Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (February 2016) |
Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Founded | 1856 |
| Disbanded | 1866 |
| Preceded by | none |
| Succeeded by | Legislative Council of British Columbia |
| Leadership | |
Speaker of the House of Assembly | |
| Meeting place | |
| Bachelor's Hall, Fort Victoria 1856–1860 | |
| Legislative Hall / Legislative Council Court 1860–1866 | |
| Part of the series on | ||||||||||
| Pre-confederation legislative bodies in Canada | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Canada | ||||||||||
| Western Canada | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Newfoundland | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island, sometimes House of Assembly of Vancouver Island, was the colonial parliamentary body that was elected to represent voters in the Colony of Vancouver Island. It was created in 1856 after a series of petitions were sent to the Colonial Office in London protesting the Hudson's Bay Company's proprietary rule over the colony. It was the first elected assembly in British North America west of Ontario.
Although at first only handful of colonists met the voting requirement, and most of those that did were tied to the HBC, the franchise was gradually extended, and the assembly began to assert demands for more control over colonial affairs, as well as criticize colonial governor Sir James Douglas's inherent conflict of interest as both governor and Hudson Bay Company's chief factor.
History
[edit]
In an attempt to minimize the influence of the assembly he had been ordered to establish, Governor James Douglas, who described himself as "utterly averse to universal suffrage, or making population the basis of representation,"[1] set an unusually high property requirement of 20 acres (81,000 m2) for voters.
At first the island was divided into four districts, and the assembly consisted of eight members: one from each of Nanaimo and Sooke, two from Esquimalt, two from Metchosin and three from Victoria. In the election on July 22, 1856, Victoria, which had the greatest number of qualified voters at five, was the only district contested.
The 1860 election used nine districts with the Victoria Town having two members and Victoria District having three members.
The 1863 election also used nine districts but Victoria city had four and Victoria District had three members.
The power of the Assembly was severely limited. Despite the protests of newspapermen such as Amor de Cosmos, Douglas appointed the members of his government according to his own agenda, regardless of who dominated the Assembly. The governor also maintained control over the legislative process through the Legislative Council, an upper house of a sort that had its members appointed directly. However, the Assembly did have one significant power: it had to approve any use of public funds.
The colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia were joined into a new single colony, the Colony of British Columbia, in 1866, and the Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island ceased to exist. Its role was filled in the new colony by the Legislative Council of British Columbia.
Leaders and parties
[edit]
Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken, chosen as the first Speaker of the Assembly, would remain in that role until British Columbia joined Canadian Confederation in 1871. He was Douglas's son-in-law, and like his fellow assemblymen Surveyor-General Joseph Despard Pemberton and HBC company-man Joseph McKay, was considered part of what Amor De Cosmos termed the "family-company compact". John Muir, a sawmill-owner and coalmaster who represented Sooke, had also recently been in the employ of Douglas. James Yates, the Victoria publican, and Thomas Skinner, the farmer, were the voices of dissent in the assembly, always at odds with the company and its men.
As franchise widened and the assembly became more influential, this division remained. Reformers such as Amor de Cosmos and Leonard McClure, who began to truly challenge the power of Douglas and his successor Arthur Edward Kennedy, continued to butt heads with establishment supporters such as George Hunter Cary, Henry Pering Pellew Crease and Robert Burnaby and William Fraser Tolmie.
Members of the Legislative Assembly
[edit]Members 1856-1860: 1st Session
| Name | District | First elected | No. of terms | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Sebastian Helmcken | Esquimalt District | 1856 | 1st term | Speaker | |
| Thomas James Skinner | 1856 | 1st term | |||
| Dr. John Frederick Kennedy | Nanaimo District | 1856 | 1st term | ||
| John Muir | Sooke District | 1856 | 1st term | resigned 5 May 1857 | |
| Edward Edwards Langford | Victoria District | 1856 | 1st term | election contested and he was removed 26 August 1856 | |
| Joseph Despard Pemberton | 1856 | 1st term | |||
| James Yates | 1856 | 1st term | |||
| Joseph McKay (1856) | 1856 | 1st term | elected on December 3, 1856 |
Members 1860-1863: 2nd Session
| Name | District | First elected | No. of terms | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Sebastian Helmcken | Esquimalt County | 1856 | 2nd term | Speaker | |
| James Cooper | 1860 | 1st term | resigned | ||
| Robert Burnaby (1860) | 1860 | 1st term | elected on July 27, 1860 | ||
| George Tomline Gordon | Esquimalt Town | 1860 | 1st term | resigned | |
| Thomas Harris (1862) | 1862 | 1st term | elected on March 31, 1862 and resign | ||
| William Cocker (1862) | 1862 | 1st term | elected on September 9, 1862 | ||
| George Foster Foster | Lake District | 1860 | 1st term | ||
| Augustus Rupert Green | Nanaimo District | 1860 | 1st term | resigned on February 6, 1861 | |
| David Babington Ring (1861) | 1861 | 1st term | elected on November 4, 1861 | ||
| Joseph Johnson Southgate | Saltspring and Chemainus District | 1860 | 1st term | ||
| John Coles | Saanich | 1860 | 1st term | ||
| William John McDonald | Sooke District | 1860 | 1st term | ||
| William Fraser Tolmie | Victoria District | 1860 | 1st term | ||
| Henry Pering Pellew Crease | 1860 | 1st term | resigned on October 18, 1861 | ||
| Joseph William Trutch (1861) | 1861 | 1st term | elected on November 26, 1861 | ||
| Alfred Pendrell Waddington | 1860 | 1st term | resigned on October 15, 1861 | ||
| James Trimble (1861) | 1861 | 1st term | elected on November 26, 1861 | ||
| George Hunter Cary | Victoria Town | 1860 | 1st term | ||
| Selim Franklin | 1860 | 1st term |
Members 1863-1866: 3rd Session
| Name | District | First elected / previously elected | No. of terms | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Sebastian Helmcken | Esquimalt and Metchosin District | 1856 | 3rd term | Speaker | |
| Robert Burnaby | 1860 | 2nd term | resigned | ||
| John Ash (1865) | 1865 | 1st term | elected on November 28, 1865 | ||
| George Foster Foster | Esquimalt Town | 1863 | 1st term | ||
| Joseph Johnson Southgate (1864) | 1864 | 1st term | |||
| Edward Stamp (1866) | 1866 | 1st term | |||
| James Carswell | Lake District | 1863 | 1st term | ||
| Charles Alfred Bayley | Nanaimo District | 1863 | 1st term | resigned | |
| Thomas Cunningham (1866) | 1866 | 1st term | elected on January 5, 1866 | ||
| John Trevasso Pidwell | Saltspring and Chemainus District | 1863 | 1st term | resigned | |
| George Edgar Dennes (1863) | 1863 | 1st term | elected on October 13, 1863 and resigned | ||
| John Trevasso Pidwell (1866) | 1863, 1866 | 2nd term* | re-elected on May 30, 1866 | ||
| James Carswell | Sooke District | 1863 | 1st term | ||
| William Alexander George Young | Victoria City | 1863 | 1st term | resigned | |
| Charles Bedford Young (1864) | 1864 | 1st term | elected on October 25, 1864 and resigned | ||
| Leonard McClure (1865) | 1864 | 1st term | elected on February 14, 1865 | ||
| Amor De Cosmos | 1863 | 1st term | |||
| Israel Wood Powell (British Columbia politician) | 1863 | 1st term | |||
| Joseph Charles Ridge | 1863 | 1st term | resigned | ||
| Selim Franklin (1864) | 1864 | 1st term | elected on February 1, 1864 | ||
| Charles Bedford Young (1866) | 1864, 1866 | 2nd term* | |||
| William Fraser Tolmie | Victoria District | 1860 | 2nd term | ||
| Edward Henry Jackson | 1863 | 1st term | resigned | ||
| James Dickson (1864) | 1864 | 1st term | elected on September 22, 1864 | ||
| James Trimble | 1861 | 2nd term |
Elections to the Vancouver Island House of Assembly
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Duffus
Bibliography
[edit]- Barman, Jean. The West Beyond the West: A History of British Columbia (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991).
- Conrad, Margaret, and Alvin Finkle, History of the Canadian Peoples: Vol: I Beginnings to 1867, 4th ed. (Toronto: Pearson Longman, 2006)
- Duffus, Maureen. Vancouver Island's First Legislature Retrieved June 11, 2007