Edgar Dewdney

Edgar Dewdney
Edgar Dewdney, 1883
5th Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia
In office
November 1, 1892 – November 18, 1897
MonarchVictoria
Governors GeneralThe Lord Stanley of Preston
The Earl of Aberdeen
PremierTheodore Davie
John Herbert Turner
Preceded byHugh Nelson
Succeeded byThomas Robert McInnes
4th Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories
In office
December 3, 1881 – July 1, 1888
MonarchVictoria
Governors GeneralMarquess of Lorne
The Marquess of Lansdowne
The Lord Stanley of Preston
Preceded byDavid Laird
Succeeded byJoseph Royal
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Yale
In office
October 12, 1872 – June 6, 1879
Preceded bynone
Succeeded byFrancis Jones Barnard
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Assiniboia East
In office
September 12, 1888 – October 26, 1892
Preceded byWilliam Dell Perley
Succeeded byWilliam Walter McDonald
Personal details
Born(1835-11-05)November 5, 1835
Bideford, England
DiedAugust 8, 1916(1916-08-08) (aged 80)
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Jane Shaw Moir
(m. 1864)
Occupationengineer, railway surveyor
ProfessionPolitician

Edgar Dewdney, PC (November 5, 1835 – August 8, 1916) was a Canadian surveyor, road builder, Indian commissioner and politician born in Devonshire, England. He emigrated to British Columbia in 1859 in order to act as surveyor for the Dewdney Trail that runs through the province. In 1870, Dewdney decided to take up a role in Canadian government. In this year, he was elected to the Legislative Council of British Columbia as a representative from the Kootenay region. In 1872, he was elected as a Member of the Parliament of Canada for the Yale region representing the Conservative party. He was reelected to this position in 1874 and again in 1878. Dewdney served as Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories from 1879 to 1888, and the fifth Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia from 1892 to 1897. Additionally, he served as the Indian commissioner in the North-West Territories from 1879 until 1888. In 1897, Dewdney retired from politics and began working as a financial agent until his death in 1916.[1]

Throughout his political career, Dewdney played a role in the settlement of western Canada and defining the relationship between the government of Canada and the Indigenous peoples of the North-West in the nineteenth century. Dewdney experienced several political and humanitarian issues throughout his political appointments. As Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories, Dewdney had to manage with a starvation crisis faced by the Indigenous peoples after years of deliberate extermination of buffalo herds, promoted by the Government of Canada to force the Indigenous inhabitants off the land prior to its settlement. Additionally, as Indian Commissioner, Dewdney subsequently tackled issues pertaining to the North-West Rebellion of 1885.

  1. ^ "The Hon. Edgar Dewdney, P.C." Parliament of Canada.