Upper Canada. Provincial Secretary and Registrar's Office

• Provincial Secretary and Registrar's Office

• Secretary's Office

• Provincial Secretary's Office

Although no provision was made in the Constitutional Act of 1791 for the appointment of a Provincial Secretary, William Jarvis was named to the position on 31 December 1791.

Originally, the administration of business in the province was split between the Private (or Civil) Secretary's Office and the Provincial Secretary's Office, with the later assuming a primarily clerical role. A report by John Macaulay, Civil Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor, to the Assembly in 1839 recommended a new, more equitable, division of labour, with the Private Secretary's role being restricted to aiding the Lieutenant Governor with business involving contact with British Government including the Secretary of State and the heads of other governments. The Provincial Secretary would deal with matters of local concern.

The functions of the two offices were rearranged along these lines by Lord Sydenham in July 1841. As well, the Union Act (Imp. Act of 3 & 4 Vict., c. 35) required that monies be set aside for two provincial secretaries and their offices -- one in Canada East and one in Canada West. In 1852 a single Provincial Secretary was appointed for the whole of the Province of Canada; there remained, however, separate branches of the office in each of the Canadas.

The Provincial Secretary and Registrar was responsible for recording and registering the transactions of other government officials and ratified all important commissions and appointment through his control of the Great Seal and the Privy Seal of the Province. He also maintained a security copy of various records as well as the original, signed copy of the Statutes. All questions raised in the Legislature requiring parliamentary returns were channelled through his office. He transmitted copies of all proclamations to the Government Printer for inclusion in the Upper Canada Gazette and compiled the annual Blue Books for submission to the Imperial Government. His office served as a patents office: models of all inventions were required to be lodged there prior to the issuance of a patent. All applications for the payment of money required a warrant signed by the Provincial Secretary before payment could be made. In its duties as Registrar, the office made searches, supplied certified copies of land patents and other documents, and made returns to the government.

No authorizing agent could be identified for this agency.

RAD: Rules for Archival Description, 2nd edn (2008)

2026-11-16: migrated to AtoM

Olga Bishop, Publications of the Province of Upper Canada and of Great Britain, 1791-1840, pp. 115-116.

Olga Bishop, Publications of the Province of Canada, 1841-1867, p. 272

J.E. Hodgetts, Pioneer Public Service (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1955), pp. 29-30.

"Report of Mr. Secretary Macaulay on the new arrangement of the Offices of the Private and Provincial Secretaries", Journals of the Legislative Assembly, 4th Session, 13th Parliament, Appendix 1, pp. 310-322

Name does not appear in Canadiana Authorities, 2000-10-05 Form of name appears to vary."

Archivist(s):
Gray