Royal commissions commenced in British Columbia in 1872, under
the authority of the Public Inquiries Act. Chaired by one
or more highly-respected persons (usually retired judges), royal
commissions are legally autonomous from government.
There are generally two types of royal commissions: policy
commissions struck to investigate matters of great societal
importance; or investigative commissions set up to investigate
individual or institutional misconduct. The results are usually
published in large reports detailing the commissions’ findings and
recommendations for legislative and policy changes.
In 1979 the former Public Inquiries Act and
Ministerial Inquiries Act were consolidated into the Inquiry
Act. On June 21, 2007, the British Columbia Legislature passed a new
Public Inquiry Act (S.B.C. 2007, c. 9) with revised
parameters for conducting royal commissions in British Columbia.
About this Portal
The Legislative Library has
the most comprehensive collection of BC royal and special commissions
reports in the Province with documents dating back to 1872.
In Spring 2011, the Legislative Library
digitized over two hundred reports published between 1872 and 1980. There are some gaps in the collection:
several reports issued between 1972 and 1942 are reported as missing
and some commissions were set-up and terminated before completing
their work. The terminated commissions are not listed in this portal.
All royal and special commissions reports published after 1980 are
available online and can be searched via the
online catalogue.
Browse Commissions 1872-1980
Checklists
Commissions are also listed in the following checklists published
by the Legislative Library. Use the checklists to find summaries
and related materials published by the commissions.
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