Canada. Office of the Registrar General of Canada

Secondary Agency

Canada. Office of the Registrar General of Canada

• Registraire general

• Canada. Office of the Registrar General of Canada

1868-1966

The Registrar General was established in 1868 under the Department of the Secretary of State of Canada, which was the precursor to the federal Department of the Interior. It kept the Great Seal of Canada, the Privy Seal of the Governor General, the Seal of the Administrator of Canada, and the Seal of the Registrar General of Canada, and registered all documents that might require the Great Seal or federal Crown registration. Until 1881 the Registrar General's duties included the maintenance of records produced in the land patenting process and the processing of land applications from institutions. This duty was then handed to the Department of the Interior's Lands Patent Branch. In 1883 all lands patent duties that fell under the auspices of the Dominion Lands Act (1872) were transferred from the Registrar General to the Lands Patent Branch. In 1966 the Registrar General became the Department of the Registrar General, a short-lived autonomous government department.

The Registrar General was founded in 1868. It served as the custodian of the Great Seal of Canada, the Privy Seal of the Governor General, the Seal of the Administrator of Canada, and the Seal of the Registrar General of Canada. It was responsible for the registration of all instruments of summons, proclamations, commissions of appointment, letters patent, letters patent of land, writs, and other instruments and documents issued under the Great Seal, and all bonds, warrants of extradition, warrants for removal of prisoners, leases, releases, deeds of sale, surrenders and all other instruments requiring federal Crown registration.

An Act Providing for the Organization of the Secretary of State for Canada and for the Management of Indian and Ordinance Lands (SC 31 Vic [1868], c.42, s.4)

Rules for Archival Description (RAD)

Final

Authority record created on 2008-03-04. Approved 2012-03-06. Last modified on 2017-11-29.

National Archives of Canada Registrar General Sous-fonds Biography/Administrative History
Trent University Archives Fonds Level Description 76-017.