Frank Oliver (politician)
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Francis "Frank" Oliver (born Francis Robert Oliver Bowsfield; September 1, 1853 – March 31, 1933) was a Canadian federal minister, politician, and journalist/publisher from the
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
and later
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...
. As
Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
, he was responsible for discriminatory Canadian government policies that targeted First Nations' land rights and Black immigration.


Early life

Oliver was born Francis Bowsfield in Peel County, Canada West, just west of
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
. He was the son of Allan Bowsfield and Hannah (Anna) Lundy. Some disagreement in the family made him drop the name Bowsfield and adopt the name of his grandmother, Nancy Oliver Lundy. Oliver studied journalism in Toronto,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
. In 1880, he moved west and founded the '' Edmonton Bulletin'' with his wife, Harriet Dunlop (1863–1943). When the first issue was printed on December 6, 1880, it became the first newspaper in what is now
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...
, and he owned it until 1923. Oliver was a member of the ''Edmonton Settlers' Rights Movement'', which engaged in direct action to preserve rights of old-timers as squatters and homesteaders on land pre-Survey. He also used the ''Edmonton Bulletin'' as a platform to voice his opposition to the establishment and continued existence of
Papaschase The Papaschase ( from Cree ᐹᐦᐹᐢᒉᐢ (''Woodpecker'')) are a group of Cree people descended from Chief Papaschase's Band of the 19th century, who were a party to Treaty 6 with Canada. A modern-day group of Papaschase descendants are working ...
Indian Reserve Number 136. He continued this practice for eight years, until the Papaschase were forced from their reserve by the federal government and the land was divided between railway companies, settlers, and Edmonton.


Political career

Oliver was elected to the North-West Council in 1883. He was the second elected member to the 1st Council of the Northwest Territories, winning the May 29, 1883 election for the newly formed
Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...
district. Oliver lost his seat in the 1885 Northwest Territories election to future Speaker
Herbert Charles Wilson Herbert Charles Wilson (December 7, 1859 – December 17, 1909) was a Canadians, Canadian politician and physician. He served as mayor of the Town of Edmonton and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, Legislative Asse ...
. Oliver contested and won one of the two seats in the Edmonton district in 1888. He retained his seat by acclamation in the 1891 and 1894 elections. During Oliver's time as a territorial representative, he contributed to the creation of the North-West Territories' first public school system. He resigned from the council in 1896 to run for a seat in the
House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Commo ...
for the
Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia' ...
. Running as a Liberal Party candidate, Oliver was a champion of the small farmer and businesspeople of the pioneering in Alberta at the time. He was elected in the 1896 Canadian federal election to represent the entire Alberta (Provisional District). He was re-elected to the Alberta provisional district again in
1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...
. The large Alberta riding was broken up, and Edmonton acquired an MP for itself in 1904. Oliver was elected to the newly-formed Edmonton district in
1904 Canadian federal election The 1904 Canadian federal election was held on November 3, 1904 to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 10th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier led the Liberal Party of Canada to a third term in governme ...
. Following his appointment to the federal cabinet, he retained the seat in a 1905
Ministerial by-election A ministerial by-election is a by-election to fill a vacancy triggered by the appointment of the sitting member of parliament (MP) as a Minister (government), minister in the Cabinet (government), cabinet. The requirement for new ministers to stan ...
. He also was re-elected in the
1908 Canadian federal election The 1908 Canadian federal election was held on Monday October 26, 1908 to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 11th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberal Party of Canada was re-elected for a fourth ...
and the 1911 Canadian federal election. As leading federal politician of western Prairies, Oliver was assigned by
Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier, ( ; ; November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime mini ...
to draw up the electoral boundaries used in the
1905 Alberta general election The 1905 Alberta general election was the first general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada on November 9, 1905, to elect twenty-five members of the Alberta legislature to the 1st Alberta Legislative Assembly, shortly after the provi ...
. The boundaries were said to favour
Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...
, where the
Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party (french: Parti libéral de l'Alberta) is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest active political party in Alberta and was the dominant political party until the 1921 election ...
enjoyed the most support although overall, the Liberal Party got the majority of the votes cast and more votes than any other party in the election. Edmonton's political weight is said to have assured the city's designation as the provincial capital, if its central location and long dominance in north-central Alberta had not been enough.


Federal Minister

From 1905 to 1911, he was appointed and served as the
Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
in the federal cabinet and Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs. As minister responsible for national parks, he drastically reduced the size of Rocky Mountains Park from in 1902, to ; Kootenay Lakes Forest Reserve (later Waterton Lakes National Park) from in 1895 to , and Jasper National Park from in 1907 to , under the ''Dominion Forest Reserves and Parks Act'' of 1911, which replaced the earlier legislation. Much of the land thus freed was declared to be forest reserves to capitalize on its timber and mineral resources. Oliver's successor for Minister of the Interior, William James Roche, later expanded the three Alberta National Parks closer to their earlier sizes, in 1914 Waterton Lakes National Park to , later in 1917 expand Banff National Park to and Jasper National Park to . Oliver, unhappy with centralized approach to the National Parks System, reorganized the system by creating the position of Commissioner of Dominion Parks with its headquarters in
Banff, Alberta Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise. At above Banff is the community with the second highe ...
, and
Howard Douglas General Sir Howard Douglas, 3rd Baronet, (23 January 1776 – 9 November 1861) was a British Army officer born in Gosport, England, the younger son of Admiral Sir Charles Douglas, and a descendant of the Earls of Morton. He was an English ...
, the superintendent of Rocky Mountains Park (Banff National Park) since 1897, was appointed the first Commissioner. By 1911, Oliver's immigration policy imposed tighter controls on immigration. Oliver was staunchly British, and his policies favoured nationality over occupation. He asserted that his immigration policy was more "restrictive, exclusive and selective" than those of his predecessors. Like his predecessor, Clifford Sifton, Oliver encouraged immigration from Europe, and encouraged immigration of experienced farmers from Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe. Oliver wrote Order-in-Council P.C. 1911-1324, which was approved by the Laurier Cabinet on August 12, 1911 under the authority of the Immigration Act, 1906. It was intended to keep out
black Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensla ...
escaping segregation in the
American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
by stating that "the Negro race...is deemed unsuitable to the climate and requirements of Canada." The order was never called upon, as efforts by immigration officials had already reduced the number of blacks immigrating to Canada. Cabinet cancelled the order on 5 October 1911, the day before Laurier's government was replaced by the new Conservative government, The cancellation claimed that the Minister of the Interior was not present at the time of approval. Oliver also used his newspaper to lobby for having the
Papaschase The Papaschase ( from Cree ᐹᐦᐹᐢᒉᐢ (''Woodpecker'')) are a group of Cree people descended from Chief Papaschase's Band of the 19th century, who were a party to Treaty 6 with Canada. A modern-day group of Papaschase descendants are working ...
Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations. In Canada, over 350,000 people are Cree o ...
removed from their
Treaty 6 Treaty 6 is the sixth of the numbered treaties that were signed by the Canadian Crown and various First Nations between 1871 and 1877. It is one of a total of 11 numbered treaties signed between the Canadian Crown and First Nations. Specif ...
Reserve territory, south of Edmonton, in 1880s. Frank Oliver's public positions apparently suited local sentiment as he was elected to the Territorial Assembly and as MP multiple times, often with majority of votes in the district.


His later political career

After the Liberal government was denied power in 1911, Olivere served in the House of Commons until 1917. He ran for re-election in the new riding of West Edmonton in 1917 and received the most votes cast in the riding. His lead though was eliminated when officials of Borden's party distributed its army vote and he did not retain the seat. Oliver ran in 1921 to regain his Edmonton West seat but this time he was defeated by a candidate of the
United Farmers of Alberta The United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) is an association of Alberta farmers that has served different roles in its 100-year history – as a lobby group, a successful political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. As a political party, it forme ...
.


Legacy

The area of downtown Edmonton west of 109th Street was named Oliver Square after the man. On August 2, 2021 the Toronto Daily Tribune story, "Edmonton’s Oliver Square changes name after community consultation." It reported, "A member of Parliament and federal minister first elected to office in 1883, Oliver is known for drafting discriminatory legislation, including policies that pushed Indigenous people off their traditional lands." Mount Oliver in the
Victoria Cross Ranges The Victoria Cross Ranges ( to ) are a set of mountain ranges in the Canadian Rockies, located to the northwest of Jasper. Of the 19 peaks contained within this range, five are named after Canadian recipients of the Victoria Cross. The area of the ...
is named after him. The Oliver Canadian Northern (now CNR) railway station in today's northeast Edmonton, and the surrounding neighborhood of same name, honours this man. The Alberta Hospital (Edmonton) is located in Oliver. The Oliver School District (1899-1957) was named after him. This was done in recognition of Oliver, as NWT Assemblyman, having a great deal to do with the Act that established the school district system in the North-West Territories. The neighborhood of Duggan, south of Southgate mall, is situated in what was the old Oliver school district. Grace Martin was the first teacher in Oliver school, located at 23rd Avenue near Calgary Trail.


Death

Frank Oliver died in 1933 in Ottawa, Ontario. His body was brought to Edmonton, and it was interred in the Edmonton Cemetery.


References


Bibliography

*


Notes


External links

* *
Frank Oliver
''Manitoba Historical Society''
Frank Oliver and the 1905 election Alberta Heritage


{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Frank Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories 1853 births 1933 deaths Liberal Party of Canada MPs Laurier Liberals Members of the House of Commons of Canada from the Northwest Territories Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Racism in Canada