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Create AccountPeter Vasilevich Verigin, Doukhobor leader (born 1859 in Slavianka, Russia; died October 1924 near Grand Forks, British Columbia). Exiled in Russia, Verigin immigrated to Canada in 1902. There, he became a powerful and controversial Doukhobor leader in Western Canada. Verigin died when the train in which he was travelling exploded, leading some to believe he was assassinated.
The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was the forerunner of Canada's iconic Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Created after Confederation to police the frontier territories of the Canadian West, the NWMP ended the whiskey trade on the southern prairies and the violence that came with it. They helped the federal government suppress the North-West Resistance and brought order to the Klondike Gold Rush. The NWMP pioneered the enforcement of federal law in the West, and the Arctic, from 1873 until 1920.
The Overlanders of 1862 were a group of some 150 settlers who travelled from Fort Garry (now Winnipeg, Manitoba) to the interior of British Columbia, following the Cariboo Gold Rush. They were led by Thomas McMicking of Stamford Township, Welland County, Canada West [Ontario].
The following article is a feature from our Vancouver Feature series. Past features are not updated.
The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.
The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.
"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
The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.
Theodore “Ted” Stanley King, civil rights activist, real estate broker, accountant, railway porter (born 14 July 1925 in Calgary; died 7 July 2001 in Surrey, BC). Ted King was the president of the Alberta Association for the Advancement of Coloured People from 1958 to 1961, where he advocated for the rights of Black Canadians. In 1959, King launched a legal challenge against a Calgary motel’s discriminatory policy, decades before human rights protections existed throughout Canada. The case made it to the Alberta Supreme Court. Though it was not successful, King’s case exposed legal loopholes innkeepers exploited in order to deny lodging to Black patrons.
The role of Black people within the history of the fur trade is rarely considered. Black people were rarely in a position to write their own stories, so often those stories went untold. This owes to a complex set of factors including racism and limited access to literacy. Black people are also not the focus of many historical documents. However, historians have identified several Black fur traders working in different roles, and even an entire family of Black fur traders who left their mark on history.
William Henry Jackson, also known as Honoré Joseph Jaxon, Louis Riel's secretary immediately before the North-West Resistance, labour leader (born 13 May 1861 in Toronto, Ontario; died 10 Jan 1952 in New York City, New York).
Leif Newry Fitzroy Crozier, soldier, policeman (b at Newry, Ire 11 June 1846; d in Oklahoma, US 25 Feb 1901). He was appointed an inspector in the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) in 1873.
Sir Frederick Dobson Middleton, soldier (b at Belfast, Ire 2 Nov 1825; d at London, Eng 25 Jan 1898).
Sir Cecil Edward Denny, 6th baronet of Tralee Castle, police officer, Indian agent, author (b in Hampshire, Eng 14 Dec 1850; d at Edmonton 24 Aug 1928). Denny is best known as the author of two colourful accounts of life with the North-West Mounted Police - The Riders of the Plains: A Reminiscence of the Early and Exciting Days in the North West (1905) and The Law Marches West (1939).
Charles Constantine, mounted policeman (b at Bradford, Yorkshire 13 Nov 1849; d at Long Beach, Calif 5 May 1912). Immigrating to Canada as a young man, Constantine was a member of the Red River Expedition sent against Louis Riel and the Manitoba Métis in 1870.
Mistahimaskwa (Big Bear), Plains Cree chief (born near Fort Carlton, SK; died 17 January 1888 on the Little Pine Reserve, SK). Mistahimaskwa is best known for his refusal to sign Treaty 6 in 1876 and for his band’s involvement in violent conflicts associated with the 1885 North-West Resistance.
Jerry Potts, or Ky-yo-kosi, meaning "Bear Child," scout, guide, interpreter (b at Ft McKenzie, US 1840; d at Fort Macleod, Alta 14 July 1896).
James Farquharson Macleod, police officer, judge (b on Isle of Skye, Scot 25 Sept 1836; d at Calgary 5 Sept 1894).
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.
William Kennedy, explorer (born 26 April 1814 probably at Cumberland House, Rupert's Land; died 25 January 1890 at St Andrews, Red River Settlement).
