Fonds consists of records created and/or maintained by the Department of Militia, United Canadas and its predecessors. Researchers are cautioned that unprocessed textual records and records in other media are not reflected in this description.
Canada. Dept. of Adjutant General of Militia : The first Militia Act for the united Province of Canada (9 Vic. ch. 28), passed in 1846, altered little the existing structures and formations in the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. While there was a single Adjutant General of Militia, the Adjutant could call upon the assistance of the Deputy Adjutants General in Lower Canada and Upper Canada. (The old provincial names were retained within the militia.) The act gave them the power to issue of Militia General Orders, to grant commissions, as well as the responsibility for the organization, training, management and discipline of the militia. They, and their small staffs, were the only full-time officers.
The 1846 Militia Act also called for a continuation of the old system of universal service enacted in the militia law of Upper Canada. The Act divided the regular militia into two classes, with all males between the ages of 18 and 40 placed in the first class, while those aged between 40 and 60 formed the second class. It was stipulated that, "in time of peace, the privates of each Regiment of Militia shall consist of men belonging to the first only" but men of each class were required to be present at the annual muster. Regimental divisions continued on a county basis, with the cities and larger towns considered as separate divisions. In addition, the Governor had the power (as in previous acts) to form volunteer units of militia, dragoons, artillery, rifles or light infantry as well as a Provincial Navy, and a few such volunteer units were organized.
The 1855 Militia Act (18 Vic. ch. 77), created a force of volunteers - the Active or Volunteer Militia - consisting of troops of cavalry, field batteries, foot companies of artillery infantry companies and rifle companies which were to be equipped by the government with the necessary arms and accoutrements. The field batteries were required to drill annually for at least twenty days, and the other units were required to serve for ten days. In addition, the volunteers could be called out to aid the civil power. The 1855 act divided the united Province into eighteen military districts, each commanded by a colonel. At the same time the Act retained the idea of universal service, then composed of a Service Militia, of men between the ages of 18 and 40 who were required to muster one day in each year, and a Non-Service Militia for those in the 41 to 60 age group who would be called out only in the event of a levée-en-masse.
With the outbreak of the American Civil War, defence became a priority. In December 1861 John A Macdonald "imposed a political head, the Minister of Militia Affairs, upon the bureaucratic post of Adjutant General of Militia." [ J.K. Johnson and P.B. Waite, "Macdonald, Sir John Alexander," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol 12, p. 596.] Macdonald added these ministerial responsibilities to the others he already held, and with this the office of the Adjutant General became a department of government. After a proposed reorganization of the militia in 1862 brought down the Macdonald-Cartier ministry, a temporary Militia Act in 1863 (27 Vic. ch. 2-3) greatly increased the numbers of volunteer units and provided for service battalions recruited by ballot.
After Confederation the Militia and Defence Act of 1868 (31 Vic. ch. 40) superseded the existing Militia Act for United Canada, but retained many of its essential features.
The Ministers of Militia were John Alexander Macdonald, December 1861 - May 1862 and August 1865 - June 1867; John Sandfield Macdonald, June 1862 - March 1864; and Colonel E.P. Taché, June 1864 - July 1865. The Adjutants General of Militia were Colonel Sir Allan Napier MacNab, 30 June 1846; Colonel Plomer Young, July 1846 - July 1847; Colonel George Francis, Baron de Rottenburg, July 1855 - June 1858; and Colonel Patrick Leonard MacDougall, May 1865 - October 1868. The office was vacant for lengthy periods and the Deputy Adjutants General looked after matters in their respective halves of the Province.
