John norquay biography

John Norquay (May 8, 1841 – July 5, 1889) was the fifth premier of Manitoba from 1878 to 1887.
John Norquay was the fifth premier of Manitoba from 1878 to 1887.
John Norquay, orphan and prodigy, was a leader among the Scots Cree peoples of western Canada.

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“The Honourable John Norquay: Indigenous Premier, Canadian Statesman” by Gerald Friesen

Next Presentation in the Lieutenant-Governor’s Evenings at Government House
Series of Free Public Events

Lt.-Gov. Anita R. Neville invites Manitobans to attend the next presentation in a series of free public events designed to welcome Manitobans into Government House and showcase outstanding and inspiring Manitobans who, through words and deeds, continually work to make the province better for all.

Gerald Friesen grew up in Prince Albert, Sask. and attended universities in Saskatoon and Toronto. In this series, he will give a brief presentation on his newest book on John Norquay and his career. Norquay was born near Lockport in 1841, orphaned when he was eight years old, educated in Red River schools and became Manitoba’s first Indigenous premier in 1878. He was a member of the legislature for eighteen years and served as premier for nine years. His governments set in place many of the province’s founding institutions and he was said to be a plausible candidate to succeed the aging Joh

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NORQUAY, JOHN, politician; b. 8 May 1841 near St Andrews (Man.), the fifth of six children of John Norquay and Isabella Truthwaite; m. in June 1862 Elizabeth Setter at Parkdale (Man.), and they had three daughters and five sons; d. 5 July 1889 in Winnipeg, Man.

John Norquay was a descendant of Hudson’s Bay Company servants who had worked on the northern rivers and the shores of Hudson Bay during the 18th century. His maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Vincent, was the daughter of a “country marriage” between an Indian or Métis woman and an HBC officer. John’s father, a reliable jack of all trades at Norway House (Man.) in the mid 1830s, moved to the Red River Settlement in 1838 where he acquired a small farm and a few head of livestock. John had an unsettled childhood. His mother died in 1843 when he was two and his father in 1849. He was then raised by his paternal grandmother, Mrs James Spence, and by his teachers at the Anglican St John’s Collegiate School in Red River. An able student, he soon became the protégé of David Ande

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The Honourable John Norquay: Indigenous Premier, Canadian Statesman
by Gerald Friesen
University of Manitoba Press
667 pages, $39.95

It is truly fortuitous that Gerald Friesen’s newest book has arrived this spring. Just last fall, several media outlets in Canada were claiming Manitoba’s new premier, Wab Kinew, to be the nation’s first Indigenous provincial leader. Then, in February of this year, the Manitoba government officially recognized Métis leader Louis Riel as the province’s honorary first premier.

Yet John Norquay, a contemporary of Riel, was the same province’s premier from 1878 to 1887. Friesen’s The Honourable John Norquay: Indigenous Premier, Canadian Statesman offers a look into the personal and political life of a man whose contributions have gone largely unheeded.

Born in the Red River Settlement, Norquay was orphaned by the age of eight. His great-grandmother was an Indigenous woman, and his paternal family line consisted of labourers for the Hudson’s Bay Company. He was among the Bungee/anglophone peoples of the community who “played a special role as