Functional Responsibility:
The initial role of the Provincial Central Committee was to work in cooperation with the national Dominion Military Hospitals’ Commission to take care of and to provide employment for members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force upon their return to Canada. As part of the Committee’s restructuring into the Alberta Returned Soldiers Commission, the mandate of the new organization was to look after the interests of the Alberta returned soldiers.

Predecessor and Successor Bodies:
There is no predecessor to the Provincial Central Committee of the Dominion Military Hospitals’ Commission. The Provincial Command of the Great War Veterans’ Association absorbed the duties of the Commission after it disbanded.

Administrative Relationships:
There were no defined reporting relationships for either the Committee or the Commission, but it likely reported through its chair, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly (1915-1918) and the Premier of Alberta (1918-1921).

Administrative Structure:
The Central Provincial Committee was governed by a board appointed through Orders-in-Council. Initially, the Committee’s membership consisted of the Hon. C.W. Fisher, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly; W.T. Henry, the Mayor of Edmonton; M.C. Costello, the Mayor of Calgary; James Speakman, president of the United Farmers of Alberta; and Alexander Ross of Calgary, representing organized labour. The Committee’s personnel consisted of an appointed secretary, Howard Stutchbury (O.C. 1116/15), and other administrative staff.

In January 1917, the Committee established an Estates Branch to assist with settling the estates of deceased soldiers.

Requests for the involvement of returned soldiers in the work of the Committee led to the creation of the Alberta Returned Soldiers Commission (O.C. 619/18). The new board consisted of the Hon. Charles Stewart, Premier of Alberta; John McDougall of the Great War Veterans Association of Edmonton; A.J.N Terrill of the Great War Veterans Association of Medicine Hat; and S.J. Shepherd of the Lethbridge Khaki League. The board also included veteran members selected by the soldier organizations: John McKinley Grady, Alfred Cleland, and Albert Nightingale.

Names of the Corporate bodies:
The original name of the organization, the Central Provincial Committee of the Dominion Military Hospitals’ Commission, was established by O.C. 1115/15 on November 10, 1915. When the Committee was restructured on April 29, 1918, its name was changed to the Alberta Returned Soldiers Commission (O.C. 619/18).

Names of Chief Officers:
Chair, Central Provincial Committee, Dominion Military Hospitals’ Commission
Hon. Charles W. Fisher, 1915-1918

Chair, Alberta Returned Soldiers Commission
Hon. Charles Stewart, 1918-1921