Canada. Health of Animals Directorate : Among the varied responsibilities given to the federal Department of Agriculture at Confederation control of livestock diseases was the first and actually, the only one directly related to the improvement of agricultural products until the establishment of the experimental farm system beginning in 1886. In 1867 the federal government inherited jurisdiction over livestock diseases from the Canadian colonial legislature which had acted in 1865 to prohibit importation of disease-bearing animals and establish quarantine pens for imported livestock. This legislation became the core of the first federal quarantine legislation passed in 1869. The government appointed the Principal of the McGill Veterinary College, Professor Duncan McEachran, as Chief Inspector of Stock in 1876 with responsibility for the animal inspection and quarantine program. McEachran's title became Chief Veterinary Inspector in 1896. He retired from the Department on February 1, 1902 in order to devote all his time to his work as Dean of the Faculty of Comparative Medicine at McGill University, a position he had held in addition to the duties of Chief Veterinary Inspector since 1896.
Rapid growth of domestic and foreign markets for Canadian meat and dairy products in the late nineteenth century required the Department to increase its involvement in the agricultural sector. The Department created the office of Dairy Commissioner in 1890 for the purpose of improving the quality of all agricultural commodities through more efficient means of production, transportation and marketing. James W. Robertson held that position from its creation until he resigned in January 1905. At that time the office was abolished. During the life span of the office, Robertson changed titles twice; first in 1895 when his title became Agricultural and Dairying Commissioner and again in 1897 when it became Commissioner of Agriculture and Dairying. In 1899 F.W. Hodson was appointed to the new office of Live Stock Commissioner and Assistant to the Commissioner of Agriculture and Dairying. Hodson supervised the work of the Live Stock Division in the Commissioner's Branch.
As part of the general restructuring of the Department's agricultural work, McEachran's successor as Chief Veterinary Inspector, Dr. John Rutherford, made reorganization of the increasingly active animal inspection and quarantine service his highest priority. Creation of a central administrative office in Ottawa for the health of animals service was among his first tasks. During McEachran's tenure the service had operated out of Montreal. The growing volume and complexity of its work also required Dr. Rutherford to press for a review of the legislation governing it. In 1903 Parliament revised certain technical details in the Animal Contagious Diseases Act originally passed in 1869 in order to clarify the Department's authority in the area of animal disease control. As work expanded under the terms of the revised Act additional administrative changes were introduced. Administration of what had officially become the Health of Animals Branch became the responsibility of the Veterinary Director General, a new office created in 1904 and first occupied by Dr. Rutherford. The older office of Chief Veterinary Inspector then took on responsibility for the veterinary inspection program through the Branch's new Contagious Diseases Division. When F.W. Holdson left the Department in 1906, Rutherford acquired a dual appointment as Veterinary Director General and Live Stock Commissioner. He acted in both capacities until 1912 when he too resigned and the Department decided to separate the two positions. John Bright succeeded Rutherford as Live Stock Commissioner and Dr. F. Torrance became Veterinary Director General.
The Meat and Canned Foods Act of 1907 was the second major legislative initiative undertaken during Rutherford's tenure. This Act gave the Department of Agriculture extended control over the quality of food intended for human consumption. It authorized the Department to send the veterinary officers of the Health of Animals Branch to abattoirs and packing houses in order to inspect animals intended for slaughter and carcasses to be shipped to other countries or provinces. The Act also required the Department to inspect canning and packaging processes for fish, fruit and vegetables prepared for shipment to other countries or provinces. The meat inspection legislation, like the revised Animal Contagious Diseases Act of 1903, required a substantial increase in the number of veterinary professionals the Department employed and an administrative reorganization with the creation of the Meat Inspection Division of the Branch under the supervision of the Chief, Meat Inspection Division.
The Health of Animals Branch retained the essentials of the duties given it at the turn of the century and before, even though it became part of other, larger units in the Department and underwent internal reorganization from time to time. The first major reorganization took place on April 1, 1937 when the Contagious Diseases Division and Meat Inspection Division became sections in the Health of Animals Division which was then placed in the Production Service of the Department. The Pathological Division of the old Health of Animals Branch was transferred to the Science Service. It was returned to the Health of Animals Division on April 1, 1957. On April 1, 1959 the Health of Animals Division became part of the new Production and Marketing Branch which had been created by the amalgamation of the Production Service and Marketing Service. The Division returned to Branch status in 1963. It was known as the Health of Animals Branch until 1979 when it became the Health of Animals Directorate in the new Food Production and Inspection Branch. RG17 General Inventory
