Angus Augustin McKay (born Auguste McKay; 1 November 1836 – 1 September 1910) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who represented the Conservative Party in the riding of Marquette,

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. He was elected on 2 March 1871 in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

. His term ended on 8 July 1872. He was the first aboriginal Canadian elected to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

Biography

He was born in 1836 at the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assiniboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay ...

. A Roman Catholic, McKay appears to have identified with the French-speaking community of his mother rather than with the English-speaking,

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

background of his father, a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

r. His mother's ancestors were

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

and

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

. His brother James was also a fur trader like their father.

Political career

Although

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

, he was opposed to

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis in Canada, Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of ...

's (the spiritual leader of the Métis people) methods for dealing with the Canadian government. He was arrested by Riel in March 1870 because of his political stance. That same year he was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba () is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at List of Manitoba genera ...

in the riding of Lake Manitoba, and was reelected in 1874. McKay resigned in 1876 to make room for his brother James, who was elected to the seat by acclamation. Later in 1876, Angus McKay was appointed Indian agent for the areas covered by Treaty No. 4 including the

Qu'Appelle Valley The Qu'Appelle River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba that flows east from Lake Diefenbaker in south-western Saskatchewan to join the Assiniboine River in Manitoba, just south of Lake of the Prairies, near t ...

. In 1879, he was posted to the areas covered by Treaty No. 5 in northern Manitoba. The Department of Indian Affairs was charged with maintaining a positive public relations between Canada and the natives. However, "his reports were often sharply critical of the government's failure to live up to treaty promises and he passed on the complaints of the Indians." Despite his "stormy relationship" with the Department, he served until 1897.

Personal

Angus McKay married Virginia Rolette around 1870. He died in 1910 at Berens River, Manitoba. He had been in declining health after suffering from

apoplexy Apoplexy () refers to the rupture of an internal organ and the associated symptoms. Informally or metaphorically, the term ''apoplexy'' is associated with being furious, especially as "apoplectic". Historically, it described what is now known as a ...

. He was buried at St. Boniface, Manitoba."ANGUS M'KAY DEAD", ''Winnipeg Free Press'', Thursday, September 08, 1910, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

External links

* *
''Manitoba Historical Society - Angus McKay''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKay, Angus 1836 births Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba MLAs Métis politicians Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian people of French descent Canadian Métis people Canadian Roman Catholics 1910 deaths Indigenous Members of the House of Commons of Canada 19th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 19th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba