Frank Oliver and the Michel Band
Exerpt from the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal peoples (RCAP)
VOLUME 2: Restructuring the Relationship
PART TWO, Chapter 4 - Lands and Resources
The prairie west
A prominent journalist and pioneer settler in Edmonton, Alberta, Frank Oliver (1853-1933) was one of the most powerful politicians in the history of western Canada. As minister of the interior and superintendent general of Indian affairs from 1905 to 1911 in Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s government, Oliver did his utmost to obtain surrenders of the various Indian reserves in and around his home city.
One of these reserves, located in what is now northwestern Edmonton, belonged to the Michel Band (of Iroquois, Cree and Métis ancestry) under Treaty 6. In 1906, after considerable pressure from Frank Oliver and officials of the Indian department (and the promise of horses and farm implements), the band agreed to part with some of its reserve lands. At the auction sale in December of that year (supervised personally by Oliver), 8,200 acres of Michel land sold in four hours at a price of $9.00 an acre. Three-quarters of the land went to two speculators, Frederick Grant and Christopher Fahrni, who were both political allies of Oliver and the Laurier government.
By 1910, neither speculator had yet paid a cent of the purchase price. Under the Indian Act, the sales ought to have been cancelled immediately for non-payment. In the case of the Grant lands, the sales were not cancelled until 1927, after continuing futile attempts to secure payment. Indian affairs had cancelled the Fahrni sale in 1910 — only to withdraw the cancellation a few days later without explanation. Shortly thereafter, the Fahrni lands were sold to Edmonton bank manager J.J. Anderson at a quarter of their original purchase price. In 1914, Anderson transferred title to these lands to his father-in-law — none other than Frank Oliver.
Source: See Bennett McCardle, The Michel Band: A Short History (Indian Association of Alberta, 1981). See also Tyler and Wright Research Consultants Limited, “The Alienation of Indian Reserve Lands During the Administration of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 1896-1911: Michel Reserve #132”, report prepared for the Federation of Saskatchewan Indians (1978).
VOLUME 2: Restructuring the Relationship
PART TWO, Chapter 4 - Lands and Resources
The prairie west
A prominent journalist and pioneer settler in Edmonton, Alberta, Frank Oliver (1853-1933) was one of the most powerful politicians in the history of western Canada. As minister of the interior and superintendent general of Indian affairs from 1905 to 1911 in Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s government, Oliver did his utmost to obtain surrenders of the various Indian reserves in and around his home city.
One of these reserves, located in what is now northwestern Edmonton, belonged to the Michel Band (of Iroquois, Cree and Métis ancestry) under Treaty 6. In 1906, after considerable pressure from Frank Oliver and officials of the Indian department (and the promise of horses and farm implements), the band agreed to part with some of its reserve lands. At the auction sale in December of that year (supervised personally by Oliver), 8,200 acres of Michel land sold in four hours at a price of $9.00 an acre. Three-quarters of the land went to two speculators, Frederick Grant and Christopher Fahrni, who were both political allies of Oliver and the Laurier government.
By 1910, neither speculator had yet paid a cent of the purchase price. Under the Indian Act, the sales ought to have been cancelled immediately for non-payment. In the case of the Grant lands, the sales were not cancelled until 1927, after continuing futile attempts to secure payment. Indian affairs had cancelled the Fahrni sale in 1910 — only to withdraw the cancellation a few days later without explanation. Shortly thereafter, the Fahrni lands were sold to Edmonton bank manager J.J. Anderson at a quarter of their original purchase price. In 1914, Anderson transferred title to these lands to his father-in-law — none other than Frank Oliver.
Source: See Bennett McCardle, The Michel Band: A Short History (Indian Association of Alberta, 1981). See also Tyler and Wright Research Consultants Limited, “The Alienation of Indian Reserve Lands During the Administration of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 1896-1911: Michel Reserve #132”, report prepared for the Federation of Saskatchewan Indians (1978).
See Full RCAP Report: http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ap/rrc-eng.asp
Frank Oliver
Francis "Frank" Oliver (September 1, 1853 – March 31, 1933)
Born in Peel County, Canada West, Oliver learned Journalism in Toronto, Ontario. In 1880 he moved west and founded the Edmonton Bulletin. Oliver served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories for Edmonton from 1883 to 1896. Oliver resigned from the legislature in 1896 to run for a seat in the House of Commons for the Liberal Party of Canada. He was elected representing the Alberta (Provisional District), and later Edmonton and Edmonton West. He served until 1921. From 1905 until 1911 he was appointed and served as the Minister of the Interior and Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs.
Frank Oliver, Minister of the Interior from 1905-1911, changed the focus of Canadian immigration policy. Whereas the main initiative of his predecessor, Clifford Sifton, was to attract immigrants on the basis of occupation, Oliver implemented a plan that sought immigrants on the basis of ethnicity or "race." Oliver's department wanted to encourage British immigrants above all other prospective immigrants in order to maintain the racial integrity of the country.
Frank Oliver published his outspoken views on race and Immigration in the Edmonton Bulletin including his opinion that agricultural lands around Edmonton were "for better men (than Indians)"...There is a neighbourhood in Edmonton named after Frank Oliver. There is also a memorial celebrating the achievements of Frank Oliver in the Frank Oliver Memorial Park in front of the Macdonald Hotel in downtown Edmonton where ironically, Victoria (Belcourt) Callihoo's family used to pitch their teepee prior to the Hotel's establishment in 1915. Victoria was married to Louis Jerome Callihoo, who was 2nd Chief of the Michel First Nation (Chief Michel's nephew).
Born in Peel County, Canada West, Oliver learned Journalism in Toronto, Ontario. In 1880 he moved west and founded the Edmonton Bulletin. Oliver served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories for Edmonton from 1883 to 1896. Oliver resigned from the legislature in 1896 to run for a seat in the House of Commons for the Liberal Party of Canada. He was elected representing the Alberta (Provisional District), and later Edmonton and Edmonton West. He served until 1921. From 1905 until 1911 he was appointed and served as the Minister of the Interior and Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs.
Frank Oliver, Minister of the Interior from 1905-1911, changed the focus of Canadian immigration policy. Whereas the main initiative of his predecessor, Clifford Sifton, was to attract immigrants on the basis of occupation, Oliver implemented a plan that sought immigrants on the basis of ethnicity or "race." Oliver's department wanted to encourage British immigrants above all other prospective immigrants in order to maintain the racial integrity of the country.
Frank Oliver published his outspoken views on race and Immigration in the Edmonton Bulletin including his opinion that agricultural lands around Edmonton were "for better men (than Indians)"...There is a neighbourhood in Edmonton named after Frank Oliver. There is also a memorial celebrating the achievements of Frank Oliver in the Frank Oliver Memorial Park in front of the Macdonald Hotel in downtown Edmonton where ironically, Victoria (Belcourt) Callihoo's family used to pitch their teepee prior to the Hotel's establishment in 1915. Victoria was married to Louis Jerome Callihoo, who was 2nd Chief of the Michel First Nation (Chief Michel's nephew).