The Honourable John Norquay: Indigenous Premier, Canadian Statesman, 2024

Gerald Friesen’s masterful biography of Manitoban politician and four-time Premier John Norquay is in fact Manitoba’s own coming-of-age story. Born in 1841 in the Red River Settlement, a predominantly Métis community where fur trading was the lifeblood of the region’s economy, Norquay was Manitoba’s indefatigable champion and now-forgotten leader as it transformed into a vibrant and sophisticated fifth province in a young confederation. Friesen skilfully captures the nuances of Norquay’s identity and beliefs, and explores how the statesman’s English-Métis mixed heritage and appreciation for Manitoba’s diverse communities shaped him into a unifying voice and effective leader of his time.

Norquay entered office just after the Hudson’s Bay Company ceded control over Rupert’s Land to the Canadian government. At this time, Manitoba did not have authority over its own public lands, provincial political parties had yet to arrive, the border between Manitoba and Ontario was still not settled, and the sparse population of the “postage stamp province” mainly consisted of Métis, First Nations and some settlers. At the time of his early death nearly two decades later while still a sitting Member of the Legislative Assembly, Manitoba’s population had grown tenfold, an influx of immigrants from Ontario, Quebec and the rest of the world had transformed the political and cultural landscape, and Manitoba had emerged as a thriving agriculture-based economy.

Norquay was an intellectual powerhouse, commanding orator and moderating statesman in Manitoba’s tumultuous founding years. He was of mixed Métis heritage, but Friesen shows that this was but one layer of his identity. Orphaned by the age of 8, the future leader was noted for his brilliance and earned a scholarship to an Anglican school in Winnipeg. There he imbibed all that he could at a fountain of traditional British curriculum. Norquay grew up speaking the Bungee dialect of English (a variant of Scots English), Cree, Ojibwa and a little French and Dakota; he would tack on proficiency in Latin and Greek through the course of his studies.

During these formative years, Norquay was immersed in rigorous academic programming modeled after English preparatory schools under the direction of a bishop who was highly proudful of the British Empire. The marks of his adolescent experience were ever apparent in Norquay’s political views later in life. The Manitoba statesman only grew prouder in his fealty to the Crown over time, and firmly believed in individualism, property rights and the system of capitalism.

Pupilage at a quasi-British establishment was followed by first-hand experiences in a variety of homegrown western North American institutions as a teacher-farmer-community leader in his twenties, prior to his entry into provincial politics. From the Cree and Saulteaux lodge, to the Métis hunt to the courtrooms of Assiniboia, Norquay became deeply familiar with other modes of conducting public affairs. He acquired a deep respect for the multicultural landscape of Manitoba, and cultivated allies in a variety of communities, all of which would contribute to a successful political tenure.

Norquay was deeply sympathetic to the injustices faced by Indigenous peoples, particularly following the collapse of the bison stock which brought tremendous hardship to the Cree, Saulteaux and Blackfoot peoples, and to the challenges endured by the Métis community. On the latter, his views were nuanced. For instance, regarding Riel’s North-West Rebellion of 1885, with his own sons part of the Canadian military expedition to engage the Métis, Norquay wrote a letter to his half-brother conveying an awareness as to both sides’ interests and sadness for the Métis, but, ever a believer in institutions, believed that Riel should have pursued his aims by way of diplomacy and political protest rather than violence.

During his time in office, Norquay was forced to contend with a population fraught with rivalries. French v English, Métis v incoming Quebecers, Bungee/English speakers with multigenerational linkages to the land v newly arriving Orange Ontarians. The plains of Manitoba proved as fertile for factional tensions as they were for growing wheat and barley. The arrival of political parties to provincial politics in the 1870s introduced a new rivalry of Liberal v Conservative with which Norquay had to contend. Despite the morass of division in the 1870s and 1880s, it is a testament to Norquay’s statesmanship and political prowess that he could command significant majorities in the legislature, and for periods of time, unite Manitobans in their quests for greater sovereignty and improved financial arrangements with Ottawa.

On this latter point, Friesen details the annual multi-week sorties of Norquay and fellow Manitoban politicians to Ottawa in order to advance the budding province’s interests with federal officials, politicians and even Sir John A. Macdonald himself. Receipts of food, beverage and lodgings from these expeditions evidence a degree of indulgence necessary to fuel the advocacy work and help lubricate the channels of federal benefits in Manitoba’s favour. Friesen details the diplomatic jousts between Manitoba’s John Norquay and Sir John A. Macdonald, both committed to the nascent Canadian project and testing the boundaries of the new federalist framework.

At home in Manitoba Norquay was the local hero successfully sparring with Ottawa whom the province could rally around, temporarily bridging the divides that defined the era. In a notable April 1884 address to the provincial parliament, Norquay expressed an alternative version of western Canadian history that would have found resonance amongst his audience and which challenged the version prevalent in eastern Canada. Norquay advanced that “Manitoba was forced into Confederation, figuratively speaking, at the point of the bayonet and the people submitted to the conditions imposed on them, not knowing the extent of the responsibilities they were assuming.” Norquay’s countless and personally taxing expeditions to Ottawa would bring substantial benefits to his people over the years, earning him great love and admiration across the province. His reputation was also spreading to the rest of Canada, and many came to see him as a potential candidate for high office in Ottawa in the near future, if not Prime Minister.

Norquay’s widespread appeal, charismatic leadership and provincial political power would prove no match, however, to the formidable influence of railway magnates and Sir John A. Macdonald. Norquay’s political career peaked amidst the clamour of mauls striking railway spikes along the CPR’s transcontinental route. It was this very railroad and its eastern Canadian backers that would lead to his political ruin. Friesen details how Norquay’s ambition for more railways (both intraprovincial branch lines as well as connections to US markets) conflicted with the “monopoly clause” in the contract between CPR and Ottawa that the railway’s chief, George Stephen, persuaded John A. Macdonald to include. Manitoban access to and participation in global markets was stymied by CPR lobbyists and the highest levels of government in Ottawa.

The federal government repeatedly disallowed new railway charters in Manitoba, and so Norquay eventually took matters into his own hands and traveled to financial capitals across the continent in an effort to raise funds for railway projects in the face of Ottawa’s opposition. It is highly likely that CPR barons and government officials caught wind of these ventures and worked behind the scenes to thwart each attempt. The eastern Canadian powers-that- be, weary of Norquay’s unrelenting advocacy for Manitoba, machinated his downfall. Macdonald encouraged his Manitoba lieutenants to spread rumours of Norquay engaging in corrupt practices, and essentially allowed the province to teeter on the brink of bankruptcy to push Norquay out of power. Macdonald outmaneuvered Norquay, resulting in the latter’s resignation from Premiership in December 1888.

In this meticulously researched book made possible by the archival work of 20^th  century Manitoban historian Ellen Cooke, Friesen tells the story of Manitoba’s early years by exploring the life and work of John Norquay. More than just a master statesman, Norquay is depicted as a philanthropic individual, deeply generous to his family and his many communities of which he was a part. By the time of his early death at the young age of 48, Norquay had accumulated little wealth after a lifetime of supporting his extended family and giving to others.

Friesen chronicles the story of an individual of mixed English-Métis ancestry who rose to the highest halls of provincial political power, and who fiercely advocated for the interests of Manitoba with eastern Canadian elites. The book does engage with the dark, racist side of Canadian history; Friesen details the prejudice and intolerance that Norquay personally endured throughout his career, and which worsened following the end of the American Civil War and then again after the North-West Rebellion. That Norquay was able to accomplish all that he did in the face of bigotry both at home in Manitoba and in other parts of Canada make his achievements all the more impressive.

The Honourable John Norquay not only resurrects a long-overlooked 19^th  century Canadian political figure, but provides a vital detailing of Manitoba’s earliest days and the undertakings required to achieve equality with the rest of the Canadian provinces in the early days confederation – a struggle that arguably continues to this day.