The Canadian government established the Air Board by act of Parliament on June 6, 1919, with the purpose of controlling all flying within Canada.

[1]: 1–11  Canada was the first country to legislate and implement rules governing the entire domain of aviation.

The Board consisted of three sections: 1) the Department of the Controller of Civil Aviation which controlled all civil flying; 2) the Directorate of Flying Operations which controlled civil flying operations of the Air Board; and 3) the Headquarters of the Canadian Air Force (CAF), which operated at Camp Borden.

[3] Five air stations were established for civil flying operations in 1920: Additional stations were added in subsequent years: List of members of the board from 1920:[4] In 1922 the Air Board was combined with the Department of Militia and Defence and the Department of Naval Service to form the Department of National Defence (DND).

[8] The CAF, which had been a small non-permanent air militia directed by the Air Board and originally formed to provide refresher flying training to veterans, was reorganized and became responsible for all Canadian aviation, including the control of civil aviation.