Book excerpt: This is a comprehensive primary reference to a rich and often neglected storehouse of information on Canada's educational background. As the boundary between full-fledged royal commissions and other official governmental inquiries is not always clear -- and many legislative committee inquiries and special department of education investigations have been as significant in educational development as regular commissions -- Goulson has included all major ministerial-level governmental inquiries in Canadian education between 1787 and 1978. More than 300 inquiries are included, among them general, special interest, judicial, legislative, parliamentary, and other governmental committees. The information provided for each includes the type of commission or committee, its size, chairman, purpose, dates of appointment and reporting, and primary source references, as well as a selection of its major conclusions and/or recommendations. Official governmental records and documents including the Reports themselves, Legislative Journals, House Debates and Hansard, Sessional Papers, Statutes, and Department of Education records were used as the resource base. This volume will be of specific interest to teachers and students of the history of education, and most educators, no matter what their fields, will find it useful.