Canada. Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences : The Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences was established under Order in Council P.C. 1786, 8 April 1949, under Part I of the Inquiries Act (R.S.C., 1927, c.99) and on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Commission was mandated to examine and make recommendations upon: (a) the principles upon which the policy of Canada should be based, in the fields of radio and television broadcasting; (b) such agencies and activities of the government, such as the National Film Board, the National Gallery, the National Museum, the National War Museum, the National Archives and the care and custody of public records, and the Library of Parliament; methods by which research is aided, including grants for scholarships through various federal government agencies; the eventual character and scope of the National Library; the scope or activities of these agencies, how they should be conducted, financed and controlled; (c) how relations between Canada and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and with other organizations operating in this field should be conducted; and (d) relations between the government and any of its agencies with various national voluntary bodies operating in the field. The Commissioners were Vincent Massey, Chairman; Arthur Surveyor, Norman Archibald MacRae Mackenzie, Georges Henri Levesque and Hilda Neatby. The Secretary was Archibald A. Day.
In 1948 several questions concerning radio and television broadcasting demanded urgent attention by the Government of Canada. First, a policy was needed for the regulation and control of private stations; their scope and function had to be defined or restated. Second, financial provisions had to be made for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; the licence fee of .50 was now clearly inadequate and the government had to decide whether to increase the fee or find some other means of supporting the public system. Third, there was the new medium of television. The country would be faced with the same kinds of difficult choices that it had confronted when radio broadcasting had developed. Above all, a choice had to be made from the beginning: would television for Canadians be under public or private auspices, and how would it be extended to cover the country?
Besides broadcasting, concern was also expressed about the state of the creative arts, the humanities and the social sciences in Canada, with the gradual weakening of ties with Great Britain, Canada faced a continuous flood of cultural influences from the United States. These were so pervasive that it was considered necessary to take steps to foster a distinctive cultural identity within our own country. Government aid and sponsorship of artistic and cultural pursuits seemed essential because the lack of sufficient opportunities at home led many gifted Canadians to leave the country in order to seek careers elsewhere.
In 1941 a meeting at Queen's University, Kingston led to the founding of the Federation of Canadian Artists, and in 1944, representatives of 16 arts groups, including the Federation, marched on Ottawa to present a brief to the Special Committee on Reconstruction and Re-establishment urging public support for the arts. In 1948 the Montreal artists called the Automatistes published their "Refus global," a manifesto proclaiming a new vision of Quebec and a new status for Quebec artists.
Further, the Canadian University Liberal Federation suggested a commission on the arts at the National Liberal Convention in August 1948. Brooks Claxton, Minister of National Defence, learned that the student Liberals were bitterly disappointed that their idea had not been endorsed by the convention and promised to bring it to the attention of the Cabinet. In a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Louis St. Laurent, on 19 November 1948, Claxton enclosed draft terms of reference for a commission which he suggested should be headed by Vincent Massey, the former High Commissioner to Great Britain. Claxton had discussed the idea with Jack Pickersgill, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, Pickersgill, in turn, had discussed it with Lester B. Pearson, the Secretary of State for External Affairs, shortly before Louis St. Laurent became Prime Minister of Canada in November 1948. Claxton and Pearson then persuaded St. Laurent that such an inquiry be in the public interest as well as being good politics.
On 26 January 1949 the government's intention of appointing a royal commission was announced in the speech from the throne, which called for:
"an examination of the activities of agencies of the federal government relating to radio, films, television, the encouragement of arts and sciences, research, the preservation of our national records, a national library, museums, exhibitions, relations in these fields with international organizations, and activities generally which are designed to enrich our national life and to increase our own consciousness of our national heritage and knowledge of Canada abroad."
The government followed through on this proposal and on 8 April 1949 officially established the Royal Commission on the Arts, Letters and Sciences (See F.W. Peers, The Politics of Canadian Broadcasting, 1920-1951, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1969, p. 395; J.W. Pickersgill, My Years with Louis St. Laurent: A Political Memoir, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1975, p. 139; and The Canada Council: Fulfilment of a Dream, Supply and Services Canada, 1987, p. 3.
Hearings of the Commission were held in St. John's, Charlottetown, Halifax, St. John, Fredericton, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria from August 3, 1949 to July 8, 1950. The Commission received 462 submissions. RG33-28 General Inventory
