Browse "Western and Northwestern Canada"

On August 12, 1911 the Laurier government drafted and approved a remarkable document.

The 107th (Timber Wolf) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, known officially as the 107th (Winnipeg) Battalion, was an infantry battalion established during the First World War. After it arrived in Britain, the unit was converted to a pioneer battalion and served on the Western Front in France and Belgium. It was later absorbed into an engineer brigade. About half the unit’s soldiers were Indigenous Canadians.

André Nault, Métis leader, farmer, and buffalo hunter (born 20 April 1830 in Point Douglas, Red River Colony [now Winnipeg, MB]; died 17 December 1924 in St Vital, MB). Although a kinsman of Louis Riel and always considered a Métis, Nault was not of mixed blood (his mother and father were French Canadian).

Andrew Graham, fur trader (b probably near Edinburgh, Scot c 1733; d at Prestonpans, Scot 8 Sept 1815). Graham worked for the Hudson's Bay Company at Churchill, York Factory and Ft Severn (1749-75).

Andrew Onderdonk, contractor (b at New York City c 1849; d at Oscawana, NY 21 June 1905).

Henday, Anthony, explorer (probably b on the Isle of Wight, Eng; fl 1750-62). Henday travelled farther into western Canada than any white person had before him, and his journal contains important glimpses of how the indigenous population lived at that time.

Arthur Evans"Slim" (b at Toronto 1890; d at Vancouver 1944). Slim Evans was a colourful socialist and trade union organizer who played the leading role in organizing the On to Ottawa Trek of 1935.

Aylesworth Bowen Perry, police officer (b at Violet, Ont 21 Aug 1860; d at Ottawa 14 Feb 1956). As commissioner of the NWMP, Perry transformed the police from a romantic frontier force into a modern national police force.

Leadership passed to his rival, the Reverend George Lloyd, after whom the colony's first town was named Lloydminster in July 1903. Despite initial setbacks, the Barr colonists opened up the vast area west of Saskatoon.

The English race gets continually into the most unheard of scrapes all over the world by reason of its insular prejudices and superiority to advice; but somehow they muddle through and when they do they are on the ground to hold it. Manitoba Free Press, December 1903

Partly as a result of this, but primarily because jobs moved around, bunkhouse men were highly mobile, tramping within regions and sometimes across the country to find work. They were also often at the forefront of labour radicalism.

Cowboys and cowgirls are people employed to tend cattle or horses. The first cowboys to work on the Canadian prairies arrived in the 1870s. The traditional cowboy lifestyle has since given way to a more contained, corporate model of ranching. But the romanticized image of the cowboy on the “open range” lives on as a symbol of the prairies. Today, the terms cowboy and cowgirl can refer to ranch workers or rodeo competitors.

 De Meurons, Swiss infantry regiment raised 1781; transferred 1795 to the British army. It served in India until October 1806, then moved to England, and was sent to Lower Canada in August 1813.

Eden Colvile, governor of Rupert's Land (b 1819; d in Devonshire, Eng 2 Apr 1893), son of the deputy governor of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Elizabeth McDougall, née Boyd, frontier woman (b in Grey County, Canada W 1853; d at Calgary 31 Mar 1941). McDougall is less known for her own activities than for aiding her Methodist missionary husband John MCDOUGALL.

Francis Jeffrey Dickens, North-West Mounted Police inspector (b at London, Eng 15 Jan 1844; d at Moline, Ill 11 June 1886), third son of Charles Dickens. In 1864, after numerous unsuccessful career starts, Dickens joined the Bengal Mounted Police in India.

Francis Joseph Fitzgerald, Royal North-West Mounted Police inspector (b at Halifax 12 Apr 1869; d Yukon Territory Feb 1911).

George Hills, Anglican bishop of British Columbia 1859-95 (b at Eythorne, Eng 21 June 1816; d 10 Dec 1895). An early graduate of Durham University, Hills was influenced by the Tractarians, serving under Dr Hook at Leeds parish church (1841-48).

Gordon L. Barnhart, educator, historian, lieutenant-governor of SASKATCHEWAN (b at Saltcoats, Sask). A respected historian, Gordon Barnhart graduated from the UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN (U of S) with a Bachelor of Arts (1967).

In the late 1860s Henry Davis and others began trading along the upper PEACE RIVER in opposition to the HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY (HBC). In 1886 he based his operation at FORT VERMILION and competed with the HBC until his death.