Next year will be the 150th anniversary of Alberta joining Confederation as part of the North-West Territories. - the so called sesquicentennial (celebrated by Canada two years ago when it fudged the dates for the prairie provinces and the territories and for NFLD).
Some say Alberta joined Confederation in 1905. That was the year it became a province but it had been in Canada 35 years by that time as part of the North-West Territories.
From 1870 to 1905 Albertans (those living in the part of the NWT that would later be the province of Alberta) elected several MPs to serve in the House of Commons - Donald W. Davis, Frank Oliver, John Herron, Maitland S. McCarthy, Peter Talbot (the first MP for Strathcona - despite claims that Dr. McIntyre was Strathcona's first MP). As well, two Senators were appointed to represent Alberta in the Senate - Richard Hardisty and James Lougheed.
Some Albertans even elected a Prime Minister. (see blog “Some Albertans elected a Liberal Prime Minister before Alberta was a province”)
You can not elect Prime Ministers, MPs or have Senators represent you if you are not in Canada!
During that time the federal government provided funds for important infrastructure improvements in the Territories. it also provided needed services such as administration of lands and homesteads, where settlers worked to prove up primitive farms in order to get the land for almost free.
Although the federal government was not socialist, it recognized the problems posed by speculators who acquired and then held land vacant and un-used, to eventually sell as the price went up. Although it is said that Canada's free land attracted settlers from other places where land had become expensive for starting farmers, Canada's land was not free - it cost $10, a sizeable amount at the time. And this was paid to register a homestead with no guarantee of return on investment, for not just anyone could take the land and run. Over three years a homesteader had to clear so many acres of trees and brush, build a house and live on the land a majority of the time and have endorsement from other local settlers. (More on speculation and capital gains tax in another blog).
If they could not achieve these demands, the homesteaders lost their investment of money and labour and the land reverted to the government to sell at a higher price due to the improvements the failed homesteader had made.
It is said the government gambled a half-section (a tiny dot in the wide expanse of the old West) that the homesteader would fail and the homestead gambled up to three years of his or her life that he/she would win out.
There were not many homestead registration offices across western Canada, and a community possessing one became a focus of business activity. That is why Edmonton objected to losing its office in 1892.
At the time, the transcontinental CPR rail-line had been built through Calgary and then a spur line to the north built. Called the Edmonton and Yukon Railway, it stopped on the south bank of the river and did not cross to the northside where a pioneer settlement was growing near the old Hudson's Bay Company fort.
On the southside a railway station was built and a hotel (the venerable Strathcona hotel, now more than 125 years old) (at the time it was known as the C&E hotel). And a new business district emerged on the southside. It was hoped by many, including the railway company which owned much land on the southside, that this new settlement, which had the strong advantage that it had a railway connection to the wide world, would surpass Edmonton and become the main centre for the Saskatchewan prairie at this point.
When the federal government decided to move Edmonton's land office to Strathcona, a perfectly logical move in that the office was an important stop for almost all the people arriving on the trains coming into Strathcona, many of whom had no interest otherwise in making the difficult river crossing to Edmonton.
When the office was being loaded into a horse-drawn wagon to be carried to its new home on the southside, a mob gathered and stopped the proceedings. Many Edmontonians brought their guns and imposed mob rule on the local land agent. There had been little crime up to that point in Edmonton and no Mounties were permanently stationed in Edmonton. Their main north-central Alberta post was Fort Saskatchewan harking to a decision made back in 1875. (More on this in my book old Strathcona Edmonton's Southside Roots)
So Mounties were called in from Fort Saskatchewan. The Edmonton mob led by mayor Matt McCauley knew that Mounties would be bound to come in on the Fort Saskatchewan Trail which narrowed to cross a bridge across Rat Creek (the site of the Commonwealth Stadium). The armed mob lined the ridge and McCauley walked on to the bridge to stop the Mounties led by Griesbach.
He warned Griesbach that if the Mounties carried on to cross the river to impose law on Edmonton, people would die and he and Griesbach would be the first to do so.
Griesbach thought better of the Mounties forcing their way in and returned to Fort Saskatchewan for instructions. The government said to stand down and await developments.
Finally in a neat solution to the problem the government opened a second office in Strathcona and left Edmonton with its one.
An interesting sequel, one referred to fairly recently, was when the Edmonton Police Service marked its 125 years in existence, a chief (or spokesman) saying its formation had been due to a need for law and order in Edmonton in 1892.
Well.. yes.. but not the way it implied.
After the institution of mob rule under the instigation of the Edmonton mayor, Mounties said it would no longer be responsible for enforcing law and order in the community. Edmonton council then had to fork up to hire and pay for its own constables. Thus started the Edmonton police force.
This historical tale shows many things --
- the involvement of the federal government in Alberta pre-1905 as administrators of the land office and the Mounties
- the leniency of the government - Griesbach did not para-militarily push into Edmonton against the armed mob but made temporary retreat with bureaucratic revenge to follow
- the power of activated citizenry - the government requires support from the people if it wants to have dignity and power -- the government did back down to the extent of leaving an office in Edmonton. Despite its often high-handed behaviour the government needs popular support just as much as people need what it provides.
One tactic of reform that I have seen mentioned is uncivil obedience. Perhaps this could be stronger than civil disobedience. Express your dissatisfaction with the government while in other ways carrying on with your life.
While the Edmonton mob engaged in uncivil disobedience, and Gandhi engaged in civil disobedience, both stronger measures than many in Edmonton would engage in, perhaps uncivil disobedience would be something to try, something that would eventually shift a government.
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