Edmonton

I am regularly reminded of the importance of Indigenous Peoples to our economy, not just because September 30th is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation but because the headquarters of Indigenous Tourism Alberta is located just one floor below the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce office in the World Trade Centre on Jasper Avenue. 

 

As its website points out, Indigenous Tourism Alberta is a “non-profit organization devoted to help grow and promote authentic, sustainable and culturally rich Indigenous tourism experiences we want to share with the world.” 

 

The Edmonton Chamber recognizes the immense potential Indigenous Tourism has to attract investment and create jobs. We are committed to economic reconciliation to help make amends for historical injustices to Indigenous Peoples. 

 

There is an economic imperative here as well as a moral one, and that moral imperative is perhaps especially true in Edmonton when we take a look back more than a century ago – 126 years, to be precise. 

 

Let me tell you a story about the signing of Treaty 8, two Edmonton businessmen who became millionaires, and allegations of fraud that echo to this day. 

 

One of the businessmen, John A. McDougall, helped found the Edmonton Board of Trade established in 1898 that later became the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce. The other was his partner Richard Secord. Both were teachers by profession who branched out into the fur trade and by the 1890s had amassed a small fortune which they would use to help finance the development of downtown Edmonton. 

 

Then, in the summer of 1899, the two saw the chance of a lifetime to make themselves the richest men in the city. With two suitcases, one for clothes and the other stuffed with money, they headed north alongside commissioners from the federal government who were responsible for negotiating the largest land deal in the history of the Dominion of Canada: the signing of Treaty 8. 

 

On June 19, they all arrived on the western shores of Lesser Slave Lake where 2,000 “Indians” (in the language of the day) and Metis (who were officially labelled “half-breeds”) had assembled for the treaty negotiations. 

 

The commissioners’ goal was to open development of northern Alberta (as well as parts of northern British Columbia, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories) by appeasing the “Indians,” settle the Metis on plots of land and win undisputed ownership of Canada’s Northwest for the Crown while keeping everyone happy “forever.” 

 

But the system was unfair to Indigenous People, many of whom did not understand the significance of the Treaty that would extinguish their rights to the land in exchange for reserve land and symbolic amounts of money. 

 

The commissioners had a massive conflict of interest. They acted as agents of the Crown as well as agents of the Indigenous people. It would be like you selling your house but the buyer was also your real estate agent. 

 

Metis were not placed on reserves but were given land “scrip” which were certificates entitling them to 240 acres of prime land. 

 

However, very few Metis ever took possession of that land because of speculators like McDougall and Secord who swooped in and, taking advantage of a complicated bureaucratic process needed for the Metis to register the certificates, offered to buy the scrip for amounts far below fair market value, in some cases just 20 cents on the dollar. 

 

That’s how the two men scooped up an estimated 150,000 acres of Metis land at discounted prices which they, in turn, sold for a huge profit to incoming settlers. 

 

In 2016, Rob Toule, a member of the Swan River First Nation and a former Indigenous Relations Consultant for the City of Edmonton, wrote a paper on the scrip scandal where he said in some cases, “speculators would hire a Métis imposter to pose as certificate holders, sign over ownership and receive a small payment for their role.” 

 

In 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada said the “history of scrip speculation and devaluation is a sorry chapter in our nation’s history.” 

 

Today, Secord and McDougall are remembered as icons of Edmonton’s early development where, besides being dubbed “Edmonton’s first millionaire teachers,” Secord was elected to city council while McDougall was twice elected mayor. 

 

Both have since had schools named after them. 

 

Of course, we should not disparage all members of Edmonton’s business community from a century ago but neither should we ignore the injustices committed against Indigenous People or excuse the wrongdoing as simply being a product of a different time.

 

(An interesting footnote is that Richard Secord’s grandson, who carries the same name, is a well-respected Edmonton lawyer who has acted as a strong advocate for various First Nations on oil and gas issues). 

 

The Edmonton Chamber of Commerce is committed to economic reconciliation. It will not change the past but it will help make amends for the past while helping all Edmontonians and Albertans build a stronger, more prosperous future together. 

 

To that end, we must pay more than lip service to mark special events like the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, held every September 30. It is a statutory holiday for federal employees. A number of provinces, including British Columbia, have declared it a holiday for all workers in B.C. to encourage “reading, watching and listening to Indigenous-created content, supporting an Indigenous-owned business, talking to family, friends and coworkers about reconciliation.” 

 

In that light, it’s time for Alberta to declare September 30 a statutory holiday.