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Returned Soldiers' Aid Commission
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Date(s)
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1915-1929 (Creation)
- Creator
- British Columbia. Returned Solders’ Aid Commission
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Physical description
6 reels of microfilm [B02512 - B02517]
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Biographical history
The Returned Soldiers' Aid Commission (RSAC) developed from the Provincial Returned Soldiers Commission of British Columbia. The latter was formed by Order-in-Council on 29 November 1915 to deal with the provision of farm lands for settlement by returned First World War soldiers and sailors, the provision of academic, technical, and agricultural training for returned men, the establishment of province-wide bureaux to assist veterans seeking civilian employment, and the 'provision of a supply farm for use in conjunction with the Military Convalescent Hospital at Esquimalt, B.C.
The Returned Soldiers' Aid Commission worked closely with the Dominion government's Military Hospitals Commission, an agency which also assisted returned men. The Military Hosptitals Commission (which, in 1918, expanded to become the Department of Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment) looked after a number of hospitals and convalescent homes in the province. These institutions were under the command of Colonel James Swan Harvey (1872-1932), a Nanaimo-born officer who was responsible for all demobilization in British Columbia and the Yukon.
The report was dated March 16, 1916, Dr. H. E. Young, LL.D., M.L.A., chairman. The Returned Soldiers' Aid Commission was re-organized by order-in-council in Nov 1919. The reorganized commission consisted of twelve members, with the Provincial Secretary (the Hon. J.D. MacLean) as Honorary Chairman. Over seventy local committees directed by provincial and federal government officials and by representatives of various veterans' organizations, were also established at this time to help demobilized servicemen throughout the province. Until the RSAC was closed in 1929, it provided aid to veterans and aid to dependents of those who gave their lives during the Great War of 1914-1918.
Custodial history
Scope and content
This series contains records from the Returned Soldiers' Aid Commission. It includes documents of the provincial government agency established in 1919 to assist with the resettlement of Canadian and Imperial war veterans. Papers include correspondence with various ex-servicemen's associations, reports on military hospitals, and accounts regarding war services gratuity payments.
The RSAC papers consisted principally of three large files:
"25F" series - files pertaining to veterans of the Canadian armed forces
"35I" series - files dealing with veterans of the Imperial armed forces resident in British Columbia
"50" series - files pertaining to local branches of the Provincial Returned Soldiers' Commission and other veterans' associations
The papers also include records pertaining to War Services Gratuity payments, account books, cancelled cheques, reports, and correspondence concerning veterans' training, employment, and land settlement schemes.
The RSAC papers were microfilmed by the Provincial Secretary's Department in 1956. The microfilms were transferred from the Central Microfilm Bureau to the Provincial Archives of British Columbia in 1983.
Originally, the RSAC papers also included documents which were designated "R" series files. These files have yet to be identified. Although a card index to the files was included when the papers were filmed in 1956, the documents themselves appear to have been destroyed.
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Finding aids
- A finding aid is available.
- http://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Document/Finding_Aids_Atom/GR-1001_to_GR-1500/gr-1315.pdf
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General note
Accession number(s): G83-001
General note
Previously known as AAAA1308