Report of the Grand Historian

REPORT OF THE GRAND HISTORIAN To the Most Worshipful the Grand Master, officers and members of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Canada in the Province of Ontario: I would like to express my gratitude to you, Most Worshipful Brother Dowling, for honoring me with the office and title of Grand Historian. This report is submitted in accordance with the book of Constitution which requires the Grand Historian “to record matters that are connected with the history of Freemasonry in Ontario.” Given the challenge posed by the subject a more comprehensive research paper has been given to The Heritage Lodge: this report is but a compressed summary. Last year my report focussed on the War of 1812 and the masonic dimension across the six British Colonies of Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. It was one of the key periods in our history which would help to define what it is to be a Canadian. But the process of developing a national cohesiveness would continue until, on July 1, 1867, the Dominion of Canada would be formed by confederation of the Province of Canada (Canada East and Canada West), New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The process would continue with the addition of Manitoba and the North West Territory (July 15, 1870), British Columbia (July 20, 1871), Prince Edward Island (July 1, 1873), Alberta and Saskatchewan (September 1, 1905) and Newfoundland (March 31, 1949). These ten provinces are considered co-sovereign divisions deriving their power and authority directly from the Constitution Act of 1867 where the “Crown” is represented by a Governor General and provincial Lieutenant-Governors. The three Territories—Northwest Territories (formed July 15, 1870), Yukon (formed 1898) and Nunavut (separated from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999)—derive their mandates and powers from the federal government and are headed by a Commissioner. Across Canada, Grand Lodges would be established as their Provinces were formed. Although the idea of a single Grand Lodge had been raised in 1865, the size of the country and the various populations would mitigate against this. William Mercer Wilson summed the situation best when he expressed “. grave doubts, whether a union, embracing such an immense extent of country, would have a tendency to promote the advancement of the best interests of masonry on this continent . .” (11th Annual Communication, July 12, 1866). Ontario and Nova Scotia’s Grand Lodges were formed prior to the Dominion of Canada, New Brunswick’s on October 10, 1867, Quebec’s on October 20, 1869, British Columbia and Yukon on October 21, 1871, Manitoba’s on May 12, 1875, PEI’s on June 23, 1875, Saskatchewan’s on August 8, 1905, Alberta’s on September 1, 1905 and our newest, the Grand Lodge of Newfoundland and Labrador, on November 1, 1997. Throughout the process leading to Confederation (and afterwards), the men who were involved were ones who saw beyond the limits of religion, race, nationality and language. They sought a common ground with benefits to an evolving “country.” Compromise achieved results which accepted diversity in society. Some of these men were Freemasons. The majority were not. But when we look at their activities we see men for whom brotherly love, relief and truth were truly present and practiced in their daily lives. Who were they? What were they? Why did they take these steps? W hat we might call the Confederation “event” of July 1, 1867, is “book-ended” between political actions in the late 1830's in the two Canadas (Rebellions in 1837 and 1838 and the investigative visit of John George Lambton, 1st Earl Durham and his famous Durham Report which saw Lower and Upper Canada united into the Province of Canada in 1841) and in 1949 (when Joey Smallwood won the referendum to bring Newfoundland into Confederation with an affirmative vote of 52.3%). Lord Durham—Right Worshipful Brother Lambton—was possibly a sixth generation Mason, a member of Marquis of Granby Lodge in Durham and a one-time Provincial Grand Master of Durham. Right Worshipful Brother Joseph Roberts Smallwood, was a Past Master of Lodge Northcliffe, No. 1086 SC, Grand Falls, NL and a member of the local Mark Lodge as well as the Scottish Rite. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island moved to discuss maritime amalgamation and a common form of government during the 1850's and by 1864 had agreed to meet on September 1, 1864 for one day at Charlottetown to complete arrangements. Meanwhile the challenge of governing the United Province of Canada encouraged John A. Macdonald (a “liberal” from Kingston), George Étienne Cartier (a distant relative of Jacques Cartier, one-time member of the St. Jean Baptiste Society and a “liberal-reformer of Quebec City) and George Brown (Scottish, “reform” member and reporter/editor of The Globe of Toronto), to seek attendance at the Charlottetown Conference. The three were co-Premiers of the United Province of Canada. Of the three, only Brother John Alexander Macdonald was a Freemason, a member of St. John’s Lodge, No. 758 ER, (now The Ancient St. John’s No. 3 GRC) Kingston. The Canadian request was accepted and a delegation of nine arrived in Charlottetown: George Étienne Cartier, Alexander Tilloch Galt, Hector-Louis Langevin and Thomas D’Arcy McGee of Canada East and John A. Macdonald, George Brown, Alexander Campbell, William McDougall and Hewitt Bernard of Canada West. The fifteen representatives of the maritime colonies—New Brunswick: Edward Barron Chandler, John Hamilton Gray (b Bermuda), John Mercer Johnson, William Henry Steeves and Samuel Leonard Tilley; Nova Scotia: Adams George Archibald, William Alexander Henry, Jonathan McCully, Charles Tupper and Robert Barry Dickey; and PEI: George Coles, Andrew Archibald Macdonald, Edward Palmer, John Hamilton Grey (b PEI) and William Henry Pope—quickly agreed to extend the one day deliberations. Subsequent discussions covered a wide range of topics: on September 7, the Conference adjourned but agreed to meet soon. In this group of 24 delegates there were Masons and non-Masons, Protestants and Catholics, American- born, Scots, Loyalists, businessmen turned politicians and lawyers turned politicians. Their interests were wide ranging. Their political backgrounds were widely scattered and different. But they saw the benefits of collaborating on many issues and the need for a more formal union. Macdonald’s vision and influence now came to the fore. He offered the services of Hewitt Bernard (a well skilled lawyer and administrator and Editor of the Upper Canada Law Journal) to act as Secretary throughout the entire series of conferences and the final negotiations in London in 1866-67. The offer was readily accepted. Macdonald and Cartier jointly offered Quebec as the venue for the second Conference, to be held on October 10, 1864. And Macdonald’s suggestion to invite Newfoundland to participate was accepted and invitations were despatched. At Quebec the core group remained with additions and changes. New Brunswick added Charles Fisher and Peter Mitchell, Nova Scotia remained unchanged. PEI added Edward Whelan and Thomas Heath Haviland, Canada East added Jean-Charles Chapais and Étienne-Pascal Taché (who had become joint premier of Canada with Macdonald and as such he presided over the Quebec Conference), Canada West added James Cockburn and Oliver Mowat, and Newfoundland was represented by Frederick Bowker Terrington Carter and Ambrose Shea in an “observer” capacity as Confederation per se had not been discussed in the Assembly. With the addition of three new faces for the London Conference, the full group of Fathers of Confederation would total thirty-seven, a number not recognized until 1921 by our Government. It would be anticlimactic to write about the London Conference of 1866-67 which culminated in the granting of Royal Assent to the Canada Act with effect as of July 1, 1867. This Conference would occupy the smallest number of representatives—eighteen—four from New Brunswick, five from Nova Scotia, three from Canada East and six from Canada West. But their work was specialised and crucial, and effective and successful. Local political decisions in PEI and Newfoundland did not allow them to proceed at this time. We owe these thirty-seven men a great debt for their foresight and their willingness to move in a direction for a better world. How diverse were these thirty-seven men? - Nine were born in the United Kingdom, one in Bermuda, one in Jamaica and one in the United States with the rest being born in one of the “Canadian colonies.” - Twenty were lawyers, five were journalists, eight were merchant businessmen, two were doctors, one was 2 a land promoter and one was a soldier. - Allowing for changes in the meaning of words over time and understanding that many of these men would change party affiliations during their political careers, fifteen were conservatives, twelve were liberals, five were Reform, two were Liberal-Conservative, two were Reform-Liberals and one was “radical independent”/Conservative. - Six had entered politics as appointed members of government and thirty-one had been elected when entering the political arena. - Twenty-seven were supporters of Confederation almost from the beginning, or very early on, in their political careers. - As a result of the creation of the Dominion of Canada, fifteen would be elected to the new Canadian Federal Parliament in the elections of 1867. One of the fifteen would be our first Prime Minister (Macdonald) and one would be our first MP who was assassinated (McGee). Six were appointed to the new Canadian Senate. Three were appointed to other senior offices (federal Commissioner, federal DM of Justice and one as Lieutenant-Governor of Rupert’s Land and the North West Territory, although he was never installed).

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