Overview

Duncan Campbell Scott (1862-1947) is well known as one of Canada's prominent early literary figures. He is less famous as a federal civil servant who rose to become a powerful head of the Indian Department, and who, from 1913 to 1932, implemented the most repressive and brutal assimilation programs Canada ever levied against its native peoples. Before his rise to the top of the Department, Scott traveled to northwestern Ontario to forge a treaty with the Cree and Ojibway Indians. DUNCAN CAMPBELL SCOTT: THE POET AND THE INDIANS centers on that treaty expedition, exploring the apparent contradiction between Scott the sensitive and respected poet, and Scott the ruthless enforcer of Canada's most tyrannical Indian policies.