A screen capture of a portion of BC's old website as a Grand Bailiwick of British Columbia^[1]

The British Columbia Commandery came into being in 1981. At that time a few members of the Paris Obedience, knew each other and kept in touch. They discovered that a member of the Malta Obedience had formed a small Commandery which was controlled from Edmonton. After some negotiation, a British Columbia Commandery was formed. During the years there has been a constant fluctuation in membership. Members have come and gone, and a few have remained for the long haul. There has been an Executive elected every year since the formation of the Commandery. After the Oxford Conference in 1986 the Canadian Grand Priory became part of the Paris Obedience. In the year of 2002 the members in British Columbia started to discuss the idea of transferring to the Malta Obedience since several of them had originally joined in that Obedience. After several general meetings it was decided that individual members would apply for membership. On 1 October 2002 the Grand Chancellor H.E. Chev. Reginald Attard, GCLJ. created the Bailiwick of British Columbia and the transfer of allegiance became effective.

A depiction of the timeline of Commanders of the British Columbia Commandery and the Grand Bailiwick of BC. Click on the image to view a pdf file of the timeline.

The Bailiwick was granted a Certificate of Incorporation under the Society Act of British Columbia on 26 November 2002. However, after the reconciliation of the Order between the Paris and Malta Obedience, the Grand Bailiwick of BC was dissolved by Grand Magistral Decree ^[2]. The two separate organizations united into a single British Columbia Commandery since 2014 while under the Command of Chev. David E. Hjalmarson, CD, KCLJ, CMLJ. The image on the right depicts the timeline of the Commanders of both the British Columbia Commandery and the Grand Bailiwick of BC.

1. An undated document describes the "registration of the arms of the Grand Bailiwick of BC" with the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, by the Jude of the Arms and Herald Principal, Chev. Xavier J. Bastard d'Andeville, KLJ, BMLJ. The arms are displayed in the screen capture above left.
2. The Grand Magistral Decree No. 14/13, May 14, 2013 which dissolves the Grand Bailiwick of British Columbia as a national jurisdiction and recommends that the members would transfer to the Grand Priory in Canada while preserving their current ranks.