Ralph Garvin Steinhauer, (born Ralph Garvin Apow; June 8, 1905 – September 19, 1987) was a Canadian politician, the tenth lieutenant governor of Alberta, and the first Aboriginal person to become a lieutenant governor in Canada.
Personal life
Ralph Garvin Apow (later Steinhauer) was born on June 8, 1905, at Morley, North-West Territories (prior to the establishment of Alberta as a province), the second of four children to Josiah Apow and Amelia Mildred Mumford. Steinhauer was a treaty Indian of Cree descent. Steinhauers's father Josiah died in 1908, and his mother married James Arthur Steinhauer on October 12, 1910, a descendant of the Cree Methodist missionary Henry Bird Steinhauer.
He married Isabel Florence Margaret Davidson on November 20, 1928, and had five children. In 1937, Ralph Steinhauer was diagnosed with tuberculosis and a decision was made to send the three eldest children to a residential school. After his recovery, his wife Isabel educated the children at home after their request to have the children educated at a community school was denied on the basis of their Indigenous heritage.
Career
In the 1920s, he became district president of the United Farmers of Alberta. He was a founder and the president of the Indian Association of Alberta.
He ran unsuccessfully as the Liberal candidate for the House of Commons of Canada in the Alberta riding of Vegreville in the 1963 federal election, placing a distant third behind Progressive Conservative Frank Fane and Social Credit candidate Metro Tomyn. Steinhauer was the second treaty Indian to run as a candidate in a federal election.
Later in 1977 Steinhauer was approached by several First Nations and the Alberta Human Rights and Civil Liberties Association about the potential effects of the proposed Bill 29 Land Title Amendment Act and the potential effect of amendments on treaty rights in Northern Alberta. Steinhauer had the legislation studied by a legal firm and in the end granted royal assent.
Ralph Steinhauer was Lieutenant Governor until his successor was appointed effective October 18, 1979. He then returned to his farm at Saddle Lake.
Honours
In 1967, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1984, he was inducted into the Alberta Agriculture Hall of Fame. Steinhauer also received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from the University of Alberta in 1976 and the University of Calgary in 1979. In addition an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from St. Stephen's College, Edmonton in 1985. As well, he was a Knight of Grace of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (1975).