The Lansdowne Letters: A Surprise for Daddy

My A Surprise for Daddy tale will unfold in several posts
as the events happened in real time.
That means that my account will be interspersed
among a few other normal events posts
as I follow the chronology of my family's time 
in Lansdowne House in 1961.  

What happened forever changed my outlook
on life, my parents, and government,

and launched me from credulous childhood into adult reality.

Seriously!

Roy and I as Babies, Christmas 1951

Photographer Unknown

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

  

On Thursday, March 16, 1961
my father wrote to our extended family:

Hello There:
How’s everyone this week?  
Sorry that I didn’t get around to writing my weekly blurb last week.
I was out to Nakina on business connected with the department
and certain releases that have recently been appearing in the nation’s press.

The Nakina Hotel

(where my father always stayed)

Nakina, Northern Ontario, Fall 1960

Photo by Donald MacBeath

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

  
And thereby hangs a tale for all to read, ponder, laugh about, 
and finally conduct one’s self accordingly.  
It really is a case of the tale (tail) wagging the dog,
only in this case the dog was The Department of Citizenship and Immigration, 
which is quite a sizable dog and very adverse to being wagged.

It all happened so innocently as to be laughable,
if it weren’t for its serious implications.
I just hope that it will all turn out to be laughable in retrospect.

In one of my earlier editions of the Letter, or perhaps in several of them,
I commented on the conditions of the Indians at Lansdowne House.

A Lansdowne Letter

Tales of the North

Photo by M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

  
This was strictly for family consumption, 
but thanks to my precocious energetic eldest daughter and her boundless initiative,
the contents got outside the family and hit the Canadian Press.

Poor Louise; 
she read about what I had written
about the need for clothes
and about the poor food
that the Indians have to eat sometimes,
so she decided to surprise Daddy.

School Photo, Fall 1960
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved


  




She was the president of her classroom Junior Red Cross group, 
so she gave a talk in class about the Indians of Lansdowne House.
This resulted in the group organizing a drive in Smith’s Cove
for clothes and other forms of relief for the Indians.

I don’t know what happened then, so I can only surmise,
but I imagine that one of two things happened.
  
Either a reporter for the Digby Courier got wind of the whole thing,
interviewed Louise’s teacher, and exaggerated his findings,
put it in the paper from where it was picked up by the Canadian press,
or Louise’s teacher reported the whole thing to Red Cross headquarters in Halifax, 
and they released it to the papers.  

Several articles, partially true, partially false, and wholly exaggerated, 
appeared in The Toronto Globe and Mail, in the Port Arthur Chronicle, and several Ottawa papers.

Naturally press releases of this nature can be very embarrassing to the government,
and they were quite disturbed about it.
They were frightened that the CCF would pick it up
and question the Minister on the floor of the house.
So far, thank God, nothing like this has happened.

Center Block, Parliament Hill

Ottawa, Canada

Wikimedia

The day before the first article appeared, someone in the department got wind of it,
but only knew that it was written by a teacher from Lansdowne House.

Mr. Gowan, the Indian Agent in Nakina, chartered a plane and flew in to investigate
and to find out who had written the offending letter.
Naturally Uno denied all knowledge of the matter;
and so, embarrassingly for me, did I.  
Who’d ever think of a letter written to one’s wife and family
as being connected with an article in the Globe and Mail?

Two Teachers in Lansdowne House

Under Investigation

Uno and Dad with Baby Duncan

(the only photo I have of the two of them)

Photographer Unknown

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

  

Poor Gowan!!!
After a very tiresome and expensive trip,
he returned to Nakina no wiser than when he came in.
The first thing he did when he got home was read his paper,
and there was the objectionable article, big as life,
and my name mentioned in it several times.  

What could he think, except that I had told him an outright falsehood?  
He immediately dispatched a real snarly letter to me,
in which he accused me of being a liar and worse.

My initial reaction to this letter proved that I was a blood relation to my Uncle Chester.  
I immediately composed an equally snarly and far more sarcastic letter of reply to Gowan.  
However, upon reflection, I decided not to mail it, 
thus proving that I may have inherited some of my uncle’s good sense 
as well as his fiery temperament.

I talked the whole thing over
with Bill Mitchell at the Bay, 
and he advised me to go out to Nakina
and talk to Gowan personally.  
This is why I was out at Nakina last week
and was unable to write to you all.

Bill Mitchell, 
Hudson's Bay Manager
Lansdowne House, Fall 1960
Photo by Donald MacBeath
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved


  

Austin Airways flew me out for nothing and in for half price, 
so it only cost me $15.00 for traveling instead of $60.00.  
Sara taught school for me on Friday, so I won’t loose any pay.  
The only other expenses were for hotel and meals while I was out.

I succeeded in convincing Gowan that I didn’t intentionally deceive him, 
and we are good friends again.  
His last word on the subject was to assure my daughter 
that she surprised a lot more than Daddy 
(or rather to ask me to assure her).

I most likely haven’t heard the last of this yet.  
I fully expect to receive letters from Foss and from several department officials
blasting me for my indiscretions.  

In fact, I am looking forward to a very interesting mail this weekend
and fully expect to spend most of next week 
writing letters of explanation to various irate officials.

Now, for goodness sakes, don’t show any of my letters 
to anyone outside the family 
and caution everyone to keep quiet 
about whatever I have written to you 
about the Indians of Lansdowne House.  
I don’t think that either Gowan or I could stand
any more press releases of this nature.

Writing Letters Not for Public Consumption

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Fall 1960

Photo by Uno Manilla

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

  

Well, so much for my troubles, 
and now for a little news about the family.

Sara has put on about ten pounds since she arrived, most of it on the face and tail.  
Seriously though, she looks wonderful since she arrived.
  
The North must agree with her, 
for in spite of the fact that she is working harder here 
than in the Cove and is quite tired when night comes, as we all are.
She is gaining weight and is more relaxed.  
I guess the cod liver oil is helping her.  

If she continues to put weight on the latter of the aforementioned areas, 
we’ll have to get a girdle for her.  
I never thought I’d live to see that day.  
It is really wonderful though to see her looking so healthy and happy again.

A Rare Photo with Mom

Mom, Bertie, and Me (back)

Roy, Gretchen, Donnie and Barbie (front)

Sioux Lookout, Ontario, Christmas 1961

Photo by Donald MacBeath

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

  

The children are all enjoying Lansdowne House immensely.  
They are outside all the time instead of watching TV, 
and their cheeks look so rosy that you’d suspect that they were wearing rouge.  

You should see Barbara; she is just plastered with freckles.  
She looks so cute with them.  
Louise and Roy are a great help to me carrying up water.

Poor Louise is rather down in the lip right now, 
because she won’t be able to have a large birthday party for her birthday this Saturday, 
but I guess she will get over it.  
We are just going to have a family celebration for her.  

Of course, being Louise, she had great plans 
for inviting all the Indians at school to a party, 
but I had to squelch that, for it could lead to complications.  

Up here, whenever you invite one member of an Indian family, 
you automatically invite the whole cotton picking family, 
from the grandparents to the newest baby.

I have to sign off and write a couple of official letters.  
Bye for now,
Love, Don.

An Even Rarer Photo with Dad (back)

Me, Bertie, Roy, Donnie and Barbie (front)

Sioux Lookout, Ontario, Christmas 1961

Photo by Sara MacBeath

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

  

As my father anticipated he hadn't heard the last of it yet.
But that's for future posts.

My father came home late from school visibly concerned 
after Mr. Gowan's hurried trip in and out.

In a small house it's hard to hide emotions and have a private conversation,
so like many parents of that time,
Dad hustled we five children outdoors "to play."

While we were outside my father told my mother
about the Indian Agent's surprise visit
to track down the teacher who had reported
the dire living conditions of the Indians to the press.

My father told my mother that Gowan had first raked Uno over the coals,
but Uno had vehemently denied any knowledge of the matter.
Then Gowan had questioned him, but he was equally vehement in his denial.
A frustrated and confused Gowan had flown back to Nakina without an explanation.

Imagine Daddy's surprise when my mother raised
the possibility of my Red Cross project gone awry!

I remember my father coming to the backdoor
of our house and calling, "Louise, come here!"
His tone was not encouraging, and I went inside mystified
and worried that I was in trouble for what I had no clue.

My panicked parents, who had just realized that Dad could very well lose his job,
came down on me like a ton of bricks.
"What did you say?  What did you do?  Who did you tell?"

"I just raised clothes for the starving Indians,"
I cried, dissolving into frightened tears.

To be continued ... 

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue.

Westport, Brier Island,

Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Notes:  

1.  The Department:

      My father visited the the Indian Agent, Mr. W. G. Gowan, in the Nakina Agency Office in Nakina, Ontario.

      The Indian affairs Branch of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration directed the agency office.

      (archives.algomau.ca) 

2.  Indian Agent:
     As the chief administrator for the Indian Affair Branch in Nakina, the Indian Agent managed

     most aspects of the lives of First Nations people in his jurisdiction which included the aboriginal people in

     Lansdowne House (mostly from the Fort Hope Band with a few from the Ogoki and Martin Falls bands).

     (My father's unpublished handbook:  The Northern School Teacher:  A Hand Book To Be Issued To All New

     Entrants To The Teaching Profession In The Indian Schools In The Sioux Lookout Indian Agency, 1966.)

     Mr. Gowan's power to regulate all the administrative, political, and economic business of the bands in
     Lansdowne House came from the amended Indian Act of 1876.
     (www.sgdsb.on.ca p. 12)

3.  "Strictly for family consumption":

     My father entrusted his letters and northern papers to me with the understanding that I intended to write a

     memoir of his and our family's time in Lansdowne House, including the Red Cross Project fallout.  While I

     regret that he and my mother will not read my final draft, they both read an early draft called Human Refuse

     which I wrote for an advanced composition course at Cal State Fullerton in 1978.

4.  CCF:
     I think my father was referring to the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, a social democratic party
     founded in Canada in 1932.  In August 1961 the CCF joined forces with the Canadian Labour Congress
     to form the New Democratic Party (NDP).  Its purpose was to make social democracy more popular among
     Canadian voters.
     Wikipedia

5.  The Minister:
     My father was referring to The Right Honourable Ellen Fairclough, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.
     in 1961.  Fairclough served as a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1950 to 1963, and she was
     the first woman to serve in the Canadian Cabinet.  She was also the only woman ever to serve as Acting Prime
     Minister of Canada (from February 19 to February 20, 1958).
     Wikipedia

6.  The Digby Courier:  
     I have had a difficult time trying to locate the original newspaper articles, although
     I do have a copy of the account that appeared in the Thursday, March 16, 1961 edition of The Digby Courier.
     My father wrote the letter in this post on the same day, but he did not know about the Courier article at that time.

7.  Mr. Gowan and Uno:

     Mr. Gowan questioned Uno first because he never thought that my father, a former officer of the Royal
     Canadian Air Force, would be guilty of such an indiscretion.
     (My father's unpublished handbook:  The Northern School Teacher.)

8.   Mr. F. Foss:  

      Mr. Foss was the Indian Schools Inspector who worked for the Education Division of the Indian Affairs Branch.

      Mr. Foss would visit each of his various schools, including in Lansdowne House, two or three times a year.
      (archives.algomau.ca p. 6)

9.  Accuracy:
     I am not a trained historical researcher, but I am doing my best to track down accurate and corroborating sources.
     If there are any mistakes in facts I've presented in this post, they are mine alone.

For Map Lovers Like Me:

Map of Canada

Highlighting Ontario

Wikimedia

Location of Lansdowne House and Nakina

Wikimedia   edited