Collection F1437 - Collection of Post Office Inspectors reports

Prior to 1851, the Post Office Department in British North America was an overseas extension of the General Post Office of Great Britain. In 1849 the Imperial Parliament passed "An Act for enabling colonial legislatures to establish Inland Posts" (Gt. Brit. 12 & 13 Vic [1849], c.66). This legislation was followed in the Province of Canada by "An Act to provide for the transfer of the management of Inland Posts to the Provincial Government, and for the regulation of the said Department" (13 & 14 Vic. [1850]). Similar legislation was passed in New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, and control of the Post Office passed to those Colonial governments in 1851.

With Confederation in 1867, the post office departments in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were amalgamated with that of Ontario and Québec and new legislation, "An Act for the regulation of the postal service (31 Vic.[1867], c.10) was passed. When British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and much later, Newfoundland, joined Canada, the existing colonial postal administration was absorbed by the larger Canadian administration. The Post Office Department continued as a government department until 1981, when it became a Crown Corporation called the Canada Post Corporation.