Series consists of correspondence between members of the public and the Ministry of Transportation between the years 1993-2003. The majority of the correspondence consists of letters from the public sent to the Minister of Transportation. The letters deal with various forms of transportation including automobiles, ferries, marine, railroads, transit, pedestrian and cycling. The subjects include the condition and maintenance of transportation infrastructure including highways, roads, sidewalks, bridges and ports and sidewalks. Some of the letters relate to transportation issues that also fall under the jurisdiction of municipalities and the Federal Government.

When the ministry received these letters, the Correspondence Branch assigned a unique number to each letter in the ministry’s correspondence tracking database called Cliff. The branch would then research the issue, request information from ministry staff and draft a response. The draft response was then forwarded to the minister’s office who would review the letter and either sign it or return it to the branch for further revisions.

The files contain the letter from the public, notes and registration forms by the ministry, draft replies and a copy of the final response. Some letters were sent to the ministry with attachments such as reports, photographs, and videos.

The letters are arranged numerically by the Cliff number or by another number. The letters from 1993-1998 are arranged annually by a sequential number that begins at 1 at the beginning of each year.

There are gaps in the records. Some file folders were transferred to the archives empty. Between 1993 and 1997 the ministry often “batched” letters that are similar in nature. This is especially true for things such as petitions. During this same time they would also create separate files for letters that the ministry did not respond to. The file titles for these were labelled as “no response” or “FYI” in the file titles.

The records were classified by the ministry under 280-30 in the Administrative Records Classification System (ARCS).

The records were originally created by the following two ministries:

Ministry of Transportation and Highways (1993-2001)
Ministry of Transportation (2001-2006)

Item consists of a painting of the Queen of the North ferry in Dogwood colours.

Records of the Commission.

By order-in-council dated 20 August 1992 the Inquiry into Safety of Loading Procedures within the British Columbia Ferries was established to inquire into and report on the safety of loading procedures for vessels within the British Columbia Ferry Corporation fleet; to inquire and report on the incidents at the British Columbia Ferry Corporation Nanaimo Ferry Terminal on or about 13 August 1992 insofar as these incidents disclose flaws or faults in the loading procedure from the safety standpoint; and to recommend improvements to the loading procedures, or the maintenance of current practices, from the safety standpoint. Its report was submitted on 11 September 1992.

Fonds consists of proceedings, exhibits (including a videotape presentation and photographs), a commission registrar's file, an administrative file, a general correspondence file, and a copy of the final report.

This series contains contracts from the Department of Highways for bridges, culverts, roads, ferries, and ferry terminals. The series includes specifications and some plans.

This series contains correspondence, circulars, committee minutes, and project files regarding traffic, road signals and signs, lighting, speed limits, safety, railway crossings, bridges and ferry terminals.

This series contains official correspondence, reports, briefs to cabinet, articles and messages, etc. accumulated during W.A.C. Bennett's tenure as premier. It includes files on Dominion-provincial relations, civil defence, centennial celebrations, railways and major business corporations. Also includes copies of congratulatory letters sent to senior citizens by Bennett's successor, Premier David Barrett. Photographs transferred to Visual Records Division; maps, plans, and printed material transferred to Library and Maps Section. GR-1414 consists of a large number of records created and accumulated during the tenure of Premier William Andrew Cecil (W.A.C.) Bennett [1952-1972]. The records originally comprised the Central Registry of the Premier's Office. Included are letters from private individuals and business corporations, inter-departmental memoranda, copies of the premier's articles and messages, briefs to cabinet and other reports submitted for the premier's consideration. This unit also includes documents pertaining to Dominion-Provincial relations, as well as correspondence from federal politicians and foreign diplomats. The records, which comprise this unit, were transferred to the Provincial Archives from the Premier's Office in November 1982. Ten years earlier-following the defeat of Mr. Bennett's Social Credit government-the records had been consigned to a vault in the basement of the Parliament Buildings. Sometime later they were placed in cardboard boxes and removed to a builders' shed in the Parliament Buildings precinct. There they remained, apparently untended, until 1982 when they came to the attention of the Archives. When the records were transferred to the Archives a number of file folders were found to be empty. In most cases, the empty folders concerned cabinet ministers and the work of various government departments. Similarly, contemporary file lists [see Box 131, File 11] indicate that a number of folders were missing from the original series of files. No files marked "Anonymous," for example, were among the boxes received by the Archives, despite the fact that files containing anonymous letters inward were maintained over the years by the Premier's Office. Nor were any "Confidential" files included with the transfer, although they were part of the Premier's filing system. These files may have been removed when W.A.C. Bennett left office in 1972, or they may have been removed sometime after 1976 when W.R. Bennett became premier. [In her interview (taped in 1978) Mrs. Mylrea noted that Premier Bennett asked her to "go through" the correspondence files on 31 August 1972, the day after his party's electoral defeat. Mrs. Mylrea spent the next two weeks reviewing "every piece of paper in those files." "I did not find one thing that nobody else could have looked at" she related, "there was nothing that anybody need be afraid that anybody could see, opposition or otherwise." Nevertheless, some of the files were removed and were taken by Mr. Bennett to his Kelowna home. [SMID 3236:1-2, pp.16-17] Researchers should also note the absence of W.A.C. Bennett's constituency files in this collection. According to the premier's secretary, records dealing with the South Okanagan riding were maintained separately in the premier's Kelowna office. After his death in February, 1979, the Bennett family donated the records to the Simon Fraser University archives. [SMID 3236:1-1, p.17] Despite the absence of certain files, GR-1414 is a remarkably rich collection of executive records. The evolution of the Social Credit Party can be detected in many of the memos and reports in the collection; public attitudes towards government policies can be seen in much of the correspondence inward, while the province's economic growth can be discerned in files devoted to industrial development or to particular companies. Federal-provincial relations are also well documented, as are the activities of local chambers of commerce and sundry community groups throughout the province. Indeed, as a source of documentation for British Columbia in the 1950s and 1960s, GR-1414 is unrivalled.

Series consists of personal and political material. His personal effects include correspondence with his family in Scotland and memorabilia of Strachan's boyhood (such as badges and certificates earned as a corporal in the 211st Glasgow Company of the Boys' Brigade), and family photographs. Most of Strachan's papers concern his political career, as member of the legislative assembly, and as Leader of the Opposition, and government minister.

These papers were originally arranged by topic and subject, and, as far as possible such arrangement has been maintained. Thus notes and correspondence pertaining to Strachan's constituency have been separated from papers dealing with provincial topics, such as the Columbia River power project. Similarly, papers dealing with the CCF/NDP caucus are distinct from the extensive correspondence that resulted from unrest within the New Democratic Party during the various leadership challenges of the 1960s.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Crawford Creek, B.C. RECORDED: Revelstoke (B.C.), 1975-02-26 SUMMARY: Family background; move to Lardeau area; comments on Ferguson and Beaton; move to Crawford Creek; farming in Crawford Creek; school days; worked at Halcyon Hot Springs; public health facilities; churches; information on husband; the Depression; Sidmouth; ferry service on south highway.

The item is a composite print of an industrial film. It follows a BC Power Commission crew on a mid-winter transmission line patrol through the Valhalla Range, between Lower Arrow Lake and Slocan Lake. The crew is dispatched from Whatshan Generating Station, using a Sno-Cat oversnow vehicle to reach the line's 6750-foot summit. Includes aerial shots of the mountains and views of Lower Arrow Lake, plus a "whiteout".

The item consists of unedited film footage from around 1946. It shows BC Electric buses en route throughout North Vancouver, land clearing and house construction in the Capilano Highlands subdivision, streetcars meeting the ferry from Vancouver and at the North Vancouver car barn and miscellaneous shots.

Footage

The fonds consists of the Harbour Navigation Company's photographs, which include one album and several loose photos and postcards. These images depict the Wigwam Inn and Belcarra Park (both on Indian Arm), and social activities at those locations, as well as the company's vessels, captains and personnel. Vessels shown include the "Fort Langley", the "Harbour Princess", the "Hollyburn" and the "Scenic". Several photos were taken by the Dominion Photo Company, and some by the Royal Canadian Air Force. The photographs were collected by Joan Hughes from the Harbour Navigation Company and former staff members.

The item consists of an audio interview with H.H. Stevens, recorded in 1966.
T0327:0001 summary
Track 1: Mr. Stevens, who came to Vernon in 1894, talks about his early experiences and memories of the Okanagan, including driving the stage from Penticton to Grand Forks in 1897; Camp McKinney; Fairview; Rossland; Phoenix; Greenwood; Grand Forks; Crows Nest Railway; Rock Creek; prospecting and mining and W.R. Meagaw. He describes Vernon; local residents; farms; ranches and the Aberdeen Ranch.
Track 2: Mr. Stevens continues with recollections about the Coldstream Ranch; Okanagan Lake; coming to Vancouver 1901; False Creek; CPR land holdings; real estate boom 1901 to 1912; sawmills and logging; Oppenheimer brothers; local personalities and wholesalers; Victoria wholesalers; North Vancouver ferry; Stewart; and the Dominion Trust Company.

T0327:0002 summary
Track 1: Mr. Stevens speaks about the Dominion Trust Company; the beginning of party politics in BC, 1903; and his election as a federal Conservative MP in 1911. He comments on federal political life; Vancouver in the boom period and depression, from 1911 to 1920; personalities; Alvo von Alvensleben; Hindus; Japanese; wholesalers and the Vancouver Hotel. [Track 2: blank.]

Promotional video

Footage. Miscellaneous shots. The liner "Empress of Japan" and a West Vancouver Ferry pass through First Narrows; Burrard Street Bridge opening and crowds; a seaplane at Coal Harbour; a pet bear; high pan of Vancouver from the north shore; a May Day celebration with Lt. Gov. Hamber and other dignitaries, followed by a parade [New Westminster?].

CALL NUMBER: SD0177:0281 SUMMARY: SIDE 1: Part 1 - Interviews with Mr. Lawson (6:10) & Captain Smith (7:28) by Bert Cannings. SIDE 2: Part 3 -Interviews with Harry Thompson (1:38), Mr. Webster [Manager, West Vancouver Municipal Trans;port] (3:38), and Captain Watson (6:17).;

CALL NUMBER: SD0177:0282 SUMMARY: SIDE 1: Part 4 - Interviews with Councillor Ted Bains and Reeve Tom Brown. (4:37) SIDE 2: Unrelated program.;

CALL NUMBER: SD0177:0283 side 1 SUMMARY: SIDE 1: Part 5 - Three intros by Reo Thompson. (2 x 1:00 and 1 x 1:23) SIDE 2: Unrelated program.;

PERIOD COVERED: ;1902-;-;[no date] RECORDED: Robson (B.C.), 1966-12 SUMMARY: Mr. and Mrs. James R. Martin recall early days and people in Castlegar, Robson, Westley and other places on the Arrow Lakes.;

Log books of Forest Service launches including those of the MV Catherine Graham, Department of Highways Denman Island ferry, prior to her transfer to the Forest Service in 1973.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): John Glen Sr. describes the Francois Lake area, c.1910 PERIOD COVERED: 1910-1920 RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-?] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: John Glen Sr. describes arriving in Duncan from Scotland in 1910 and working on a dairy farm there before landing in Francois Lake to pre-empt land with Jim and Robert (Bob) Jeffrey, his arrival at Hazelton, incidents on the trip into Burns Lake, crossing Burns Lake in a government raft, his arrival at Francois Lake, Tom Harris of Harris and Long Ranch, his first few months at Francois Lake, an anecdote about a bear, the arrival of Robert Jeffrey at Francois Lake in 1911, the trip by wagon and raft from Burns Lake to Francois Lake with the Jeffrey family possessions, and mail service.; TRACK 2: John Glen Sr. continues by describing the use of South African script land at Francois Lake, the Francois Lake settlement, the new settlers including Mr. Purdue, the decline of regional growth, Glen leaving Francois Lake and moving to Alberta near Wainwright, the Jeffrey family at Cowichan Lake, how the Francois Lake Ferry was brought in from Burns Lake, his first trip to Francois Lake ;is recounted briefly, and telegraph linesman Harry Birdsall.