Did you know Scots have been involved in Canada before most of the world even knew it existed?
Nearly a thousand years ago (1010 AD) Thorfinn Karlsevni was exploring the east coast of Canada with two Scots amongst his crew. Unfortunately their names were not recorded for historians to discover only the fact they came from Scotland. Some five hundred years later Jean Rotz (the son of Scotsman David Ross) was involved in mapping the giant St Lawrence River.
New Scotia is simply a Gaelic form of New Scotland named after the huge number of Scottish Highlanders who settled there and still boasts the largest Gaelic college outside of Scotland and the only one in Canada.
One of Canada’s most famous regiments was “The Kings First American Regiment” founded in 1776 fought in their traditional kilts to the sound of Scottish Bagpipes. It was this regiment that beat George Washington at the battle of Brandywine with most of the regiment setting in New Brunswick. (In 1843 there were over 30,000 recorded Scots living in New Brunswick.)
Although most people now think of Quebec as being French Canadian at one time there were so many Scots involved in the ruling government party was known as “The Scotch Party”. But there had also been a long and a strong connection between France and Scotland going back hundreds of years when the two countries (known as the “Auld Alliance”) were forging treaties to fight a common enemy called England.
However we must also note that General James Murray the first British Governor of Quebec was a Scot and received the keys the city gates from the surrendering Commander Major de Ramezay (also of Scots Descent). The main regiment fighting to capture the city were the Scottish Frazer Highlanders so it was not always smooth sailing between the two nations.
Hudson Bay Company Canada
The Hudson Bay Company grew into the largest corporate landowner in the history of the world controlling over 3 million square miles of what is now called Canada and the bordering areas of the USA. Hudson Bay Company originally started as a fur trading company with 110 forts acting as trading posts being set up right across the country buying fur in exchange for other supplies needed in the regions – it later expanded into other retail sectors (including department stores etc) when the fur trade started to go into decline.
Scottish Highlanders however should be credited with the rapid development of the company. In 1799 it was recorded that four of five Hudson Bay Company employees being Scots bringing with them their culture of being prepared for hardship and hard work. In addition due to their total lack of class consciousness they were able to mix freely with the Native Americans/First Nations and built close relationships for trade.
There is a story told that when the Canadian Governor-General (also a Scot) was visiting a outpost in the wilderness he asked to be introduced to a group of rather menacing looking natives. The local postmaster (who also happened to another Scot) simply called out to the group “Will ye come here for a minute, MacDonald?”
Canada becomes a nation.
Later as the Canadian colony moved towards becoming a nation in its own right the first two people to be elected as Prime Ministers were both born in Scotland.
The story of the links between Scots and the development of Canada is of course ongoing but for starters consider the following points.
- The Canadian Pacific Railway was designed, financed and built mainly by Scots.
- Five of the first six colleges in Canada were founded by Scots
- Including McGill University by James McGill a merchant and politician who had emigrated to Canada from Glasgow in Scotland.
- Queens the Presbyterian University in Kingston founded largely through the dreams and work of Scots Scholar George Munroe Grant.
However this is hardly surprising according to Professor T W Acheson in the years between 1880 and 1885 20% of the industrial elite in Canada were born in Scotland with a further 28% having Scottish fathers. So almost half (48%) of the top industrialist in Canada at that time were Scots.
This article is part of a series being written to show how Scots people have changed the world for the better. You will be able to find more of the series on ScottishJerk.com and Laird-of-Jura.com.
Scots from Canada Rock