public service series by Michael R. Bussière
THE HUMBLE BEGINNINGS OF
Canada’s professional public service
here was no public service as we T understand it today prior to the advent of responsible government. The
administration of colonial territories under both the French and British regimes was simple. The civil and judicial needs of a sparse population in re-mote outposts like Detroit would have been addressed by a parish priest, military officer, or even a doctor if there was one. Jesuit Father Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, for example, arrived at the Detroit River outpost in 1701 and served as the first official representative.
The population of Upper Canada was ethnically, linguistically and denominationally diverse and so it was the intension of Simcoe’s appointees and friends to establish a ruling class that favoured England. The elected Legislative Assembly was effectively powerless, with the unelected appointees being answerable only to the lieutenant governor. The whole affair set in place the conditions for what eventually and pejoratively became known as the Family Compact. It stood firmly, albeit occasionally rattled, from 1792 to 1837 as a system of political patronage.
of their flocks. Curriculum provided moral and social instruction and was based on the particular theological framework of their respective denominations. The Reverend William Bell of Perth, for instance, was preacher, teacher, and moral arbiter to those of the Presbyterian faith, while conferring on broader issues with neighbourly Protestant missions. Roman Catholics tended to their own turf in what evolved into a separate school system, and Anglicans had what was generally felt to be an official status with aristocratic leanings. Public education and the required tax base and funding was still a long way off.
Under British rule, Lt. Gov. John It took scandals and Graves Simcoe used the new powers of the 1791 Constitutional accusations of ineptness to bring In the early 19th century, individuals Act to build a system of English started most schools as business about the Civil Service Act 1882 ventures tied to the needs of common law, with its courts, trial by jury, and freehold land tenure. production. Classes often met in and a Board of Civil Service Simcoe installed a tight clique private homes where pupils were Examiners. Applicants were of conservative members of the also tasked with maintenance labour. Church of England to administer By the 1840s, grammar schools screened for literacy and little Upper Canada from York.The belief averaged fewer than 30 pupils more, meaning if you could was that Toryism was conducive to and one or two teachers. As the social order and cohesion, versus economy grew, so did funding from work a pen, you were in.S the fledgling democracy in the the public treasury, and, along with American republic that led, lest they it, a more standardized curriculum forget, to mob rule and social turmoil. Religious clerics arrived in new and school year. New incentives were The invasion of 1812 only reinforced settlements bearing the responsibilities put in place to support construction that world view. for guiding both the souls and the minds and maintenance. By 1846, Egerton 44 OTTAWALIFE WINTER 2020
