How to navigate Order-in-Council records, part 1: real life at LAC

In the next posts I will explain Order-in-Council records: what they are and how to find them. This post explains researching at the national archives in Ottawa, Ontario. If you’d like to start with the first one, see “Rev. Chan (陳) Sing Kai’s entry to Canada – a rare head tax refund tale using OIC records.”

What is an OIC record?

I think of OICs as how the business of government got done. More formally, they are defined as:¹

A legal instrument made by the Governor in Council pursuant to a statutory authority or, less frequently, the royal prerogative. All OICs are made on the recommendation of the responsible Minister of the Crown and take legal effect only when signed by the Governor General.

Order in Council, Government of Canada, Canada.ca

OIC records include the approval of immigrants to Canada, exit permits, and Indigenous enfranchisement.²

How to navigate Order-in-Council Registers and finding aids (RG2) at LAC

All real-life research is more difficult than online research. Don’t feel badly if you don’t get as much done as you planned. You’d be surprised how quickly a day (or week) disappears. Let’s explore Order in Council (OIC) paper and microfilm records at Library and Archives Canada (LAC).

Getting oriented at LAC

The Reference Room is on the second floor. The record consulting and microfilm reading rooms are on the third floor. I can’t tell you how many trips up and down the stairs I made, collecting information.

And by “collect,” I mean research. It’s so meta. Find the Ethnic Index to find the OIC number to find the OIC ledger to find the finding aid to find the… sorry, where was I?

Oh yes, the second floor. The Reference Room is ringed by boxes of finding aids. Roughly speaking, they begin in the back left corner with RG2 (government) and run clockwise around the room. RG76 (immigration) is on the right hand wall.

But wait, you might be thinking, aren’t all the finding aids digitized on Collection Search?

If only that were the case. I’m not an archivist, but I can see two immediate issues: validity and volume. Validity: Many of the paper finding aids were written over forty years ago. Are they still relevant given the multiple acquisitions, digitizations, and reorganizations? Volume: how long would it take to digitize every finding aid and then create or link to a landing page in Collection Search? In the photo below, the leftmost bookcase holds the finding aids for the Department of Immigration (RG76), boxes 588-606. On the lowest shelf are the three volumes of the Ethnic Index.³ I’ll speak more about this major find in the last post of this series.

In the Ethnic Index, I found this intriguing entry:

I checked Collection Search for “Chan Sing Qtoi” and “refund of capitation tax,” with nil results. It was time to go old school.

OIC ledgers and finding aids

At this point, we have three clues: a date (12 Jan 1889), a name (Chan Sing Qtoi) and an OIC number (88).

Step one: consult the reference librarian

I consulted the librarian. How do I find this record – “Admission of Chan Sing Qtoi and family, Chinese missionary in BC, OIC no. 88, date confirmed 12 Jan 1889”?

She said, to find our OIC record, we need three data points: i) the OIC number; ii) the date the OIC was approved; and iii) the microfilm reel number. We seemed to have two of the three: the OIC number and the date approved. Before proceeding, she checked her computer to be sure the record was not on Collection Search, with nil results.

Step two: consult the OIC register

OIC records are in the back left corner of the second floor. There’s a wall of Privy Council registers, organized by year. Each year is a separate volume.

Beside the registers are boxes of finding aids for RG2 (government records).

The Ethnic Index said the order to admit Chan Sing Qtoi [Kai] was confirmed on 12 Jan 1889, OIC no. 88. I learned that Privy Council proposals were often sent to a subcommittee for discussion and that it’s only the confirmed (decided) order that will have the records. A delay of a few days could mean thousands more pages of microfilm to search. I double-checked the Register, 1889.

And that’s where I found my first problem. There was no confirmation for 12 Jan 1889. Instead, under OIC no. 88 for 18 Jan 1889 was an entry for “Treasury Board. 14 Jan 1889. Submit 17 cases.”⁴

Reading across, I saw the order was received on January 16th, reported on January 17th, and confirmed on January 18th. Which was right? The Ethnic Index entry of 12 Jan 1889 or the Register for 18 Jan 1889? As it turned out, neither.

To be clear: nowhere in the register was any mention of an admission for Chan Sing Kai. Was this the right entry? Was a head tax refund an Immigration matter or a Treasury matter?

Step three: find the correct microfilm reel

All of the OIC records have been microfilmed and we need the number. There are finding aids of conversion lists in box no. 2-1.⁵

Note carefully the date ranges for each film. We want a record that was confirmed either 12 or 18 Jan 1889. This is reel C-3398. Both dates are on the same film.

Step four: consult the microfilm

It was time to move to the third floor. I gathered my stuff into the loud plastic bag a researcher is issued and ascended the stairs to the third floor. In the microfilm room beyond the consultation room are the drawers of films.

I selected reel no. C-3398 and moved to the dark viewing room to sign in.⁶ PRO TIP: always ask the staffer for their favourite machine.

Privy Council Minutes are grouped a week at a time (about 2800 documents/ microfilm if not doubled up). In my case, I was looking for the Treasury – sometimes called “Finance.” It was in the week Jan 12-19 1889, but it was slow and confusing to locate. Minutes run to hundreds of pages per Cabinet session and your only clue is the OIC number. It’s too easy to get disoriented and forget if you are looking at dates ascending or descending. I was losing hope I’d ever find the records when I found them.

I carefully downloaded my prizes onto my flashdrive and moved back down to the Reference Room to search for another head tax refund. To see a transcript of this OIC record, see “Rev. Chan (陳) Sing Kai’s entry to Canada – a rare head tax refund tale.“

In retrospect, I’d have saved time and aggravation had I correctly interpreted the OIC number. It wasn’t “88” – it was “38.”³

Afterword

On a warm summer day in June, I learned a lot about researching OIC records at the national archives in Ottawa. In this post, I share the process for finding an Order in Council record, from Immigration Department finding aid, to Privy Council Register, to microfilm conversion list, to the film itself. I made lots of mistakes along the way, got confused, asked for help, and repeated it all over again. I found that while the internet is my best friend, the connectivity at LAC is painfully slow. You don’t want to be clicking through thousands of images there.

This was a twisty path. I’m thinking about the essential clues and the misleading info:

• Yes, Chan Sing Kai was admitted to Canada in 1889 and his head tax was refunded
• No, the OIC no. was not 88 – it was 38(a)
• Yes, the confirmation date was 12 Jan 1889
• No, the confirmation date was not Jan 14, 16, or 18
• Yes, the reel was no. C-3398 and now I know there is such a thing as a doubled up film, I’ll be sure to check the other half.

In the next post on OIC records, I’ll discuss researching the online options at LAC.

Thank yous

Thank you to the historic, unknown archivists who compiled all the paper finding aids. I would not have found my records if not for your patient attention to detail.

References

¹Canada, Government of Canada, “Orders in Council,” website, 2023, About the Orders in Council Division, Government of Canada, accessed 1 Jan 2024.

²Order in Council Lists, index online, 2023, Order in Council Lists : accessed 31 Dec 2023; Canada, “Canada, Immigrants Approved in Orders in Council, 1929-1960,” index online, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61741/ : accessed 9 Jan 2024); citing Johanna Crandall, Immigrants to Canada, 1930-60, orderincouncillists.com.

³Canada, Federal Archives Division, “Chinese,” in Ethnic Index, vol. A-E, 3 vols. (Ottawa, ON: Library and Archives Canada, 1986), 66–112; also see “Subject and case files [textual record],” (1873-1973), database online, item ID no. 134830, record information, additional information, general note, Library and Archives Canada : accessed 1 Jan 2024.

⁴Canada, Privy Council, Register, (1889), ledger, pg. unknown, Jan 1889, item no. 88 re: Treasury Board 14 Jan 1899, submit 17 cases, Library and Archives Canada Reference Room, second floor, Ottawa, ON.

⁵Canada, Library and Archives Canada, finding aids, FA no. RG2 2-1 to 2-11, pt. 2, finding aids for microfilms C-3397 (13 Nov 1889 to 9 Jan 1889) and C-3398 (9 Jan 1889 to 16 Feb 1889), Library and Archives Canada Reference Room, second floor, Ottawa, ON.

⁶Canada, Library and Archives Canada, microfilm, reel no. C-3398, OIC no. 38(a), Treasury/ Customs department re admission of Chan Sing Qtoi [Kai] and family, confirmed 12 Jan 1889, Library and Archives Canada Microfilm Room, third floor, Ottawa, ON. As of this writing, reel no. C-3398 is not yet on Héritage Canadiana although all reels from the “C” and “T” series are slated to be digitization.