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Royal commissions, once described by a member of Parliament as costly travelling minstrel shows, are a form of official inquiry into matters of public concern.

Created in 2000, the privately funded Canadian Democracy and Corporate Accountability Commission (CDCAC) was co-chaired by Canadian publisher Avie Bennett and ex-NDP leader Ed Broadbent.

Brandy Parliament, an assembly of 20 notables of New France, who on 10 October 1678 were asked their opinion of the sale of brandy to the Indigenous peoples. The title was bestowed in 1921 by historian W.B. Munro.

Rapport de la Commission d'enquête sur l'enseignement des arts dans la province de Québec, commonly called the Rioux Report. It was submitted to the lieutenant-governor in August 1968 by the commission's president, Marcel Rioux.

Selected text of the Balfour Report:The Committee are of opinion that nothing would be gained by attempting to lay down a Constitution for the British Empire.

The Balfour Report of 1926 was an important document in Canada’s evolution to become a fully self-governing nation. The report declared that Britain and its Dominions were constitutionally equal. The findings of the report were made law by the British Parliament in the 1931 Statute of Westminster. This was the founding document of the modern Commonwealth. Canada remained linked to Britain politically. But legal power shifted decisively to the Canadian Parliament and its prime minister. This shift quickly led to an independent Canadian foreign policy and to the creation of its diplomatic service. It took several decades before Canada assumed all of its other powers under the Statute.

One of the most influential commissions in Canadian history, the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (1963–69) brought about sweeping changes to federal and provincial language policy. The commission was a response to the growing unrest among French Canadians in Quebec, who called for the protection of their language and culture, and opportunities to participate fully in political and economic decision making. The commission's findings led to changes in French education across the country, and the creation of the federal department of  multiculturalism and the Official Languages Act.

The Marshall Inquiry was a Royal Commission called by the Government of Nova Scotia. It investigated the 1971 wrongful murder conviction of Mi’kmaq man Donald Marshall Jr. of Nova Scotia. This was the first inquiry of its kind in Canada. The commission released its report on 26 January 1990. It made recommendations that changed the criminal justice system in Nova Scotia, particularly in its treatment of Indigenous peoples.

Applebaum-Hébert Report. Name commonly given to the report of the Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee appointed by the Liberal government in August 1980. This was the first review of Canadian cultural institutions and federal cultural policy after the Massey Commission report of 1951.

The Royal Commission on Transportation (MacPherson Commission) was appointed by the federal government (1959) to investigate transportation policy, particularly freight-rate inequities.

The Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) was established in 1934 under the National Research Council Act as the Government Purchasing Standards Committee and its present name was adopted in 1980.

Canada Committee, a British parliamentary committee established 2 May 1828 to settle political disputes which were paralysing representative government in Lower Canada and creating difficulties in Upper Canada.