Duncan Campbell Scott

Duncan Campbell Scott (August 2, 1862 – December 19, 1947) was a Canadian civil servant and poet and prose writer. With Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Archibald Lampman, he is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets.

A career civil servant, Scott served as deputy superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs from 1913 to 1932, where he supported the Canadian Indian residential school system.

Life and legacy

Scott was born in Ottawa, Ontario, the son of Rev. William Scott, a Methodist preacher, and Janet MacCallum. He was educated at Stanstead Wesleyan College. Early in life, he became an accomplished pianist.

Scott wanted to be a doctor, but family finances were precarious, so in 1879 he joined the federal civil service.

<blockquote>William Scott might not have money [but] he had connections in high places. Among his acquaintances was the prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, who agreed to meet with Duncan. As chance would have it, when Duncan arrived for his interview, the prime minister had a memo on his desk from the Indian Branch of the Department of the Interior asking for a temporary copying clerk. Making a quick decision while the serious young applicant waited in front of him, Macdonald wrote across the request: 'Approved. Employ Mr. Scott at $1.50.'</blockquote>

Scott "spent his entire career in the same branch of government, working his way up to the position of deputy superintendent of Indian Affairs in 1913, the highest non-elected position possible in his department. He remained in this post until his retirement in 1932."

Scott's father later also worked in Indian Affairs. The entire family moved into a newly built house on 108 Lisgar St., where Duncan Campbell Scott lived for the rest of his life. He received honorary degrees from the University of Toronto (Doctor of Letters in 1922) and Queen's University (Doctor of Laws in 1939). In 1948, the year after his death, he was designated a Person of National Historic Significance.

In 2023, the University of Toronto rescinded Scott's honorary degree following a student petition-initiated review process and unanimous recommendation to de-recognize by the university's Standing Committee on Recognition. The associated statement identified Scott's responsibility for "the expansion and entrenchment of the Indian residential school system" and cited "an abhorrent disregard on the part of Scott (and Canada) for the fundamental human rights of Indigenous populations, and especially Indigenous children." The Magic House and Other Poems, "and there are a number of extremely good ones." The 'extremely good ones' include the strange, dream-like sonnets of "In the House of Dreams." "Probably the best known poem from the collection is 'At the Cedars,' a grim narrative about the death of a young man and his sweetheart during a log-jam on the Ottawa River. It is crudely melodramatic,... but its style—stark understatement, irregular lines, and abrupt rhymes—makes it the most experimental poem in the book."

In 1920, under Scott's direction, and with the concurrence of leaders of the religious groups most involved in native education, the Indian Act was amended to make it mandatory for all native children between the ages of seven and fifteen to attend residential schools. Attendance at a residential school was made compulsory, although a reading of Bill 14 says that no particular kind of school was stipulated. Scott was in favour of residential schooling for aboriginal children, as he believed removing them from the influences of home and reserve would hasten the cultural and economic transformation of the whole aboriginal population. In cases where a residential school was the only kind available, residential enrollment did become mandatory, and aboriginal children were compelled to leave their homes, their families and their culture, with or without their parents' consent.

But in 1901, 226 of the 290 Indian schools across Canada were day schools. By 1961, the 377 day schools far outnumbered the 56 residential institutions.

thumb|upright|Letter from Duncan Campbell Scott of Canada Department Of Indian Affairs To Staff In December 1921 Scott wrote a letter to agents under his supervision expressing his attitude toward Indian customs. "It is observed with alarm that the holding of dances by the Indians on their reserves is on the increase, and that these practices tend to disorganize the efforts which the Department is putting forth to make them self-supporting," Scott wrote. "I have, therefore, to direct you to use your utmost endeavours to dissuade the Indians from excessive indulgence in the practice of dancing. You should suppress any dances which cause waste of time, interfere with the occupations of the Indians, unsettle them for serious work, injure their health or encourage them in sloth and idleness." He adds that agents should use tact to "obtain control and keep it" and prevent Indians from attending "fairs, exhibitions etc". "It is realized that reasonable amusement and recreation should be enjoyed by Indians, but they should not be allowed to dissipate their energies and abandon themselves to demoralizing amusements." The attitude toward dancing in general was not unusual among members of Canadian society of his time. The letter was interpreted in the 21st century as expressing Scott's racism toward Indians. The 150,000 enrollment figure is an estimate not disputed by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, but it is not clear what percentage were removed from their communities; as noted above, there were many more day schools than boarding schools. Much valid criticism had been leveled against the Residential school system for the often poor conditions and abusive treatment by staff of Indigenous children. But most children were educated in their communities at day schools. The assimilationist policy prevailed in teaching, but they were not separated as thoroughly from their families and communities.

When Scott retired, his "policy of assimilating the Indians had been so much in keeping with the thinking of the time that he was widely praised for his capable administration."

Despite these statistics, Scott's efforts to bring about assimilation through residential schools could be judged a failure by his own criteria, as many former students retained their language, maintained and preserved their tribe's culture as adults, and refused to accept full Canadian citizenship when it was offered. Moreover, during the decades of the residential system, only a minority of all enrolled students attended school beyond the elementary grades; thus they often lacked skills to find employment.

In 2015, the plaque beside his grave at Ottawa's Beechwood cemetery was revised to read

Reputation as an assimilationist

In 2003, Scott's Indian Affairs legacy came under attack from Neu and Therrien in their history of the government's approach to aboriginal people:

According to Encyclopædia Britannica, Scott is "best known at the end of the 20th century," not for his writing, but "for advocating the assimilation of Canada's First Nations peoples." As part of their Worst Canadian poll, a panel of experts commissioned by Canada's National History Society ranked Scott one of the Worst Canadians in the August 2007 issue of The Beaver.

In his 2013 Conversations with a Dead Man: The Legacy of Duncan Campbell Scott, poet and non-fiction writer Mark Abley explored Scott's paradoxes. Abley did not attempt to defend Scott's work in the government, but he showed that Scott was more than a one-dimensional villain. The work was republished in 2024 by Stonehewer Books, having received praise from Indigenous and non-Indigenous readers alike, including Bob Rae.

Controversy over Arc Poetry prize

Arc Poetry Magazine renamed the annual Archibald Lampman Award (given to a poet in the National Capital Region) to the "Lampman-Scott Award", in recognition of Scott's enduring legacy in Canadian poetry. The first award under the new name was made in 2007.

Shane Rhodes, winner of the 2008 award, gave more than half of the $1,500 prize money to the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health, a First Nations health centre. "Taking that money wouldn't have been right, with what I'm writing about," Rhodes said. The poet was researching First Nations history and found Scott's name repeatedly referenced. According to a CBC News report, Rhodes felt "Scott's legacy as a civil servant overshadows his work as a pioneer of Canadian poetry".

The editor of Arc Poetry Magazine, Anita Lahey, responded, saying that she thought Scott's actions as head of Indian Affairs were important to remember, but did not eclipse his role in the history of Canadian literature. "I think it matters that we're aware of it and that we think about and talk about these things," she said. "I don't think controversial or questionable activities in the life of any artist or writer is something that should necessarily discount the literary legacy that they leave behind."

Publications

Poetry

Fiction

- mostly prose

Non-fiction

Edited

References

External links

Representative Poetry Online: Duncan Campbell Scott - Biography and 11 poems (At the Cedars, Enigma, The Forsaken, The Half-Breed Girl, The Height of Land, Night Hymns on Lake Nipigon, Ode for the Keats Centenary, The Onondaga Madonna, Permanence, Rapids at Night, To a Canadian Aviator Who Died for his Country in France)
Collections Canada: Duncan Campbell Scott biography, relating to Treaty 9
Keith Waddington, "Duncan Campbell Scott: Civil Servant and Poet"
Archives of Elise Aylen Scott wife of Duncan Campbell Scott (Elise Aylen Scott fonds, R2363) are held at Library and Archives Canada. It contains correspondence with her Duncan Campbell Scott. Fonds consists of microfilms.