Showing 132 results

The series consists of Application for Relief forms created by the Dept. of the Provincial Secretary between 1939 and 1941. Each form gives applicants' name, age, place of residence, marital status, financial status and number of dependents.

The forms, which are numbered from 600501 to 604500, were evidently a part of a larger registry. Unfortunately, other application forms from the registry have not survived. Contemporary registers and indexes to the application forms have not survived either.

Most of the forms in this series are from August-November 1939, although a few are dated as late as November 1941. The forms are arranged by community, with a very few discrepancies in the order. Application forms from the city of Vancouver are, for the most part, arranged alphabetically by the first initial of the applicants' surname.

An oath of allegiance was required from those applying for financial assistance from the provincial government. Oath of Allegiance forms from the years 1940-1942 are to be found in Box 7 of this collection. There is no discernible order to the Oath forms, although a number of them refer to the Application for Relief forms noted above.

This series consists of correspondence inward and outward, and interdepartmental memos of the Provincial Secretary, pertaining to provincial mental health care institutions, mothers' pensions, child welfare, and adoption laws from 1918-1926.

This series consists of the records of John B.B. Shaw, Executive Assistant to the Provincial Secretary, 1946-1948.

This series consists of incomplete correspondence files from the Department of the Provincial Secretary, 1942-1949. File subjects include miscellaneous, legislation, elections, government progress, and by-elections held in Vancouver, Rossland-Trail, South Okanagan, Cariboo and Saanich.

This series consists of correspondence inward from the Royal Commission on Indian Affairs (also known as the McKenna–McBride Commission) transmitting interim and draft reports, progress reports, minutes of decision, and confidential report to the Department of the Provincial Secretary, 1913-1916. The bulk of this record comprises a manuscript copy of the Commission's published report.

This series consists of the personal files of the Deputy Provincial Secretary, Paschal de Noe Walker, 1930-1946. Records deal with health and welfare facilities (hospitals, industrial schools, etc.), social services, elections, libraries, museums and a variety of other programmes and services administered by the Provincial Secretary's department.

This series consists of Provincial secretary correspondence, 1947. Records consist of subject files arranged alphabetically by file title. Includes subject index on cards.

This series consists of a variety of records created by various provincial mental health institutions from 1872 to 2008. Records relate to the administration and operation of Riverview Hospital and related mental health facilities at the Essondale site in Coquitlam, as well as other facilities across the province. These mental health institutions include: Victoria Asylum, New Westminster Provincial Asylum (later Public Hospital for the Insane or Provincial Hospital for the Insane), Home for the Aged Coquitlam (later Valleyview), Home for the Aged Terrace (later Skeenaview), Home for the Aged Vernon (later Dellview), Crease Clinic, Colony Farm, Colquitz, Woodlands School, Tranquille and other medical facilities.

The names and administrative structure of these institutions changed over time. Mental health functions were originally part of the Provincial Secretary’s mandate; they were transferred to Mental Health Services when it was created in 1950.

These government records were collected by the Riverview Historical Society and include a wide variety of subject matter and media. This includes subjects such as: early development of the Essondale lands and Colony Farm; the construction and expansion of the facility; admissions, transfers, and discharges of patients; administration of patient care; administration of therapy programs; patient and staff recreation; staff and nurse training; operation of the audiovisual department; library services; research into new medical and therapeutic practices; research by staff regarding mental health practices at Riverview and further afield; community involvement; volunteer activity; policy development; the redevelopment of the Riverview lands; general administration; and, administration of other services at the site such as postal, food, laundry, banking, transportation and safety services.

The collection has been arranged into the following series based on record types:

GR-3924 - record books
GR-3925 - operational records
GR-3926 - newsletters
GR-3927 - photographs and other graphic material
GR-3928 - films and videos

Classified as 20000-20 in Operational Records Classification System (ORCS) schedule 144007.

The series consists of copies of municipal assessment rolls sent to the Dept. of the Provincial Secretary in 1881 and 1884. The 1881 file contains rolls from Chilliwack, Delta, Langley, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, Richmond and Surrey. The 1884 file contains rolls from Delta, Langley, Maple Ridge, Richmond and Surrey.

The series consists of copies of correspondence between Queen Victoria and Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton on the naming of British Columbia, 24 June to 26 July 1858. The copy, made in 1971, was a gift of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, on the centenary of the province, 1871-1971.

The series consists of general office files created by the Dept. of the Provincial Secretary between 1951 and 1962 with their card indexes.

The series consists of ballots (blank and marked) and general instructions on voting procedures, along with a list of returning officers for the 1945 general election.

The series consists of records created by the Deputy Provincial Secretary between 1914 and 1933 pertaining to the administration of funds for the "aid of the destitute, poor, and sick."

Between 1872 and 1942, an annual vote of funds was included in the estimates of the B.C. legislature. The fund, which was administered by the Office of the Provincial Secretary, originally contained $500. By 1935, this figure had risen to $110,000; but in the fund's final year of existence, 1943, the vote of funds had declined to $40,000.

The Indigent Fund, unlike the Mother's Pension, the Old Age Pension (1927), or the Veterans Assistance plans was not tied to an Act of Parliament, and thus relief was provided to people under a wide range of circumstances, and included many who failed to qualify for assistance under specific federal or provincial schemes. The fund was designed to meet the immediate and shortterm needs of rural B.C. residents (municipalities had their own funds) who through misfortune or bad planning had found themselves without "the necessities of life." The key to the fund, until the early 1930s, when the position of Superintendent of Welfare was created, was the Deputy Provincial Secretary, for it was often at his discretion that assistance was provided. He was aided in his duties by the various Government Agents, who were responsible for handling vouchers, disbursing cheques, and reporting to Victoria any new developments in individual cases. They, in turn, were assisted by Provincial Police constables who usually investigated each case and submitted a report.

The records consist of correspondence inward and outward from the Deputy Provincial Secretary's office; correspondence from Government Agents to the Deputy Provincial Secretary; Provincial Police reports on the condition of Indigents; correspondence from indigents or persons representing them to the Premier, Ministers, and the Deputy Provincial Secretary; and miscellaneous correspondence to and from various government departments and agencies such as Workman's Compensation Board, Department of Immigration, public hospitals, police departments etc.

The files are arranged alphabetically by the last name of the indigent. They are not, however, arranged alphabetically within each folder. There are two alphabetical series, as well as two sets of files titled "miscellaneous". All files have been preserved in their original order.

Agreement between George Griffith Aitken and John L. Colbert and the Trustees of the Civil Service War Memorial Fund, 1930; bank savings and chequing accounts, 1932 - 1970.

This series consists of 22 volumes of registers of documents issued under the Great Seal and administered by the Provincial Secretary by authority of the Provincial Secretary's Act, 1953-1974.

This series consists of 8 volumes of birth, marriage, death and naturalization records from the Department of the Provincial Secretary from 1872-1913 for various parts of the province. The volumes are:
Vol. 1 - Record of naturalization, Lillooet, B.C. (1913)
Vol. 2 - marriage register, Yale, B.C. (1911)
Vol. 3 - index to register of births, Hope, B.C. (n.d.)
Vol. 4 - index to register of marriages (1872-1886)
Vol. 5 - index to register of deaths (1872-1877)
Vol. 6 - marriage register, Cariboo district (1874-1905)
Vol. 7 - birth register (1913)
Vol. 8 - death register (1913)

This series consists of proclamations, 1883-1905.

This series consists of a list summarizing the amount of grants to charitable and other associations, 1911-1959.

This series consists of index cards to Provincial Secretary correspondence arranged by subject and by name of correspondent.

This series consists of a register of district registrars of voters, showing dates of revisions of voters' lists and number of voters on lists.

This series consists of a report of the Minister of Finance regarding the municipal boundaries of Surrey and Langley, and a report of a theft of public funds from the office of the Government Agent at Yale.

This series consists of correspondence relating to the Royal Columbian Hospital. Contains copy of printed "Report of an investigation held at the Royal Columbian Hospital on the 13th day of February, 1883."

This series consists of a four page report and evidence taken by the commission to inquire into the management of the Provincial Asylum for Insane, New Westminster. Report printed in Sessional Papers, 1883-84, p. 281-282.

This series consists of a report of the Advisory Committee on Juvenile Delinquency, 1936.

This series contains certified copies of the Grand and Petit Jury Lists for Nanaimo district, 1900.

This series contains the Provincial Secretary's register of letters inward. The register appears to be a clerk's interim or 'working' copy.

This series contains commemorative certificates, cartoons and momentos presented to Deputy Provincial Secretary L.J. Wallace by various organizations and community groups to mark centennial celebrations of 1966, 1967, and 1971.

This series includes a report by R.E. Sproule on Kootenay mines (1882), a petition for bridge over Thompson River at Penny's Crossing (1884), a petition for a mining recorder at Kaslo (1894), correspondence regarding the return of Goose Spit, Comox, from the Admiralty (1906), and mss. voters' list for Skeena district (1907).

Volume II, July 1899 - Feb 1900 (vol. I not extant), of a Diary Journal kept by the Provincial Secretary, Charles Augustus Semlin, noting appointments and letters inward relating to many aspects of the office.

Annotated copy of the Schedule referred to in order-in-council 911/23, regarding confirmation of Indian reserves, new reserves, and the reduction and cut-offs of reserves within various British Columbia Indian Agencies. The Schedule amended the work of the Commission on Indian Lands and Indian Affairs in general in British Columbia, 1913-1916, and is commonly known as the Ditchburn-Clark Report. This copy of the Schedule has been "certified correct" by William E. Ditchburn (for the Dominion government) and John William Clark (representing the provincial government) and is dated 10 May 1923. See also GR-0931.