Image of the Indian

WLU Research Publication Committee

Prof. Ralph Blackmore

Dr. Helen Cheyne

Mr. Paul Fischer

Dr. Welf Heick

Dr. Ray Heller

Dr. Mary Kay Lane

Mr. Barry Lyon

Dr. Ed Riegert

Mr. Erich Schultz

Dr. Terence Scully

Dr. Norman Wagner, Chairman

All correspondence other than orders should be addressed to:

The Director,

Graduate Studies and University Research,

Waterloo Lutheran University,

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Copies of all monographs are available from:

The Bookstore,

Waterloo Lutheran University,

75 University Avenue West,

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

THE IMAGE OF THE INDIAN

THE CANADIAN INDIAN

as a

subject and a concept in a sampling

of the popular national magazines

read in Canada

1900 -1970

by

Ronald Graham Haycock

The WLU Monograph Series

The need for yet another publication series is surely open to question. Countless journals and monographs are in serious financial difficulty, a predicament also faced by more than one Canadian publisher.

Waterloo Lutheran University feels that a series is needed, the primary role of which will be to publish studies of high calibre which would normally be too lengthy for consideration as a journal article, but which ought to be made available with a minimum of delay. It is hoped that such studies will also be relatively inexpensive.

While every effort is being made to produce a coherent series, no single area or discipline will monopolize. Institutions may wish to subscribe to the series, but in fairness to individual subscribers is should be clear that widely differing disciplines will be represented.

The first volume is a timely study undertaken by Mr. R. G. Haycock of the Department of History, Waterloo Lutheran University. We hope it sets a standard which other volumes will maintain.

In the last few years there has been a growing debate over Canada’s Indians. Demands have been made to see his condition improved, to have him improve it himself, to treat him with more equality, to preserve his culture and to give him a meaningful role in the mainstream of Canadian life. Many of the suggestions and comments offered by both whites and Indians run counter to each other. The obvious dilemma of the current controversy suggests that there is a very serious obstacle to overcome before any real solutions can be found. The obstacle is a simple dearth of knowledge. It is not just an absence of information about the Indians in Canada but indeed, an ignorance of all facets of Indian-white relations.

The major goal of this monograph is to tackle one aspect of the problem: the common image of the Indian. What has been undertaken is a seventy year examination of the Canadian Indian as a subject and a concept in the popular national magazines read in Canada since the turn of the century.

The image of the Indian was not a stable picture. It changed radically through the years as many new and strong forces influenced the Canadian mind. The present struggle for equality and civil rights for the Indian is not an isolated spontaneous response. Its indicators could be seen clearly years before.

It is hoped that this study will not only allow the non-Indian and Indian alike to see the historical images and attitudes as well as the forces that shaped and tempered them, but that it will contribute something to help overcome the dearth of organized information concerning the Indian in general.

Norman E. Wagner,

Director,

Graduate Studies and University Research.

July, 1971.

Acknowledgements

This monograph is the result of encouragement, work and criticism given by many people. The idea for the study began under the direction of Prof. Palmer Patterson; Dr. Norman Wagner and his research publication committee provided financial aid and the necessary channels to see it published, while Joseph Braun, Laird Christie and Erich Schultz spent many long hours reading and suggesting improvements in the various drafts of the manuscript.

Also, I would like to thank my wife, Rita who has always been my most willing worker.

R. G. Haycock

© Waterloo Lutheran University

All Rights Reserved

First Printed 1971

Second Printing 1972

Also in the WLU Monograph series

"The Retrospective Review (1820-1828) and The Revival of

Seventeenth-Century Poetry" by Jane Campbell

CONTENTS

PREFACE

PART I THE POOR DOOMED SAVAGE

PART II HUMANITARIAN AWARENESS AND GUILT

PART III THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY AND CIVIL RIGHTS

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PREFACE

The intention in writing this paper is to take a look at a representation of what Canadians were reading about their Indians over seventy years of this century. The purpose is to determine what view of the Canadian Indian writers were extending in the popular national magazines, and to suggest attitudes and changes in attitudes during these seven decades.

The thesis involves a need for some definition of what is considered to be the English language national, popular magazine press. Because of the problems involved in research of this type, especially in a country where no clearly defined popular national magazine press has evolved, an explanation of the methodology is needed. Review of Reviews, in a 1906 survey of what Canadians read, concluded that in the popular magazine field, which was very small, Canadian Magazine was the only one that even approached a national level.¹ The natural void in the field was filled by the common American and British publications. Indeed, the Canada Year Book, 1959, described the Canadian magazine press as a mere journalistic transplant that finally spread throughout Canada.² Klinck supports this contention that the standard British and American publications were read widely by Canadians on a national level.³ There was much concern over the difficulty of establishing a native popular magazine press over the years, serious enough, indeed, to see government royal commissions appointed to investigate the problem. The Massey Commission in 1951 concluded the above-mentioned facts.⁴ The O’Leary Commission of 1961 also investigated similar problems. It was primarily concerned with combatting the influx of foreign magazines which was seen as a threat to a distinctive culture for Canada but it clearly made the point that the indigenous magazine press was small and, indeed, succumbing to the American press.⁵

These sources indicate that very few magazines which could be termed national and popular in the sense of not regional and for the provision of entertainment and general information⁶ of the average Canadian, were native to Canada. This is not to say that other Canadian periodicals did not exist—they certainly did. In the early years of the century Canadian Magazine was the only one considered to qualify. There were others but they were regional, not national, small and often short-lived.⁷

Magazines such as MacLean’s and Saturday Night are the obvious choices in the later years but not in the first decades because there was no clear definition yet, because the field of native periodicals was still small, and because the nation itself was regional until well after the Second Great War. As a result the author has taken the liberty to include magazines which approached the definition of popular and national and which could be read by large numbers of Canadians at certain given moments in the seventy years under review. For instance, Country Guide and Country Life are obviously farm oriented, but the nation itself was predominantly agricultural for most of the period under consideration.⁸ Time, Life, Look and Reader’s Digest magazines are foreign periodicals but as most reports say Canadians enjoyed reading a great number of foreign publications during these seventy years. Hence many of them, especially Time and Reader’s Digest after World War Two, qualify under our definition of national and popular— even though they are not native to Canada.

Missionary Review of the World, Catholic World and Christian Science Monitor are, of course, religious in affiliation, but during much of the early years (yet decreasingly so as one approaches the present),⁹ religion has never exerted as much influence in other countries of the western world or has had as great an affect upon the development of the community as it has in Canada.¹⁰ As a result some religious journals were used. The qualification put on this category when considering the choice was that, if at all possible, denominational religious periodicals would not be used. Consequently, such magazines as the Presbyterian Record and the United Church Observer were avoided. Those used were magazines considered by the author to be as close as possible to a representation of national and popular religious affiliated periodicals.

There were many other problems apparent in compiling a suitable reading list. One of the most frustrating was the fact that when a system was chosen, one then had to find the location of the magazine, determine if it was of any value, then obtain the article for reading. The greatest assistance was derived from the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature and Poole’s Guide. Later, the Canadian Periodical Index was of immeasurable help. The former two indexed very few Canadian magazines; and the latter did not begin until 1938 and did not index all native periodicals. Some of the searching then was done without these aids; for instance, Saturday Night was leafed through in bulk for some of the period before the Canadian index began. Similarly, most authorities agreed that only Canadian Magazine could even approach a national popular level during the period prior to the 1930’s.¹¹ Time magazine has a Canadian edition beginning in the late 1950’s Because it was a foreign journal it was not listed in the Canadian index, and because of its Canadian edition it was not recorded in the American one either. Yet a great many Canadians were reading it. The researcher simply had to leaf through each number.

The various holdings of many of these periodicals in libraries are at best spotty, widespread and generally incomplete. The physical task in managing to obtain a definitive representation is ominous. Few of the periodicals are actually followed through for the entire period. The reasons are obvious. Such periodicals as Time did not reach a national popular influx into Canada until the Second World War. Canadian Magazine ceased publication in 1938. MacLean’s did not serve the first thirty years in our definition, but did the last forty. Generally speaking, then, periodicals were picked for the definition when the changing Canadian situation allowed them to be used, the emphasis being to review as much popular, native or foreign material that would be read by Canadians on a national level. The Canadian Indian had to be, if not the main topic, at least as close to the centre of each essay as possible. It must be remembered that not all periodicals were checked. Only a representative sampling is presented.

The physical structure of the paper presented another problem. Seventy years of the Twentieth Century were dealt with. The concept of the Indian in the popular, national literature underwent definite changes and an almost complete reversal. The essays fell into five categories in 1900: religion, customs and manners, travelogue, popular history and contemporary Indian affairs. By keeping them fixed for the whole period, the relative change in the type of article being written was more clearly evident. The disappearance or growth of any one section was a relative reflection of the change in concepts. Religion disappeared by the third period and contemporary affairs grew out of all proportion. The time span was divided at the years 1930 and again in 1960 so that these changes could be demonstrated by simple comparison. The changes were, however, evolutionary. The breaks were chosen as the most likely spots where the new concepts began to overshadow old ones. In dealing with individual articles, a rough chronology was employed but was not rigidly followed. The rule seemed to be not to lift an article out of its time context. Essays of 1900 were much different in tenor than those of 1925. This rough chronology, then preserved the difference. Similarly, each period included the crises of war, depression or social rights. These played a fundamental role in changing opinion, or at least in speeding the process along. Only a chronology could save this cyclic fact in clarity.

The last major problem was to demonstrate the point that the range of people writing varied from the unknown, occasional contributor, to the famous and influential. Journalists were the bulk of essayists, but again expertise varied from the little known to the professional in many fields, with the latter making more candid comments and in greater depth. In order to do this, an attempt to establish each contributor’s credientials had to be determined. As a result, every author was subjected to a list of sixteen reference sources such as the Encyclopedia Canadiana, the Canadian Who’s Who. The Oxford Companion to Canadian History and Literature. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, The Story of the Canadian Press, Hamilton’s Prominent Men of Canada, and S. H. Cranston’s Ink on My Fingers,¹² to name a few. The author was fortunate to establish at least some qualifications for nearly fifty percent of the authors.

In view of the problems involved in this research, especially the unorganized and incomplete state of magazine holdings and the ambiguity of their definition in a youthful country which must also contend with a large influx of foreign publications, this author’s attempts herein are only a reconnaissance mission and not a definitive pronouncement. It is hoped that this endeavor will not only suggest the shape and form of concepts of the Indians as they were portrayed for the Canadian reader but that the detailed content description of each essay, as well as the bibliography compiled will be of assistance to later researchers in choosing their material and in encouraging future studies on Canadian Indians.

1. P. T. McGrath, What the People Read in Canada in Review of Reviews, XXXIII (June, 1906), pp. 720-722.

2. Canada, Bureau of Statistics, Canada Year Book, 1959 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1959), p. 883. This volume and the one previous contain a history of Canadian journalism.

3. Carl F. Klinck (ed.), Literary History of Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966), pp. 174-207.

4. Canada, Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences, Report. Vincent Massey et al. (Ottawa: King’s Printer, 1951), pp. 60-64.

5. Canada, Royal Commission on Publications, Report. M. G. O’Leary et al. (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1961).

6. Ibid., p. 12.

7. H. J. Morgan and L. J. Burpee, Canadian Life in Town and Country (London: George Newnes, Ltd., 1905), pp. 170-191. Also see W. S. Wallace (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Canada (Toronto: University Associates of Canada, Ltd., 1948), Vol. Ill, pp. 310-315.

8. W. H. Kesterton, A History of Journalism in Canada (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Ltd., 1967), p. 169.

9. A. R. M. Lower, Canadians in the Making (Toronto: Longmans, Green and Company 1958), p. 417, described the advance toward 1958 as. beginning after the First War, one of increasing secularism.

10. Goldwin French, The Evangelical Creed in Canada in The Shield of Achilles, ed. by W. L. Morton (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1968), p. 15.

11. O’Leary Commission, p. 17.

12. These are a few of the references used to establish author’s credentials. See the bibliography under Reference Sources for a complete list of all those used. Each name was referred to every one of the sixteen employed.

PART I

THE POOR DOOMED SAVAGE

1900 - 1930

The first thirty years of the Twentieth Century saw the Indian portrayed under five broad themes in the national popular magazines: religion, customs and manners, travelogue, popular history, and contemporary Indian affairs. Throughout these five recurrent ideas there generally ranges three basic threads of conception (either singly or in some combination) about the Canadian Indian. The most obvious is a Darwinistic paternalism: the red man is doomed to assimilation by the incursion of Anglo-Saxons because he is unable to survive in competitive evolution. The white, however, is trying his best to make the death struggle of the primative as soft as possible. The second view is that Indians are noble savages, children of nature who have prowess, cunning and dignity, yet tend to be ignorant and slothful in Anglo-Saxon eyes. The third conception is that the degenerate white has corrupted the Indian, but it is also an Anglo-Saxon virtue to raise the aboriginal to hitherto unprecedented levels of civilization and salvation, fashioned on the white model.

In the religious articles, the primary concern is with the Christianization of the Canadian Indian. Of five articles examined, two were written in a secular magazine, while the other three were published in religious periodicals. Canadian journalist and one of the founders of the Montreal Star, Marshall Scott,¹ writing in Canadian Magazine in 1900, adamantly demanded that all paganism among Indians must be stamped out.² In this piece of sensational journalism, the author described the ghoulish pagan practices, and as well, inferred a sense of duty and repulsion among whites concerning primative people. Pagans made up thirty per cent of Canadian aboriginals but civilization is winning its way³ and old pagans of inferior blood are dying out faster than men of good race who wish to improve themselves.⁴ Not only was God included by the author as the secret for aboriginal improvement but help would also