American President Theodore Roosevelt invited Mexico and Canada to join the United States at the North American Conservation Conference, leading to the establishment of Canada’s Commission of Conservation. Canada established the Commission on Conservation, an independent agency devoted to forest conservation, water development, and a variety of conservation initiatives. The Commission strove to entrench a scientific conservation ethos in Ottawa but succumbed to opposing political forces in 1921.

The Commission was set up as a non-partisan, independent government agency to promote the efficient use of natural resources and to make recommendations. It was made up of provincial and federal government representatives with the involvement of experts from universities. It completed over 150 studies on a variety of conservation issues, and made recommendations for smokestack filters, large-scale composting, and overcutting of forests. It was abolished by the Conservative government in 1921.