The Metric Commission, formally the Preparatory Commission for the Conversion to the Metric System was a Canadian government agency established by the federal government in 1971 to facilitate Canada's conversion to the Metric system from the imperial system of weights and measures and to educate the public on the Metric system. The Commission was formed following the release of "The White Paper on Metric Conversion", a January 1971 federal government document which noted most nations had adopted the metric system and anticipated that the United States would do likewise.