Fonds F623 - Canadian Federation of Mayors and Municipalities fonds

In 1901 the first meeting of municipal leaders was held. The first political initiative of the Union of Canadian Municipalities (UCM) was to convince the federal government to create legislation that would give municipal governments more control over the actions of utility companies within their boundaries. In 1935, the Dominion Conference of Mayors (DCM) was formed and in 1937, the UCM and DCM merged to form the Canadian Federation of Mayors and Municipalities (CFMM). Since then CFMM has functioned as a central resource organ, conference co-ordinator and clearing house for Canadian municipal bodies and officials. It also acted as a national representative of these groups for international purposes, establishing an international prescence in 1951 when CFMM sent its first delegation to the Congress of the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA) in Brighton, England. In 1957 CFMM became a founding member of the United Town Organization, headquartered in France. The organization's main objective was to promote international twinning of towns and cities. In 1967 CFMM moved its offices from Montreal to Ottawa and in 1972 The first tripartite conference was held with CFMM, federal and provincial representation. In 1985 FCMM became the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.