Orders-in-Council, 1867 to 1940

Orders in Council (OICs) are legal tools that address administrative and legislative matters of the federal government. These include appointments, transactions between the government and private sector, control of Indigenous lands and policy items.

Search the Orders in Council, 1867-1940

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In the All of these words box, enter a keyword such as a person’s name, a department name, a place or a subject
- Search by a person’s name for
  - enfranchisement records
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Optional: For Date, enter a specific year or range of years
Optional: For Specific terms, select “Order in Council number,” “Date introduced,” “Date considered” or “Date approved”
- For Order in Council number, use the format YYYY-#### to search (e.g., 1925-0024)

About the records

Orders in Council

An Order in Council

is a legal instrument used by the Cabinet (the executive arm of government) to address a wide range of administrative and legislative matters
is made by the Governor in Council according to existing laws and regulations (e.g., Public Service Employment Act) or, less frequently, royal prerogative
is not discussed by Parliament prior to its application and takes legal effect only when signed by the Governor General

OICs are the most important documents produced by the Governor in Council, since the Governor General of Canada is acting by and with the advice and consent of the King’s Privy Council for Canada (i.e., Cabinet). Until the end of the Second World War, they were the only records of Cabinet that were kept.

They cover, among other things, appointments, transactions between the government and private sector, control of Indigenous lands and policy items.

About the database

The database was created from the registers found in two sub-series of the Privy Council Office fonds:

Indexes and registers sub-series (RG2-A-1-d)
Registers of despatches sub-series (RG2-A-2-b)

Information on diplomatic despatches was included in this database as some despatches were considered and approved by Cabinet and then filed with OICs according to the date of approval. They can be distinguished from other OICs by the letter that follows the OIC number (e.g., 1881-0549 E).

The database works as an index to find the actual Orders in Council in the Minutes, annexes and reports sub-series (RG2-A-1-a). Some OICs have been digitized, and the images are displayed in Collection search alongside the images of the registers and indexes.

Not all OICs submitted and registered were approved to become OICs. If there is no date of approval, the entry may refer to a submission that was:

referred back to the department that made the submission
placed with the dormants (see below)

Please note that most of the documents in the database are written in English, the working language of Canada’s federal government in the years before official bilingualism.

This database holds records from 1867 to 1940, but LAC holds records up to 2017.

Other places to look

Orders in Council before 1867

The Orders in Council of the Executive Council series (RG1-E8) of the Executive Council Office of the Province of Canada fonds holds records for submissions approved between 1841 and 1867.
The State minute books of the Executive Council series (RG1-E1) of the Executive Council Office of the Province of Upper Canada fonds and the State minute books of the Executive Council series (RG1-E1) of the Executive Council Office of the Province of Lower Canada fonds both contain minutes that may record the approval of a particular submission. Both sets of books are digitized and are available online in Collection search.

Records (RG2-A-1-b)

Consists of all documents submitted to Cabinet as the official basis for Orders in Council and can include memoranda, correspondence, petitions, reports or maps.
The Records sub-series holds records from 1867 to 2000 . They are arranged by date of approval of the corresponding OIC.

Dormants (RG2-A-1-c)

Consists of memoranda, correspondence, petitions and reports submitted to the Privy Council that did not result in an Order in Council.
The Dormants sub-series holds records from 1867 to 1973 .
The Indexes and registers sub-series (RG2-A-1-d) serves as the finding aid to the Dormants sub-series. For 1867 to 1940, you can use this database to search indexes and registers. For 1940 on, please see Access the records below.
To access a dormant, take the Order in Council number from the database and consult finding aid 2-4 to find the volume number.

Cartographic material

Some oversized cartographic material, architectural drawings and technical drawings were separated from the OICs.
You can find relevant sub-series and accessions for this material from the Orders in Council series (RG2-A-1) descriptive record.

Access the records

If there is no digitized image of an Order in Council linked to the database entry, you can

check if it was published in the Canada Gazette
order a copy of the document
visit our Ottawa location to view the record in person
- Pre-order material before your visit using the Material Retrieval form

Include these details from the database entry when completing the copy services or material retrieval form:

Title
Order in Council number
Date approved
Reference

OICs after 1940 can be accessed the same way. If you do not know the OIC number or the date of approval, you will need to consult the hard copy indexes and registers on-site in Ottawa or hire a freelance researcher to do it for you. If you need help, please contact us.

OICs from 1867 to 1993 are open for consultation apart from those related to the Criminal Records Act, which are restricted by law.

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Date modified:: 2025-09-19

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