organizational structure provided in the Canada Shipping Act for the administration, regulation and financing of pilotage, taking into consideration such factors as the provision of pilotage services, the determination, collection and disposal of pilotage dues, and the entry into service, technical standards, conduct, income, welfare and pension arrangements of pilots. The commissioners were Yves Bernier, Chairman; Harold Alexander Renwick and Robert Knowlton Smith. The secretary was Gilbert W. Nadeau.
The pilotage system in Canada dates from 1873 when the Government of Canada enacted the Pilotage Act (35-36-37 Vict., c.54). This statute established the pilotage districts of Montreal, Quebec, Halifax and Saint John and empowered the Governor-in-Council to set up pilotage districts in other parts of Canada as the need arose. Except for minor amendments, the provisions of the 1873 Act were incorporated into the Canada Shipping Act (R.S.C., 1906, c.113) and for the most part, they were still in effect by the 1960s. But, a major amendment to the legislation was made in 1960. Arrangements were reached with the United States, following the completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway, for the establishment of a joint pilotage system in the area of the Great Lakes. As a result, an amendment was made to the Canada Shipping Act (8-9 Eliz. II, c.40, 1960) for that purpose.
The organization of pilotage under Part VI of the Canada Shipping Act centred around the establishment of fully decentralized, autonomous and financially self-supporting pilotage districts across Canada. The actual situation, however, was quite different. Pilotage in the larger districts including: the Bras d'Or Lakes, Sydney, Halifax, Saint John, Quebec City, Montreal, Cornwall, Churchill and all of British Columbia was not only administered centrally but was controlled by the Department of Transport in Ottawa. In other districts, the pilotage authority remained a local self-governing, independent commission. According to the first volume of the report of the Royal Commission on Pilotage anomalies existed in the law:
"It also found the present organization and control of pilotage exists, in contravention of the law. The commission's finding concerning the absence of a proper legal base for most of the existing administration of pilotage was such a startling development that it was deemed necessary to undertake a detailed analysis of the pilotage provisions of the Canada Shipping Act to verify the correctness of this conclusion."
It was obvious that the legislation governing pilotage was unsatisfactory. Except for the area of the Great Lakes, very few changes were made in the law until after the strike by the St. Lawrence River pilots of 1962.
On 6 April 1962, the Federation of St. Lawrence River Pilots, which was involved in a dispute with the ship operators, and the Department of Transport, mainly over the method used to calculate pilots wages, went out on strike for eight days.
This affected shipping from Les Escoumains (140 miles northeast of Quebec City) to Kingston and it was doubtful whether the St. Lawrence Seaway would open on time for the 1962 season. In an attempt to diffuse the situation, the federal Minister of Transport, Leon Balcer, announced in Parliament, on 10 April, that he planned to appoint a royal commission to inquire into all aspects of pilotage in Canada. It is not surprising, therefore, that the agreement between the Department of Transport, the Shipping companies and the St. Lawrence River pilots which ended the strike also called for the appointment of a royal commission. But, the inquiry was not formally established until 1 November 1962 because the pilots wanted the government to delay the appointment until near the close of the shipping season.
Because the mandate of the royal commission was extremely broad, the Commissioners did not complete their report until 1971. They investigated not only problems affecting marine pilots, shipowners, masters and the public but also the broader question of the state of the pilotage law in Canada. As the Commissioners put it:
"The mandate of this commission, however, is very much wider than the terms of reference of the previous commissions which dealt with pilotage matters only in some particular port or area. Indeed, this is the first time in Canadian history that a royal commission has been charged with the duty of conducting an inquiry into all aspects of pilotage, including the adequacy of applicable legislation, wherever the service is provided in Canadian waters." (See Report of the Royal Commission on Pilotage, General Introduction, Part I, Study of Canadian Pilotage Legislation and General Recommendations, Queen's Printer: Ottawa, 1968, pp. xvii-xxvi; House of Commons, Debates, 10 April 1962, pp. 2658-2662 and 2 November 1962, pp. 1215-1217 and National Archives of Canada, Records of the Department of Labour, RG 27, D2, Vol. 551, Microfilm reel T-3405, Strikes and Lockouts files, Strike No. 76, Shipping Federation of Canada, lower St. Lawrence, Quebec and Ontario).
Hearings of the commission were held in all provinces of Canada, except Saskatchewan and Alberta, from 11 February 1913 to 15 January 1965. The Commissioners visited harbour and pilotage facilities in more than 30 places in Canada where hearings were held as well as New York and Washington, D.C. in the United States. The commission filed 1543 exhibits and 62 submissions. RG33-94 General Inventory
