Francis Reginald Scott (1899–1985), commonly known as Frank Scott or F. R. Scott, was a lawyer, Canadian poet, intellectual, and constitutional scholar. He helped found the first Canadian

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

party, the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialism, democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social democracy, social-democ ...

, and its successor, the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

. He won Canada's top literary prize, the

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

, twice, once for poetry and once for non-fiction. He was married to artist

Marian Dale Scott Marian Mildred Dale Scott (; 1906–1993) was a Canadian painter. Life She was born Marian Mildred Dale in Montreal on 26 June 1906. She showed talent at an early age: her first works were exhibited in 1918. She attended The Study, a private sch ...

Life and work

Scott was born on August 1, 1899, in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

, the sixth of seven children. His father was Frederick George Scott, "an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest, minor poet and staunch advocate of the civilizing tradition of imperial Britain, who instilled in his son a commitment to serve mankind, a love for the regenerative balance of the Laurentian landscape and a firm respect for the social order."Keith Richardson,
Scott, Francis Reginald (Frank)
" ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988), 1961. He witnessed the riots in the city during the

Conscription Crisis of 1917 The Conscription Crisis of 1917 () was a political and military crisis in Canada during World War I. It was mainly caused by disagreement on whether men should be conscripted to fight in the war, but also brought out many issues regarding relatio ...

. Completing his undergraduate studies at

Bishop's University Bishop's University () is a small English-language Liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Lennoxville, a borough of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The founder of the institution was the Anglican Diocese of Quebec, Anglican Bishop of Quebec ...

, in

Lennoxville Lennoxville () is an ''arrondissement'', or borough, of the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Lennoxville is located at the confluence of the St. Francis and Massawippi Rivers approximately five kilometres south of downtown Sherbrooke. Lenn ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Scott went to

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

and was influenced by the

Christian socialist A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words ''Christ'' and ''Chr ...

ideas of R. H. Tawney and the Student Christian Movement. Scott returned to Canada, settled in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, studied law at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

, and eventually joined the

law faculty A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

as a professor. While at McGill, Scott became a member of the

Montreal Group The Montreal Group, sometimes referred to as the McGill Group or McGill Movement,Dean Irvine,Montreal Group" ''Oxford Companion to Canadian History''. Answers.com, Web, March 25, 2011. was a circle of Canadian modernist writers formed in the mid-192 ...

modernist poets This is a list of major poets of the Modernist poetry. English-language Modernist poets * Marion Angus *W. H. Auden *Djuna Barnes *Rupert Brooke *Basil Bunting *Hart Crane *E. E. Cummings * H.D. *Cecil Day-Lewis *T. S. Eliot * Roy Fisher *Robe ...

, a circle that also included

Leon Edel Joseph Leon Edel (1907 – 1997) was an American/Canadian literary critic and biographer. He was the elder brother of North American philosopher Abraham Edel. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' calls Edel "the foremost 20th-century authority ...

John Glassco John Glassco (December 15, 1909 – January 29, 1981) was a Canadian poet, memoirist and novelist. According to Stephen Scobie, "Glassco will be remembered for his brilliant autobiography, his elegant, classical poems, and for his translations".S ...

, and A. J. M. Smith.Dean Irvine,
Montreal Group
" ''Oxford Companion to Canadian History''. Answers.com, Web, March 25, 2011. Scott and Smith became lifelong friends. Scott contributed to the ''McGill Daily Literary Supplement'', which Smith edited; when that folded in 1925, he and Smith founded and edited the ''McGill Fortnightly Review''. After the ''Review'' folded, Scott helped found and briefly co-edited ''The Canadian Mercury''. Scott, assisted by Smith and

Leo Kennedy John Leo Kennedy (August 22, 1907 – 2000) was a Canadian poet and critic, who in the 1920s and 1930s was a member of the Montreal Group of modernist poets. ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' says of him that "Kennedy helped change the direction o ...

, also anonymously edited the modernist poetry anthology '' New Provinces'' (in which he published ten poems), which was published in 1936. The

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

greatly disturbed Scott; he founded the

League for Social Reconstruction The League for Social Reconstruction (LSR) was a circle of Canadian socialists officially formed in 1932. The group advocated for social and economic reformation as well as political education. The formation of the LSR was provoked by events suc ...

(LSR) with the historian

Frank Underhill Frank Hawkins Underhill, SM, FRSC (November 26, 1889 – September 16, 1971) was a Canadian journalist, essayist, historian, social critic, and political thinker. Biography Frank Underhill, born in Stouffville, Ontario, was educated at ...

to advocate

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

solutions in a Canadian context. Through the LSR, Scott became an influential figure in the Canadian socialist movement. He was a founding member of the

(CCF) and a contributor to that party's

Regina Manifesto The Regina Manifesto was the programme of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and was adopted at the first national convention of the CCF held in Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina, Saskatchewan, in 1933. The goal of the Regina Manifesto wa ...

. He also edited a book advocating ''Social Planning for Canada'' (1935). In 1943, he co-authored ''Make This Your Canada'', which spelled out the CCF national programme, with David Lewis. Scott was elected national chairman of the CCF in 1942, and would serve until 1950. In March 1942 Scott co-founded a literary magazine, ''Preview'', with the Montreal poet Patrick Anderson. Like the earlier Montreal Group publications, "''Preview'' orientation was

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

; its members looked largely towards the English poets of the 1930s for inspiration."George Woodcock,
Northern Review
" ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988), 1515. In 1950–1951, Scott cofounded ''Recherches sociales'', a study group concerned with French–English relations. He began translating French-Canadian poetry. In 1952, he served as a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

technical assistance resident representative in

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

to help build a socialist state in that country. During the 1950s, Scott was an active opponent of the

Maurice Duplessis Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis, (; April 20, 1890 – September 7, 1959) byname "Le Chef" (, "The Boss"), was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 16th premier of Quebec. A Conservatism in Canada, conservative, Quebec nationalism, ...

regime in Quebec and went to court to fight the

Padlock Law The ''Act to Protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda'' (), commonly known as the "Padlock Law" or "Padlock Act" (), was a law in the province of Quebec, Canada that allowed the Attorney General of Quebec to close off access to prope ...

. He also represented Frank Roncarrelli, a

Jehovah's Witness Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co- ...

, in ''

Roncarelli v Duplessis ''Roncarelli v. Duplessis'', 959S.C.R. 121, was a landmark constitutional decision of the Supreme Court of Canada. The court held that in 1946 Maurice Duplessis, both Premier and Attorney General of Quebec, had overstepped his authority by ord ...

'' all the way to the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

, a battle that Duplessis lost. Scott began translating French-Canadian poetry and published

Anne Hébert Anne Hébert (pronounced in French) (August 1, 1916 – January 22, 2000), was a Canadian author and poet. She won Canada's top literary honor, the Governor General's Awards, Governor General's Award, three times, twice for fiction and once fo ...

and Saint-Denys Garneau in 1962. He edited ''Poems of French Canada'' (1977), which won the

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to ...

prize for translation. Funeral monument F

Scott served as dean of law at

from 1961 to 1964 and served on the

Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (, also known as the Bi and Bi Commission and the Laurendeau-Dunton Commission) was a Canadian royal commission established on 19 July 1963, by the government of Prime Minister Lester B. P ...

. In 1970. he was offered a seat in the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada () is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, they compose the Bicameralism, bicameral le ...

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...

. Although he declined the appointment, he supported Trudeau's imposition of the

War Measures Act The ''War Measures Act'' (; 5 George V, Chap. 2) was a statute of the Parliament of Canada that provided for the declaration of war, invasion, or insurrection, and the types of emergency measures that could thereby be taken. The Act was brough ...

during the

October Crisis The October Crisis () was a chain of political events in Canada that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cross f ...

same year. Scott opposed Quebec's

Bill 22 The ''Official Language Act'' of 1974 (), also known as Bill 22, was an act of the National Assembly of Quebec, commissioned by Premier Robert Bourassa, which made French the sole official language of Quebec, Canada. Provincial desire for the ' ...

and

Bill 101 The ''Charter of the French Language'' (, ), also known as Bill 101 (, ), is a law in the Canadian province of Quebec defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the official language of the provincial government. It is th ...

, which established the province within its jurisdiction as an officially-unilingual province within an officially-bilingual country. After his death on January 30, 1985, Scott was interred in

Mount Royal Cemetery Mount Royal Cemetery ( French: Cimetière Mont-Royal) is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It opened in 1852. Temple Emanu-El Cemetery, a Reform Judaism burial ground, ...

, Montreal.

Recognition

Scott won the 1977 Governor General's Award for non-fiction for his ''Essays on the Constitution'' and the 1981 Governor General's Award for poetry for his ''Collected Poems''.F.R. Scott: Biography
," Canadian Poetry Online, University of Toronto. Web, March 21, 2011. The

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

elected Scott a fellow in 1947 and awarded him its

Lorne Pierce Medal The Lorne Pierce Medal is awarded every two years by the Royal Society of Canada to recognize achievement of special significance and conspicuous merit in imaginative or critical literature written in either English or French. The medal was first ...

in 1962. Scott won the

Molson Prize The Thomas Henry Pentland Molson Prize for the Arts is awarded by the Canada Council, Canada Council for the Arts. Two prizes are awarded annually to distinguished individuals. One prize is awarded in the arts, one in the social sciences and human ...

in 1965. In 1966, Scott received an honorary doctorate from

Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène St ...

, which later became

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

added music to Scott's

villanelle A villanelle, also known as villanesque,Kastner 1903 p. 279 is a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain. There are two refrains and two repeating rhymes, with the first and third lines of the first tercet re ...

, "A Villanelle for Our Time," and recorded it on his album ''

Dear Heather ''Dear Heather'' is the 11th studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, released by Columbia Records in 2004. It was dedicated "in memory of Jack McClelland 1922-2004." Background The album features Cohen experimenting with differ ...

''. Scott is the subject of a number of critical works, as well as a major biography, ''The Politics of the Imagination: A Life of F. R. Scott'' by

Sandra Djwa Sandra Djwa (born April 16, 1939) is a Canadian writer, critic and cultural biographer. Originally from Newfoundland, she moved to British Columbia where she obtained her PhD from the University of British Columbia in 1968. In 1999, she was ho ...

Publications

Poetry

* ''Overture''. Toronto: Ryerson Press,

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

. *''Events and Signals''. Toronto: Ryerson Press,

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

. *''The Eye of the Needle: Satire, Sorties, Sundries''. Montreal: Contact Press,

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

. *''Signature''. Vancouver: Klanak Press,

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

. *''Selected Poems''. Toronto: Oxford University Press,

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

. *''Trouvailles: Poems from Prose''. Montreal: Delta Canada,

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

. *''The Dance Is One''. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart,

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

. *''The Collected Poems of F. R. Scott''. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart,

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

Translations

*''St-Denys Garneau & Anne Hebert: Translations/Traductions''. Translated by F. R. Scott. Vancouver: Klanak Press,

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

. *''Poems of French Canada''. Translated by F. R. Scott. Burnaby, BC: Blackfish Press,

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

. ''Except where indicated, bibliographical information on poetry courtesy of Canadian Poetry Online.''F.R. Scott: Publications
," Canadian Poetry Online, UToronto.ca, Web, May 7, 2011.

Non-fiction

*''Social Reconstruction and the B.N.A. Act'' – 1934 *''Labour Conditions in the Men's Clothing Industry'' – 1935 (with H. M. Cassidy) *''Social Planning for Canada'' – 1935. *''Canada Today: A Study of Her National Interests and National Policy'' – 1938 *''Canada's Role in World Affairs'' – 1942 *''Make This Your Canada: A Review of C.C.F. History and Policy'' – 1943 (with David Lewis) *''Cooperation for What? United States and British Commonwealth'' – 1944 *''The World War Against Poverty'' – 1953 (with R. A. MacKay and A. E. Ritchie) *''What Does Labour Need in a Bill of Rights'' – 1959 *''The Canadian Constitution and Human Rights'' – 1959 *''Civil Liberties and Canadian Federalism'' – 1959 *''Dialogue sur la traduction'' – 1970 (with Anne Hebert) *''Essays on the Constitution: Aspects of Canadian Law and Politics'' – 1977 *

Edited

*'' New Provinces: Poems of Several Authors'' (with A. J. M. Smith and

). Toronto: Macmillan, 1936. *''The Blasted Pine: An Anthology of Satire, Invective and Disrespectful Verse'' – 1957 (with A. J. M. Smith)

Discography

* ''Six Montreal Poets''. New York: Folkways Records, 1957. Includes A. J. M. Smith, Leonard Cohen, Irving Layton, F. R. Scott, Louis Dudek, and A. M. Klein. (cassette, 60 mins) *''Canadian Poets on Tape''. Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1969, 1971. (cassette, 30 mins) *''A Poetry Reading''. Toronto: League of Canadian Poets, 1982. (cassette, 60 mins) *''Celebration: Famous Canadian Poets CD'' London, Ontario:

Canadian Poetry Association 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 ...

— 1999 (CD#4) (with

James Reaney James Crerar Reaney, (September 1, 1926 – June 11, 2008) was a Canadian poet, playwright, librettist, and professor, "whose works transform small-town Ontario life into the realm of dream and symbol." Reaney won Canada's highest literary ...

) ''Except where noted, discographical information courtesy Canadian Poetry Online.''

References

External links

University of Calgary biography
– 6 poems (Lakeshore, Laurentian Shield, The Canadian Authors Meet, A Grain of Rice, W.L.M.K., Resurrection) * http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/scott_fr/pub.htm *Archives of F.R. Scot
(Francis Reginald Scott fonds, R5822)
are held at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Frank 1899 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Canadian male writers 20th-century Canadian poets Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Anglican poets Anglican socialists Anglophone Quebec people Bishop's University alumni Burials at Mount Royal Cemetery Canadian Anglicans Canadian Christian socialists Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian male poets Canadian modernist poets Bishop's College School alumni Canadian King's Counsel Canadian Rhodes Scholars Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Companions of the Order of Canada Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Corresponding fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Governor General's Award–winning non-fiction writers Governor General's Award–winning poets Lawyers in Quebec McGill University Faculty of Law alumni Academic staff of the McGill University Faculty of Law Canadian scholars of constitutional law Writers from Quebec City Canadian satirists Canadian satirical poets Poets from Quebec