ORDER OF HER MAJESTY IN COUNCIL ADMITTING BRITISH COLUMBIA INTO THE UNION (1)

At the Court at Windsor, the 16th day of May, 1871.

WHEREAS by the British North America Act, 1867, provision was made for the Union of the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into the Dominion of Canada, and it was (amongst other things) enacted that it should be lawful for the Queen, by and with the advice of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, on Addresses from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada, and of the Legislature of the Colony of British Columbia, to admit that Colony into the said Union, on such terms and conditions as should be in the Addresses expressed, and as the Queen should think fit to approve, subject to the provisions of the said Act; And it was further enacted that the provisions of any Order in Council in that behalf should have effect as if they had been enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

And whereas by Addresses from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada and from the Legislative Council of British Columbia respectively, of which Addresses copies are contained in the Schedule to this Order annexed, Her Majesty was prayed, by and with the advice of Her Most Honourable Privy Council, under the one hundred and forty-sixth section of the hereinbefore recited Act, to admit British Columbia into the Dominion of Canada on the terms and conditions set forth in the said Addresses.

(1) British Columbia followed Manitoba into the Dominion under Imperial Order in Council of May 16th, 1871. As required by s. 146 of the B.N.A. Act, 1867, the admission of the province was based upon, and the Order in Council (which has, under the Act, the force of an Imperial statute) proceeded upon, addresses of the Parliament of Canada and the Legislature of the Province. At the time when the Dominion Parliament adopted the necessary address British Columbia had not a House of Assembly nor did it enjoy responsible government. The colony had been under a Governor and Legislative Council since 1858. These conditions had been changed, however, by the time of actual entry of the colony into the Dominion. (See B.C. Statute No. 147 of 1871 and its recitals.) British Columbia being a settled colony it traced its constitution back to the Crown. Thus unlike the conquered provinces of Quebec and Ontario, it required no statutory provisions as to its constitution upon entry into the Dominion. W. F. O'Connor.-Report to the Speaker of the Senate (1939). Annex I, p. 9.

And whereas Her Majesty has thought fit to approve of the said terms and conditions, it is hereby ordered and declared by Her Majesty, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, in pursuance and exercise of the powers vested in Her Majesty, by the said Act of Parliament, that from and after the twentieth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, the said Colony of British Columbia shall be admitted into and become part of the Dominion of Canada, upon the terms and conditions set forth in the hereinbefore recited Addresses. And in accordance with the terms of the said Addresses relating to the Electoral Districts in British Columbia, for which the first election of members to serve in the House of Commons of the said Dominion shall take place, it is hereby further ordered and declared that such electoral districts shall be as follows:

"New Westminster District" and the "Coast District," as
defined in a public notice issued from the Lands and
Works Office in the said Colony, on the 15th day of
December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine,
by the desire of the Governor and purporting to be in
accordance with the provisions of the thirty-ninth
clause of the "Mineral Ordinance, 1869," shall con-
stitute one district, to be designated "New Westminster
District" and return one Member.

"Cariboo District" and "Lillooet District," as specified in
the said public notice, shall constitute one district, to be
designated "Cariboo District," and return one Member.
"Yale District" and "Kootenay District," as specified in the
said public notice, shall constitute one District, to be
designated "Yale District," and return one Member.
Those portions of Vancouver Island, known as "Victoria
District," "Esquimalt District," and
and "Metchosin
District," as defined in the official maps of those
districts which are in the Land Office, Victoria, and are
designated respectively, "Victoria District Official Map,
1858," "Esquimalt District Official Map 1858," and
"Metchosin District Official Map, A.D. 1858," shall
constitute one District, to be designated "Victoria
District," and return two Members.

All the remainder of Vancouver Island, and all such islands
adjacent thereto as were formerly dependencies of the
late Colony of Vancouver Island shall constitute one
district, to be designated "Vancouver Island District,"
and return one Member.

And the Right Honourable Earl of Kimberley, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, is to give the necessary directions therein accordingly.

ARTHUR HELPS.

SCHEDULE

Address of the Senate of Canada

To the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty

Most Gracious Sovereign,

WE, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Senate of Canada in Parliament assembled, humbly approach Your Majesty for the purpose of representing:

That by a despatch from the Governor of British Columbia, dated 23rd January, 1871, with other papers laid before this House, by message from His Excellency the Governor General, of the 27th February last, this House learns that the Legislative Council of that colony, in council assembled, adopted, in January last, an Address representing to Your Majesty that British Columbia was prepared to enter into Union with the Dominion of Canada, upon the terms and conditions mentioned in the said Address, which is as follows:

To the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty

Most Gracious Sovereign,

WE, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Members of the Legislative Council of British Columbia, in council assembled, humbly approach Your Majesty for the purpose of representing:

That, during the last session of the late Legislative Council, the subject of the admission of the Colony of British Columbia into the Union or Dominion of Canada was taken into consideration, and a resolution on the subject was agreed to, embodying the terms upon which it was proposed that this colony should enter the Union;

That after the close of the session, Delegates were sent by the Government of this Colony to Canada to confer with the Government of the Dominion with respect to the admission of British Columbia into the Union upon the terms proposed;

That after considerable discussion by the Delegates with the Members of the Government of the Dominion of Canada, the terms and conditions hereinafter specified were adopted by a Committee of the Privy Council of Canada and were by them reported to the Governor General for his approval;

That such terms were communicated to the Government of this Colony by the Governor General of Canada, in a despatch dated July 7th, 1870, and are as follows:

1. Canada shall be liable for the debts and liabilities of British Columbia existing at the time of the Union.

2. British Columbia not having incurred debts equal to those of the other provinces now constituting the Dominion, shall be entitled to receive, by half-yearly payments, in advance from the General Government, interest at the rate of five per cent per annum on the difference between the actual amount of its indebtedness at the date of the Union, and the indebtedness per head of the population of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (27.77 dollars), the population of British Columbia being taken at 60,000.

3. The following sums shall be paid by Canada to British Columbia for the support of its Government and Legislature, to wit, an annual subsidy of 35,000 dollars, and an annual grant equal to 80 cents per head of the said population of 60,000, both half-yearly in advance, such grant of 80 cents per head to be augmented in proportion to the increase of population, as may be shown by each subsequent decennial census, until the population amounts to 400,000, at which rate such grant shall thereafter remain, it being understood that the first census be taken in the year 1881.