Hon. R. B. HANSON (Leader of the Opposition):

Mr. Speaker, according to dispatches and reports appearing in this morning's newspapers, the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Gardiner), now the Minister of National War Services designate, is reported to have said in an interview yesterday that voluntary registration of every man and woman in Canada will be adopted over a four-day period during the last two weeks of August; and further, that Major General LaFleche is returning to Canada from England to be one of the deputy ministers in the new department, and with him, as joint deputy minister, will be Mr. Justice Davis, of the appeal court of Saskatchewan, already in Ottawa. May I ask the minister the following questions, of which I have sent him notice:

What are his proposals with respect to the taking of the national registration; and in particular-

(a) Will the country be divided into districts for registration purposes, and if so will the electoral districts be the basis of division?

(b) What public officials, if any, will be appointed to take the registration?

(c) Will an attempt be made to secure voluntary assistance as far as possible?

(d) How will those officials be appointed?

(e) What precautions will be taken to ensure that no patronage or partisanship will be exercised in connection with these appointments?

May I say most emphatically that the country is in no mood to tolerate partisan appointments. The first appointments made by the minister and announced last night are not such as to give the public confidence, either in the efficiency or in the non-partisanship of the administration of t'he department.

Order.

Right Hon. W. L. MACKENZIE KING (Prime Minister):

May I say to my hon.

friend that questions are for the purpose of getting information, not of giving it.

Mr. HANSON (York-Sunbury):

Well, I

have finished with that, so I will not return to it.

(f) Will a voluntary advisory committee, similar to the Canada registration board of

1918, be appointed to advise the minister regarding the problems of national registration?

(g) What procedure will be adopted to ensure that all persons are registered? Will all persons be required to report at designated places for registration, or how will it be carried out?

(h) What penalties, if any, will be imposed for failure to register?

Hon. J. G. GARDINER (Minister of Agriculture) :

Mr. Speaker, I could, if it were thought advisable to do so, give a detailed answer to each one of the questions, but I am afraid it would mean that I would have to take up at least the limit that is allowed to a speaker in the house. At the moment I wish only to say this, that when I was asked to assume the responsibilities of the post which will be created when the bill providing for this department has been passed, it was emphasized that there was need for great haste in getting the registration made. I believe that as a matter of fact the need of having that registration at the earliest possible date was emphasized in the house some days ago by the leader of the opposition (Mr. Hanson). That being so I have proceeded along lines provided for to a certain degree by an order in council passed under the powers of the National Resources Mobilization Act.

The announcement made last night was for the purpose of speeding up as much as possible the giving of information to the public as to what we proposed to do. We hope to have the registration, in so far as the signing up of names is concerned, completed by the end of the month of August. This morning I asked the proposed deputy, who has been suggested by one of the names now given to the house, to prepare a letter which I am sending to each of the members of the house, no matter on which side he sits, answering quite fully. I believe, most of the questions that are asked on the sheet which I have in my hand, and indicating the method by which we hope to proceed in making the registration. I might say shortly that we are attempting to follow as far as possible the suggestion made by the hon. member who sits to the right of the leader of the opposition in the speech which he delivered the other day, speaking, officially I think, as the opposition critic of the statement of the Minister of Finance in presenting the budget. We are following that suggestion as closely as we possibly can, knowing that hon. members, for the next two or three weeks at least, will be here in the house and will not therefore be in a position themselves to take part actively in the registration.

British Children

That, I believe, is all I need say at the moment. The letters will be in the mail boxes of hon. members this afternoon. Members will be asked to take certain action with regard to their own constituencies. We are requesting them to take action in the matter of the appointment of both the registrar and the deputy registrar in order that they may see to it that the suggestion that there may be some political bias in connection with appointments shall be met so far as their own districts are concerned. As stated in the letter which is being sent forward, these men will have authority to take action in connection with the different polling subdivisions, but to take that action jointly, neither having the power to act by himself.

I have only one comment to make touching the suggestion contained in the statement rather than in the question of the leader of the opposition. I do not know how familiar he is with the persons who have been suggested as deputy ministers, but I may say that one of them is a very highly respected member of the judiciary in a western province, who, I think, will compare favourably with other members of the bench in the various provinces from one end of Canada to the other. The other is a gentleman who served Canada well during the last war and has rendered equally valuable service since, and who I think will give a good account of himself.

I had in mind, in recommending these appointments, in addition to the other qualifications, the fact that both men have a reputation for getting things done, and I believe that if there is one thing more necessary than another in the prosecution of the war it is to get things done. I have no doubt these men will demonstrate the soundness of their choice and will show that they can get things done, and get them done without at the same time introducing anything in the form of partisanship during this time of war.

Mr. GORDON GRAYDON (Peel):

I wish to direct an inquiry to the Minister of Mines and Resources (Mr. Crerar). In view of the fact that the Canadian people as a whole regard the providing of homes for children from Great Britain as a highly important war service, and having in mind that the committee in charge of the voluntary registration of Canadian women, as well as other organizations, have stated publicly that there are

homes available in Canada for more than 100,000 British children, I should like to ask the Minister of Mines and Resources whether the government has advised the British authorities as to the number of homes so available. If so, what was the number so indicated and what, if any, limit was placed by this or the British government on the number of children who might so immigrate.

Hon. T. A. CRERAR (Minister of Mines and Resources):

In reply to the lengthy question which the hon. member has asked me, may I say at once that I consider it wholly inadvisable and unwise to give any impression to the country that 100,000 homes have been offered. It is quite true that the organization mentioned in the question did report a large number of homes available, and I have no reason to doubt that they have received offers for 100,000 homes. But if I am correctly informed, as I think I am, a survey was made in certain localities and it was discovered that a very considerable number of homes were offered by people on relief. The house will agree with me, as I am sure the hon. member will, that it is not desirable for British children who may be brought to Canada for purposes of safety to be placed in homes that are on relief. It is therefore misleading to make the statement contained in the question.

I have stated to the house before that those who have homes to offer-and there are thousands upon thousands of them-should offer those homes to the appropriate provincial authorities, and that is being done. I have not before me at the moment the number of homes so offered to the various provincial authorities, but I can say that at the present time, to my knowledge, they are at least five times in excess of the number of children the British government has indicated to us so far that they are sending to Canada. There is no need for excitement or alarm about the matter.

I wish to give all the information I can to the house, and as a matter of fact on a former occasion I gave some information that was rather unfortunately transmitted, because it raised certain questions which led to some difficulties. In my anxiety to give information to the house I overstepped the bounds of propriety.

Mr. HANSON (York-Sunbury):

We will

forgive you.

Mr. CRERAR:

The hon. gentleman will forgive me. While I appreciate his forgiveness and the forgiveness of hon. members generally, that does not get me out of the difficulty. As I stated before, the welfare

Canadian Youth Congress

agencies of the various provinces are receiving the offers for homes. When an offer is made the home is examined by qualified public officers and its suitability is determined before the child is placed in it. That, I think every member will agree, is a wise procedure. In addition to that, after the children have been placed their welfare will be followed up.

Personally I regard this whole matter as one that throws a heavy obligation upon the Canadian people. When parents send their children to strangers thousands of miles away under these distressing circumstances it is certainly the obligation of those who have anything to do with their placement in Canada to see that these youngsters are placed in as good homes as possible. We may err in that respect, but I wish simply to assure my hon. friend and the house that we are devoting to the whole question the very best effort that we can put into it.

Mr. JEAN-FRANCOIS POULIOT (Temis-couata): Is every refugee child accompanied

by its birth certificate when it comes to Canada, and is it also accompanied by the form that was supposed to be filled out on the departure of children from England?

Mr. CRERAR:

As regards the birth

certificate, I am unable at the moment to give that information. I do not think the Canadian authorities would require a birth certificate. We do require a form to be filled out giving considerable information, such as the date of birth, the child's parents, their address, and other necessary information. It is of course necessary to see to it that these children do not lose their identity, as far as their parents are concerned, and steps have been taken to guard against this.

Mr. POULIOT:

But does the minister

realize that the question of birth certificate is of the utmost importance to the child itself?

Mr. CRERAR:

I fail to see that at the

moment. I have no doubt that the information could be secured later if necessary. I am not informed on that point.

Mr. POULIOT:

But I am asking the

minister if he realizes the importance of the birth certificate to the child itself. If he cannot show his birth certificate how can he prove that he is a legitimate child?