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III. The Canada Gazette: 1867-1869

On July 1, 1867, the Dominion of Canada was created by dividing the Province of Canada into Ontario and Quebec and merging them with the colonies of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The Canada Gazette took note of Confederation: the issue dated June 18, 1867, printed a proclamation uniting the provinces, a list of new senators and a notice declaring July 1, 1867, as a "day of rejoicing." An "extra," dated July 3, 1867, published a list of appointments made on July 1 by the Governor General, including the names of the members of the Queen’s Privy Council of Canada, the lieutenant-governors of the four provinces, cabinet and other appointments. Ottawa, which had been made the capital of the Province of Canada in 1857, became the capital of the new dominion, and the Canada Gazette continued to be printed from here.

One result of Confederation was the concurrent publication, until 1869, of two Canada gazettes. Both series were published weekly on Saturdays by Malcolm Cameron (see footnote 11) who had become Queen’s Printer in 1863. The series which had begun in 1841 continued until the end of 1869, and focused on Ontario and Quebec, with greater emphasis placed on Quebec. The new series, which began on July 1, 1867, dealt with federal matters. The original series was discontinued after the Ontario Gazette and the Quebec Gazette began to publish in 1868 and 1869 respectively, making it redundant. (see footnote 12)

Individual issues of the new series were brief with a strong English focus, publishing proclamations, parliamentary and government notices, and general orders in council. Material from London, such as notices from Downing Street and information about English schools, was also included. The numbering sequence begun with the new series remained and continues to the present day. The continuing series had much larger issues than the new series and contained proclamations, notices of bankruptcy, sale of real estate, and corporation, government and parliamentary notices, the majority of which were concerned with Quebec. The rules of court for Quebec were also published here. Very occasionally the text of a new statute was published as a supplement.

The language issue did not die with the union of the Canadas. While the English content continued to be printed first, the French began to increase as more information was printed in both languages. Most government notices and proclamations were printed in English and French, but not all corporate, bankruptcy and miscellaneous notices. The practice was to translate items pertaining to Quebec, although this did not happen in every case.

Two years after Confederation, Parliament passed legislation concerning the Canada Gazette. An Act Respecting the Office of Queen’s Printer and the Public Printing (see footnote 13) came into force on October 1, 1869, and dealt with the appointment, salary and duties of the Queen’s Printer, one of which was the printing and publication of the Canada Gazette, "the Official Gazette of the Dominion." Section 3 specified the content of the Canada Gazette: "[a]ll Proclamations issued by the Governor or under the authority of the Governor in Council, and all official notices, advertisements and documents relating to the Dominion of Canada, or matters under the control of the Parliament thereof, and requiring publication, shall be published in the Canada Gazette, unless some other mode of publication thereof be required by law." Section 9 gave the Governor in Council the power to prescribe the "form, mode and condition of publication of the Canada Gazette" The Canada Gazette was governed by this Act (cited as the Public Printing and Stationery Act from 1906) until its repeal by the Government Organization Act, 1969. (see footnote 14)

Footnotes

Footnote 11
Malcolm Cameron (1808-1876) was born in Lower Canada of Scottish parentage. A businessman and politician, he held cabinet posts in pre-Confederation governments before succeeding Stewart Derbishire as Queen's Printer in 1863. He held this post until 1869 when George-Édouard Desbarats (1838-1893), the son of George-Paschal Desbarats, was appointed Canada's first Official Printer.

Footnote 12
Margaret A. Banks, "An Annotated Bibliography of Statutes and Related Publications: Upper Canada, the Province of Canada, and Ontario 1792-1980" in D. Flaherty, ed., Essays in the History of Canada Law, Vol. 1 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press for The Osgoode Society, 1981) at 395-6. The date of final publication of the original series is in doubt. Banks gives it as December 11, 1869, while Bishop (supra note 5 at 58) gives June 28, 1869. The last issue which the author found was dated October 30, 1869.
The enabling legislation for the Ontario Gazette was S.O. 1868, c. 6, and that for the Quebec Official Gazette was S.Q. 1868, c. 13.

Footnote 13
The title of Queen’s Printer, in its present form, dates back almost to Confederation, when the new dominion’s Parliament decided, because of cost, that government administrators would no longer appoint private printers as official printers to the Crown. By the terms of An Act Respecting the Office of Queen’s Printer and the Public Printing, S.C. 1869, c. 7, a government official known as the Queen’s Printer was appointed to supervise the printing of Canada’s laws (Statutes of Canada), its official newspaper, the Canada Gazette, as well as any printing required by government departments. Although private firms would continue to execute the work under the Queen’s Printer’s supervision, now they were to bid for it under competitive tenders.

Footnote 14
S.C. 1968-69, c. 28.

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