Series GR-2982 - Minutes of decision of Joint Indian Reserve Commission

The Dept. of Lands and Works was established in 1871 under the Constitution Act (SBC 1871, c. 147). Prior to that, the origins of the department were in the offices of the Surveyor General for the Colony of Vancouver Island (1859-1866) and the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works and Surveyor General for the Colony of British Columbia (1859-1871).

The mandate of the department was to grant permission for the pre-emption of unoccupied, unsurveyed, and unreserved Crown lands, issue Crown grants and grant leases of Crown lands, oversee all survey and map functions, and construct and repair roads, bridges and buildings for public services. It was also responsible for promoting immigration. The Dept. of Lands and Works was headed by the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works and Surveyor General.

By 1899, the department was organized into two branches: Lands Branch and Works Branch. In 1908 the Dept. of Lands and Works was disestablished with an amendment to the Constitution Act (SBC 1908, c. 12). Its functions were assigned to two new departments: the Dept. of Lands (SBC 1908, c. 31) and the Dept. of Public Works (SBC 1908, c. 41).

The Joint Reserve Commission was created between the governments of British Columbia and Canada to determine the boundaries of Indian reserves in British Columbia, after several years of dispute. An agreement in principle on the creation of the commission was reached in November, 1875, and the Joint Reserve Commission was officially established in 1876 by federal orders-in-council 444/1876 and 779/1876. It consisted of three commissioners, one was appointed by the Canadian government (A.C. Anderson), one by the provincial government (Archibald McKinley), and a third selected jointly by the two levels of government (Gilbert Malcolm Sproat).

The Joint Reserve Commission operated until 1878 when it was restructured, leaving Gilbert Malcolm Sproat as the sole commissioner of the renamed Indian Reserve Commission. Sproat acted as commissioner until 1880, when he was replaced by Peter O'Reilly who acted until his retirement 1898. O'Reilly was then replaced by A.W. Vowell, until the commission was dissolved in 1910.

In 1913 the commission's work was continued by the Royal Commission on Indian Affairs for the Province of British Columbia (The McKenna-McBride Commission).