John Christian Schultz
Encyclopedia
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(January 1, 1840 – April 13, 1896) was a Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
politician. He was a member of the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
from 1871 to 1882, a Senator
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
from 1882 to 1888, and the fifth Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
The Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba is the viceregal representative in Manitoba of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions of Canada and resides predominantly in her oldest realm, the United...
from 1888 to 1895.
Schultz was born in Amherstburg
Amherstburg, Ontario
Amherstburg is a Canadian town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County, Ontario. It is approximately south of the U.S...
, Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
(now Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
). Despite being raised in a low-income household, he saved enough money to study medicine at Queen's College in Kingston
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
(1858 – 1860) and Victoria College
Victoria University in the University of Toronto
Victoria University is a constituent college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1836 and named for Queen Victoria. It is commonly called Victoria College, informally Vic, after the original academic component that now forms its undergraduate division...
in Cobourg
Cobourg, Ontario
Cobourg is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario 95 km east of Toronto. It is the largest town in Northumberland County. Its nearest neighbour is Port Hope, to the west. It is located along Highway 401 and the former Highway 2...
(1860 – 1861). He did not graduate from either institution, but nonetheless advertised himself as a "Physician and Surgeon" after moving to the Red River
Red River of the North
The Red River is a North American river. Originating at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers in the United States, it flows northward through the Red River Valley and forms the border between the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota before continuing into Manitoba, Canada...
settlement later in 1861. He also worked as a businessman and speculator in this area, and eventually owned a number of stores in the Red River colony's business sector. Arrested for improper business practices in 1868, he was soon freed by his supporters. He continued to live and work in the area, in open defiance of the Council of Assiniboia
Council of Assiniboia
The Council of Assiniboia was, from 1821 until 1870, the appointed administrative body of Rupert's Land.-History:This Council was created by the Hudson's Bay Company to govern the territory following its merger with the North West Company, and the death of Lord Selkirk...
.
Schultz became part-owner of the Nor'Wester
Nor'wester
Nor'wester has been used to describe sumeet several different types of wind.*A New Zealand wind pattern resulting in the Nor'west arch and leading to hot, dry weather on the east coast of the South Island....
newspaper in 1864, and its full owner the following year. He was a bitter opponent of the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
— and, as the only newspaper editor in the colony, provided his readers with a very negative picture of the institution. Schultz also helped to establish a museum and masonic
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
organization in the region. He sold the Nor'Wester in 1868, but remained involved in the region's burgeoning newspaper culture.
Schultz was initially on good terms with Red River's francophone community, but his unscrupulous business practices soon made him unpopular with most established settlers, anglophone and francophone alike. By 1869, he had emerged as the leader of a small, ultra-Protestant organization known as the Canadian Party
Canadian Party
For the mid-19th century French Canadian party see Parti canadienFor the World War II era party see Parti canadien The Canadian Party was a group founded by John Christian Schultz in 1869, in the Red River Settlement...
. This group promoted the annexation of Red River by the Canadian government, and encouraged new anglophone/Protestant immigration from Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. Schultz and his followers were actively engaged in land speculation, and were viewed with extreme suspicion by most of Red River's Métis
Métis people (Canada)
The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations parentage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with...
community.
During the Red River Rebellion
Red River Rebellion
The Red River Rebellion or Red River Resistance was the sequence of events related to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by the Métis leader Louis Riel and his followers at the Red River Settlement, in what is now the Canadian province of Manitoba.The Rebellion was the first crisis...
of 1869 – 1870, Schultz emerged as one of the leading opponents of Louis Riel
Louis Riel
Louis David Riel was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political and spiritual leader of the Métis people of the Canadian prairies. He led two resistance movements against the Canadian government and its first post-Confederation Prime Minister, Sir John A....
's provisional government (which was supported by most of the area's population). Schultz's followers engaged in a number of military skirmishes with the Riel government. Schultz and a number of his followers were taken prisoner by Riel. Schultz managed to escape, and tried to organize a group to liberate the remaining prisoners, but was forced to leave the region in February 1870. He arrived in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
in April.
Schultz made several speeches against the Riel government during his time in Toronto, and played a significant role in swaying Protestant opinion against the Métis leader. He frequently referred to Thomas Scott
Thomas Scott (Orangeman)
Thomas Scott was an Irish-born Canadian executed by firing squad on March 4, 1870, for plotting against the Provisional Government of the Red River Settlement and its Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia...
(an Ontario Orangeman executed by the Riel government for treason) as a Protestant hero, and called upon Ontario's Orangemen to avenge his death (both Schultz and Macdonald were also Orangemen, as were most of the Ontairio militiamen).
Schultz returned to Red River (now renamed Manitoba) in September, after the Canadian government had taken the area with militia units from Ontario. These Ontario soldiers frequently engaged in violence against the Métis population; there can be little doubt that Schultz approved of and encouraged their actions.
The newly-established government of Manitoba sought conciliation among the province's ethnic, religious and linguistic factions, and generally regarded Schultz as a disruptive force. Lieutenant Governor
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
The Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba is the viceregal representative in Manitoba of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions of Canada and resides predominantly in her oldest realm, the United...
Adams George Archibald
Adams George Archibald
Sir Adams George Archibald, KCMG, PC was a Canadian lawyer and politician, and a father of Confederation. He was based in Nova Scotia for most of his career, though he also served as 1st Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba from 1870 to 1872.Archibald was born in Truro to a prominent family in Nova...
hated Schultz, and refused to consider him when constructing his first administration. In Manitoba's first provincial election (December 30, 1870), Schultz's Canadian Party was the only real opposition to the governing alliance. His followers won four seats (one of which was overturned on appeal), and were responsible for the death of at least one aboriginal government supporter. Schultz himself was defeated by Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
spokesman Donald C. Smith in the riding of Winnipeg and St. John, 70 votes to 63. There was a riot among the Ontario militiamen when the result was announced.
The Canadian Party continued as a parliamentary force after this defeat. At one stage, Archibald warned Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
John A. Macdonald
John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...
that they were promoting the "extermination" of the Métis.
Manitoba elected its first representatives to the federal House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
in March 1871, and Schultz declared himself a candidate in the riding of Lisgar
Lisgar (electoral district)
Lisgarwas a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1871 to 1988. This riding was created following the admission of Manitoba into the Canadian Confederation in 1870....
. In a campaign marked by violence and intimidation, he defeated local government supporter Colin Inkster by 315 votes to 65.
Schultz's political affiliations were ambiguous in this period. John A. Macdonald attempted to bring him into the Conservative
Conservative Party of Canada (historical)
The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...
ranks in 1871, almost certainly with the intent of neutralizing him. These efforts were unsuccessful, and by 1872 Schultz was apparently calling himself an Independent Liberal. He started another local paper, the Manitoba Liberal, before the year was over.
In the federal election of 1872, Schultz defeated his former ally Edward Hay
Edward Hay
Edward Hay may refer to:*Edward Norman Hay , composer and musicologist*Edward Hay , British ambassodor to Portugal in the late 1750s*Edward Hay Drummond Hay , British naval officer, diplomat and colonial administrator...
, 273 votes to 128. He defeated Hay a second time in 1874, 285 votes to 216. He was also appointed to the Council of the Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
in 1872, and served on that board until its restructuring in 1876.
Notwithstanding Schultz's past agitations against the Métis, he was actually a defender of aboriginal rights for most of his time in parliament. He sought better compensation for the aboriginal population covered under Treaty 3, and tried to protect the buffalo from being hunted to extinction. He also sought to provide the west's Métis population with sufficient provisions for farming.
These positions may appear strikingly out of character of Schultz's previous actions, but they can probably be explained by the reduced influence of Louis Riel in the Canadian west after 1875. Most English-speaking aboriginals in the region were opposed to Riel, as were a number of francophone Métis; these groups generally did not consider Schultz as an enemy, nor was he unfavourably disposed toward them. Schultz continued to be a leading opponent of Riel in the 1870s, supporting his expulsion from parliament in 1874 and his five-year banishment from Canada in 1875. (It may also be noted that Schultz stood to benefit financially from some of the policies which he advocated for western Canada's native population.)
Schultz was re-elected by acclamation in the federal election of 1878, as John A. Macdonald's Conservatives won a national victory. Schultz would thereafter identify himself as a Liberal-Conservative and a supporter of Macdonald. Manitoba's population was by this time becoming dominated by Ontario immigrants (Riel's followers having largely abandoned the area), and Schultz was no longer considered a dangerous outsider by the local power structure.
In 1882, Schultz was defeated by Arthur Wellington Ross
Arthur Wellington Ross
Arthur Wellington Ross was a Canadian politician, educator and lawyer.Born in Nairn, Upper Canada, the son of Donald Ross, he studied at the Toronto Normal School and taught school in Cornwall, becoming headmaster for the local high school and then inspector of schools for Glengarry County...
(also a Conservative), 760 votes to 720. Schultz was in poor health by this time, and many believed that he had little time left to live. Perhaps out of sympathy, John A. Macdonald appointed him to the Senate
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
on September 23, 1882.
Schultz's health subsequently recovered, and he was able to function as an active member of the Senate. He supported prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
, and continued to defend aboriginal rights against outside incursions.
On July 1, 1888, he resigned his Senate seat to become the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba. He was instructed to keep the Macdonald government updated on developments in the province, and to attempt to influence the government of Thomas Greenway
Thomas Greenway
For the American character actor , see Tom Greenway.Thomas Greenway was a politician, merchant and farmer. He served as the seventh Premier of Manitoba, Canada, from 1888 to 1900...
on matters involving Macdonald's National Policy
National Policy
The National Policy was a Canadian economic program introduced by John A. Macdonald's Conservative Party in 1876 and put into action in 1879. It called for high tariffs on imported manufactured items to protect the manufacturing industry...
. He played little part in the Greenway government's anti-bilingualism legislation (which resulted in the Manitoba Schools Crisis), though he dutifully signed it into law on March 1, 1890, following Macdonald's orders. Schultz subsequently sought concessions for francophone schools.
Late life and legacy
Schultz stepped down as Lt. Governor in 1895. He traveled to MexicoMexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
in an attempt to improve his faltering health, but died there in 1896. Schultz remains were transported to Winnipeg by a special baggage car, draped in a black cloth on the Great Northern Railway. His remains were accompanied by his best friend Alfred Codd
Alfred Codd
Alfred Codd was a Canadian pioneer medical doctor and politician. He served on the Council of Keewatin from 1876 to 1877 and was a well-respected physician in Manitoba.-Early life:...
and his wife.
Schultz's progress from political outsider to Lt. Governor reflects the changes which occurred in Manitoba from 1870 to 1888. Although his early demagoguery was moderated over time, it is unlikely that he could have assumed high office had it not been for the high movement of anglophone settlers from Ontario to Manitoba in the intervening years. In 1870, he was regarded as a nuisance; when he died, he was a respected citizen.
Outside of politics, Schultz, Henry Septimus Beddome
Henry Septimus Beddome
Henry Septimus Beddome was a physician and a Hudson's Bay Company employee.Henry was born in London, England and studied medicine at Guy’s Hospital in London. He became “Surgeon and Clerk” at York Factory for five years starting in 1852. After this term, he traveled to the Red River Settlement...
, Curtis James Bird
Curtis James Bird
Curtis James Bird was a Canadian doctor, politician, and Speaker of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly from 1873 to 1874....
and others were the founders of the Medical Health Board of Manitoba which was incorporated in 1871 and became the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba is a medical oversight body in Manitoba, Canada. Its stated purpose is to "protect the public as consumers of medical care and promote the safe and ethical delivery of quality medical care by physicians in Manitoba"....
in 1877. Schultz was actively interested in railway and telegraph development and in colonization.