Board of Transport Commissioners Orders

Last revised December 20, 2024

1900 to 1970: Orders are excluded from publication in Gazette 

The Board of Transport Commissioners has been making orders and rulings on a range of subjects including railroad safety since 1906, however they have regularly been excluded from publication in the Canada Gazette.

The Statutory Orders and Regulations: Consolidation, 1949, vol. IV, p. 3961, states:

 "the orders and rulings of the Board of Transport Commissioners have been excluded from this consolidation by section 9(b) of The Statutory Orders and Regulations Order, 1949."

Again in 1955, the Statutory Orders and Regulations: Consolidation, 1955, vol. III, p. 2676, states:

"the orders and rulings of the Board have been exempted from the operation of section 3, section 4 section 6 (1) and Section 7 of the Regulations Act."

Currently, the Statutory Instruments Regulations, C.R.C. 1978, c. 1509, s. 7(f)(i) states that orders and regulations issued or made by the Canadian Transport Commission established by the National Transportation Act are exempt from registration.  

**Please note that the National Transportation Act was replaced by the Canada Transportation Act in 1996.

1900 to 1970: Orders and rulings available elsewhere in print

Despite the regulations exempting the orders and rulings from being published in the Canada Gazette, access to these documents can be found in the following print resources available at Courthouse Libraries BC:

1. Circulars and general orders issued by the Board from its inception to October 1912: with indexes under subjects and numbers
2. Judgments, orders, regulations and rulings 1911-1938
3. Judgments, orders, regulations and rulings 1939-1966
4. General Orders Consolidation, 1964: Diamond Anniversary, 1904-1965.
5.  Judgments, orders, regulations and rulings 1967-1968

The Diamond Anniversary publication contains the consolidation and revision of all General Orders and Circular Letters issued by the Board of Transport Commissioners since 1906, under four headings: Miscellaneous, Operating, Engineering and Traffic.  These orders, generally, were effective as of February 1965, when the consolidation occurred.

• Appendix I contains the list of all General Orders as revised and consolidated. 
• Appendix II contains the list of all General Orders and Circular Letters issued since the Board's inception and a certain number of ordinary orders. 
• Appendix III contains the list of all General Orders and their history.  In column one are the numbers of the revised General Orders, in column two is the subject matter of the General Order, and in column three are shown the original orders or letters from which they were consolidated.

**please note, only the 1965 revised General Orders are printed in full (item #4, Appendix I). Everything else is only a reference to, or a short summary of, the order.

1970 to present: Orders are published in the Gazette

From 1972 to 1993, the Revised General Orders of the Board of Transport Commissioners for Canada, 1965 are listed in the annual index to the Canada Gazette Part II, under the Railway Act and the National Transportation Act. 

From 1994 to 1996, the Orders are listed in the annual index to the Canada Gazette Part II, under the Railway Act and the National Transportation Act, 1987.

From 1996 to present, the Orders are listed in the annual index to the Canada Gazette Part II, under the Canada Transportation Act. 

Content reviewed December 20, 2024