The Toal Commission was a Commission of Inquiry conducted by James Toal at the Prince Edward Hotel in Brandon,MB from 1971-1972. The purpose of this inquiry was to investigage a report published by the Brandon Police Department entitled, "Problem Metis Families, City of Brandon," as well as allegations of police harassment in the City of Brandon from January 1, 1970, onward. The report was prepared by the Brandon Police Department following a petition submitted to Mayor Wilton. The petition, signed by approximately thirty residents of Brandon's East End, requested that the city prohibit the sale of homes in their neighborhood to Native families. A copy of the report was obtained by the Brandon Sun, which generated a considerable public response that resulted in the investigation in question.
Custodial History
Records were ordered from the Archives of Manitoba by Brandon University Archivist Tom Mitchell and Brandon University history professor Jim Naylor in 2013.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of records created over the course of the Toal Commission. It includes copies of verbatim transcripts of the Toal Commission hearings, as well as a commission of inquiry, a report on the commission, and indexes, which list the witnesses and evidence presented for each day of the hearings.
The Women's Institute was founded in 1897, in Stoney Creek, Ontario by Adelaide Hoodless. By 1913, institutes were established in every Canadian province. In 1919, provincial representatives met in Winnipeg to form the Federated Women's Institute of Canada. The Women's Institute was designed to promote quality of life in rural Canada and to foster the advancement of rural women. The first Women's Institute in Manitoba was organized in 1910, in Morris, Manitoba. The Cordova Women's Institute was formed on April 28, 1961. The group met in member's homes until 1966, when it began to meet in the recently closed school. The Institute raised money for scholarships and charities by holding teas, bake sales and raffles. The group also held courses for its members to learn about various subjects of interest to rural women. The Cordova Women's Institute disbanded in 1978.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned in 2002 by the McKee Archives. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains the Cordova Women's Institute's Annual Reports from 1961-1978. It also contains the minutes from the group's meetings from 1961-1978. The financial records of the Institute from 1961-1978 are included in the fonds.
Related women's institute collections in the McKee Archives include:
Manitoba Women's Institute; Minnedosa Women's Institute; Cordova Women's Institute; Clanwilliam Women's Institute; Rathwell Women's Institute; Strathclair Women's Institute; Crocus Women's Institute; Southwest A Region - Manitoba Women's Institute; Douglas Women's Institute
In July 1928, Verna Althea Whitfield married William Arthur Gamey (b. 1892) in Winnipeg. For the first year of their marriage they both taught at Lockport, before moving to Winnipeg in 1929. Their only child, William Roy, was born there. In 1933, the Gameys moved to the Gamey family farm located at N1/2 12-16-22, near Strathclair. Verna's nephew Robert Kerr, from Kelowna, B.C. joined the family in 1949. Art and Verna left the farm in the spring of 1956, and moved into the house formerly owned by an aunt, Miss Bella Gamey. Art Gamey was a staunch supporter of the Co-operative movement and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). He died in January 1968.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1997. Prior custoridal history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains documents relating to the Manitoba Farmer's Union, including copies of its publication "The Voice of the Farmer" (1961); the United Church of Canada, primarily Strathclair (1960-1989); the Manitoba Women's Institute and the National Institute for the Blind (1959-1976); the Manitoba Federation of Agriculture (1945-1961); the Birtle Presbyterian Church (1986-1989); the Social Credit League in Manitoba and B.C. (1947, 1953); the Manitoba Provincial Council of Women (1958-1959); the Manitoba Centennial Corporation (1966-1968); and the Shoal Lake Fair and Hamiota Exhibition (1949-1981).
Fonds also contains diaries (1923-1926); various political publications, newspaper clippings, and correspondance, primarily concerning the CCF and the New Democrats (1945-1971); the Cooperative Union of Canada (1949-1964); and the Manitoba Farm Forum (1942-1963). Included as well, are clippings from the Brandon Sun dealing with a wide variety of topics (1970-1991); publications on home/farm/highway safety (1949-1975); and the Manitoba Pool Elevators (1950-1955).
Fonds also contains correspondence to and from both Verna and Art Gamey.
Notes
History/Bio information taken from "Our Story to 1970" published by the R.M. of Strathclair and compiled by The Centennial History Committee (pp. 255-257).
RG 4 Manitoba Pool Elevators; Women's Institute collections: Manitoba (8-2002), Strathclair (7-2002), Rathwell (6-2002), Minnedosa (2-2002), Cordova (4-2002), Clanwilliam (3-2002), Crocus (5-2002), Douglas (20-2006), Binscarth (12-1997), Southwest A Region (26-1997); and the Greenway Fair (35-2006).