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A fledgling nation finds its voice
Canada’s official newspaper has its roots in the beginnings of a nation.
The creation of the Canada Gazette, its history and its future
are intertwined in the growing pains of an entire country. Through times
of war and peace, of prosperity and depression, through innovations that
turned the industrial world upside down and shrunk the global world to
a village, the Canada Gazette has remained one constant. Collectively,
its pages mirror aspects of an evolving nation - its words define who
we are as Canadians.
This book commemorates the 160th anniversary
of the Canada Gazette. The first part tells a story of a publication
that is as much a part of the growth of a nation as it is an historical
account of Canada’s official newspaper. It is a story that supports the
belief that every person has the right to be a part of the laws and regulations
that affect Canada’s citizens. The second part contains the historical
facts that detail the evolution of the Canada Gazette. Originally
written and published in 1995 in the electronic journal Government
Information in Canada by Martha Foote, a law librarian, it was substantially
revised for this book.
The Canada Gazette makes its debut
in the new Province of Canada
In the 19th century, printing presses were
often established to satisfy the needs of Government. After all, administrators
had only limited means to communicate with citizens - the town crier and
public readings were about the only other ways of announcing proclamations.
Early printing presses, such as the wooden screw-press imported from
England, advanced the means of Government to communicate. Operating the
press was a laborious process. Printers would first convert written material
into lines of types. Each line was assembled in a composing stick, letter
by letter. Lines were made equal in length by inserting lead metal blanks
called, appropriately enough, leads. Once a page was completed, it was
firmly locked into a metal frame and dabbed with ink. This process produced
about 60 printed sheets per hour.
When the Canada Gazette made its debut on Saturday, October 2,
1841, official gazettes were already being circulated as a means of disseminating
government notices. The Canada Gazette soon became the official
voice of the new Government of the Province of Canada. In achieving supremacy,
it superseded gazettes issued by the former provinces of Upper Canada
(now Ontario) and Lower Canada (now Quebec).
Appointing Queen’s Printer among
first official business
At only three pages long, the first Canada Gazette contained a
proclamation, two new acts, an order in council, and two government appointments.
One of these appointments was that of Stewart Derbishire and George-Paschal
Desbarats as joint Queen’s Printers and Law Printers in and for the Province
of Canada. Derbishire was an Englishman who, in his prior careers, was
a soldier, lawyer and journalist. Desbarats was a French Canadian with
a solid grounding in his family’s printing trade.
The title of Queen’s Printer dates back almost to Confederation, when
the new Dominion’s Parliament decided that it was too costly to appoint
private printers as official printers to the Crown. An act in 1869 required
that a government official, known as the Queen’s Printer, be appointed
to supervise the printing of its official newspaper, the Canada Gazette,
and any printing required by government departments.
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