Secretary of State for Canada facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Secretary of State for Canada
Sir Hector-Louis Langevin, first Secretary of State for Canada
Member of	Cabinet of Canada
Formation	July 1, 1867
First holder	Hector-Louis Langevin
Final holder	Lucienne Robillard
Abolished	July 12, 1996

The Secretary of State for Canada was an important job in the Canadian Cabinet. It started in 1867. This person and their department were the main way Canada talked to the British government in London. Think of them as Canada's official messenger to Britain.

Over time, Canada became more independent, especially after World War I. A big step was the Statute of Westminster in 1931. This law gave Canada more control over its own affairs. Because of this, the Secretary of State's role as a messenger to Britain became less important.

But the department still existed! It took on many other jobs that didn't fit anywhere else. For example, the Secretary of State for Canada was also the Registrar General of Canada. This meant they were in charge of the Great Seal of Canada. The Great Seal is a special stamp used to make official government documents legal.

What did the Secretary of State do?

The Secretary of State for Canada had many different responsibilities over the years. These included:

• Looking after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
• Managing the civil service, which is all the people who work for the government.
• Overseeing the Queen's Printer for Canada, who prints all official government documents.
• Managing Crown lands, which are lands owned by the government.
• Dealing with matters related to Indigenous Peoples (who were called "Canadian Indians" at the time).
• Handling various official ceremonies and state duties.

Basically, if a government job didn't have a specific minister in charge, it often became the responsibility of the Secretary of State.

When did the job end?

The department for the Secretary of State was closed down in 1993. This happened when the government was reorganized. However, the actual job of Secretary of State for Canada wasn't officially ended until 1996. At that time, all the remaining duties were given to other cabinet jobs and departments. A new job, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, took on many of these responsibilities.

It's important to know that the Secretary of State for Canada was different from the Secretary of State for External Affairs. The "External Affairs" job dealt with Canada's relationships with other countries. The only time their roles overlapped was from 1909 to 1912. During that short period, the Secretary of State for Canada was also in charge of the new Department of External Affairs.

Past Secretaries of State for Canada

Here is a list of the people who held the job of Secretary of State for Canada. You can see which political party they belonged to and when they were in office.

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Political party	Ministry
1		Sir Hector-Louis Langevin	July 1, 1867	December 8, 1869	Liberal-Conservative	1 (Macdonald)
2		James Cox Aikins	December 8, 1869	November 5, 1873	Liberal-Conservative
3		David Christie	November 7, 1873	January 8, 1874	Liberal	2 (Mackenzie)
4		Sir Richard William Scott	January 9, 1874	October 8, 1878	Liberal
(2)		James Cox Aikins	October 19, 1878	November 7, 1880	Conservative	3 (Macdonald)
5		John O'Connor	November 8, 1880	May 19, 1881	Conservative
6		Joseph-Alfred Mousseau	May 20, 1881	July 28, 1882	Conservative
7		Sir Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau	July 29, 1882	June 6, 1891	Conservative
			June 16, 1891	January 24, 1892		4 (Abbott)
8		James Colebrooke Patterson	January 25, 1892	November 24, 1892	Conservative
9		John Costigan	December 5, 1892	December 12, 1894	Conservative	5 (Thompson)
10		Arthur Rupert Dickey	December 21, 1894	March 25, 1895	Conservative	6 (Bowell)
11		Walter Humphries Montague	March 26, 1895	December 20, 1895	Conservative
–		Joseph-Aldric Ouimet (Acting)	December 21, 1895	January 5, 1896	Conservative
–		Thomas Mayne Daly (Acting)	January 6, 1896	January 14, 1896	Conservative
12		Sir Charles Tupper	January 15, 1896	April 27, 1896	Conservative
			May 1, 1896	July 8, 1896		7 (Tupper)
(4)		Sir Richard William Scott	July 13, 1896	October 8, 1908	Liberal	8 (Laurier)
13		Charles Murphy	October 9, 1908	October 6, 1911	Liberal
14		William James Roche	October 10, 1911	October 28, 1912	Conservative	9 (Borden)
15		Louis Coderre	October 29, 1912	October 5, 1915	Conservative
16		Pierre Édouard Blondin	October 6, 1915	January 7, 1917	Conservative
17		Esioff-Léon Patenaude	January 8, 1917	June 12, 1917	Conservative
–		Albert Sévigny (Acting)	June 13, 1917	August 24, 1917	Conservative
18		Arthur Meighen	August 25, 1917	October 12, 1917	Conservative
19		Martin Burrell	October 12, 1917	December 30, 1919	Unionist	10 (Borden)
20		Arthur Sifton	December 31, 1919	July 10, 1920	Unionist
			July 10, 1920	January 21, 1921	National Liberal and Conservative	11 (Meighen)
–		Sir Henry Lumley Drayton (Acting)	January 24, 1921	September 20, 1921	National Liberal and Conservative
21		Rodolphe Monty	September 21, 1921	December 29, 1921	National Liberal and Conservative
22		Arthur Bliss Copp	December 29, 1921	September 24, 1925	Liberal	12 (King)
23		Walter Edward Foster	September 26, 1925	November 12, 1925	Liberal
–		Charles Murphy (Acting)	November 13, 1925	March 23, 1926	Liberal
–		Ernest Lapointe (Acting)	March 24, 1926	June 28, 1926	Liberal
24		George Halsey Perley	June 29, 1926	September 25, 1926	Conservative	13 (Meighen)
25		Fernand Rinfret	September 25, 1926	August 7, 1930	Liberal	14 (King)
26		Charles Cahan	August 7, 1930	October 23, 1935	Conservative	15 (Bennett)
(25)		Fernand Rinfret	October 23, 1935	July 12, 1939	Liberal	16 (King)
–		Ernest Lapointe (Acting - Second time)	July 26, 1939	May 8, 1940	Liberal
27		Pierre-François Casgrain	May 9, 1940	December 14, 1941	Liberal
28		Norman Alexander McLarty	December 15, 1941	April 17, 1945	Liberal
29		Paul Martin Sr.	April 18, 1945	December 11, 1946	Liberal
30		Colin W. G. Gibson	December 12, 1946	November 15, 1948	Liberal
			November 15, 1948	March 31, 1949		17 (St. Laurent)
31		Frederick Gordon Bradley	March 31, 1949	June 11, 1953	Liberal
32		Jack Pickersgill	June 11, 1953	June 30, 1954	Liberal
33		Roch Pinard	July 1, 1954	June 21, 1957	Liberal
34		Ellen Fairclough	June 21, 1957	May 11, 1958	Progressive Conservative	18 (Diefenbaker)
35		Henri Courtemanche	May 12, 1958	June 19, 1960	Progressive Conservative
–		Léon Balcer (Acting)	June 21, 1960	October 10, 1960	Progressive Conservative
36		Noël Dorion	October 11, 1960	July 5, 1962	Progressive Conservative
–		Léon Balcer (Acting - Second time)	July 11, 1962	August 8, 1962	Progressive Conservative
37		Ernest Halpenny	August 9, 1962	April 22, 1963	Progressive Conservative
(32)		Jack Pickersgill	April 22, 1963	February 2, 1964	Liberal	19 (Pearson)
38		Maurice Lamontagne	February 2, 1964	December 17, 1965	Liberal
39		Judy LaMarsh	December 17, 1965	April 9, 1968	Liberal
–		John Joseph Connolly (Acting)	April 10, 1968	April 20, 1968	Liberal
40		Jean Marchand	April 20, 1968	July 5, 1968	Liberal	20 (P. E. Trudeau)
41		Gérard Pelletier	July 5, 1968	November 26, 1972	Liberal
42		Hugh Faulkner	November 27, 1972	September 13, 1976	Liberal
43		John Roberts	September 14, 1976	June 3, 1979	Liberal
44		David MacDonald	June 4, 1979	March 2, 1980	Progressive Conservative	21 (Clark)
45		Francis Fox	March 3, 1980	September 21, 1981	Liberal	22 (P. E. Trudeau)
46		Gerald Regan	September 22, 1981	October 5, 1982	Liberal
47		Serge Joyal	October 6, 1982	June 29, 1984	Liberal
			June 30, 1984	September 16, 1984		23 (Turner)
48		Walter McLean	September 17, 1984	April 19, 1985	Progressive Conservative	24 (Mulroney)
49		Benoît Bouchard	April 20, 1985	June 29, 1986	Progressive Conservative
50		David Crombie	June 30, 1986	March 30, 1988	Progressive Conservative
51		Lucien Bouchard	March 31, 1988	January 29, 1989	Progressive Conservative
52		Gerry Weiner	January 30, 1989	April 20, 1991	Progressive Conservative
53		Robert de Cotret	April 21, 1991	January 3, 1993	Progressive Conservative
54		Monique Landry	January 4, 1993	June 24, 1993	Progressive Conservative
			June 24, 1993	November 3, 1993		25 (Campbell)
55		Sergio Marchi	November 4, 1993	January 24, 1996	Liberal	26 (Chrétien)
56		Lucienne Robillard	January 25, 1996	July 12, 1996	Liberal

See also

• Secretary of State for the Provinces - a job that came before the Minister of Interior
• Minister of the Interior