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AMID the stress of missionary work the Superintendent
found leisure for the study of public affairs and for the cultivation of
an intelligent interest in the things pertaining to the development of
national life.
In the performance of his duty it fell to him to
criticise the Dominion Government’s administration of Indian affairs, and
especially to call attention to the very grave scandals arising out of the
practices of some of the Agents employed by the Government upon the Indian
Reserves. In 1886, he made a public statement in this connection in the
city of Montreal, which produced a profound impression. In that public
statement he accused the Government of neglecting its duties to the
Indians, declaring that, in many places, the Indians were starving, and
also Agents were employed who were "drunkards, gamblers, and rakes." The
press gave the widest circulation to his statement. It was challenged by
politicians defending the Government of the day. The following extract
from the Hansard
of 1886 gives the discussion upon the floor of the House of
Commons at Ottawa:
Mr. Paterson (Brant)—" The Rev. Mr. Robertson, taking
cognizance of some statements made by a gentleman
in contradiction of
what he stated, says: ‘Mr. Andrews asks where are the Indians starving,
searching refuse heaps and swill-barrels, and ravenously devouring crusts
of bread and scraps of meat ? At Minnedosa, Broadview,
Birtle, Fort Qu’ Appelle, Prince Albert, Battieford, Moosejaw, Medicine
Hat, and the rest, I have seen them doing this. It might have been because
they were curious, and preferred dirty crusts and decaying meat to tender,
well-bled beef, but I did not think of accounting
for it in that way. I know the eager look, the shrunken form, and the
wolfish face that speak of want in the adult, and the wan, pinched
look that speaks of starvation in the child; and I
have seen them near Fort Ellice, Fort Pelly, File Hills, and other places,
and have had my sympathies drawn out to the owners. I have seen Indians
eating horses that died of disease, when the flesh was half-rotten. I have
seen them picking up the entrails of animals about slaughter-houses when
these were fast decomposing, ay, and eating them without cooking, or even
washing. They may prefer such carrion to good beef,
well-bled and cool when killed, but I doubt it.’ This is the statement of
Mr. Robertson to which he attaches his name in public print."
Mr. Ferguson (Leeds)—" I happen to know something about
Rev. Mr. Robertson which I do not care to disclose or discuss here, and
which does not add much to the weight of his statements on this subject. I
am not going to say anything further on the point just now."
Mr. Fairbanks—" I rise to call attention to a very
improper remark by an honourable gentleman opposite. He has spoken in
reference to the Rev. Mr. Robertson, a gentleman with whom I happen to
have a slight acquaintance, having met him in the discharge of his duties,
having listened to his preaching, and knowing him well by reputation. When
an honourable member stands up in this place and makes a remark like this—
‘I know something about Rev. Mr. Robertson which I do not care to disclose
or discuss here, and which does not add much to the weight of his
statements on this subject,’ I submit that gentleman has either said too
much or not enough."
Mr. Watson—" I would not have spoken at this late hour
but for the insinuations on the other side of the House against the Rev.
Mr. Robertson and the Rev. Jno. McDougall. . . .
The Rev. Mr. Robertson I have known for ten years,
and he is a man above reproach. He did not go to the Northwest on the same
mission as the honourable member who has been slandering him
- . . but for the purpose of
doing good to the white settlers and Indians."
The General Assembly, taking up the question of Indian
administration, passed a very strong resolution in support of Dr.
Robertson’s position, and called upon the Government to put an end to the
scandals and to remove the unworthy Agents. And so deep was the feeling
aroused throughout the whole country, that the Government appointed a
Commissioner to inspect the Reserves and to inquire into the abuses, with
the result that the charges made by the Superintendent were abundantly
substantiated, and the necessary reforms at once instituted by the
Government.
By instinct and by habit, Dr. Robertson was a student,
with all the Scotchman’s reverence for education. It is not surprising
that from the very first he took an active interest in the educational
affairs of Western Canada, and used his influence to
establish on sound foundations both the University and the Public School
system of education. He was for years a member of the Board of Education
for Manitoba, and his advice was always listened to with respect. He
strongly supported the movement to establish a Provincial University, in
opposition to those who were pouring contempt upon what they termed a
"University on paper." He was a staunch advocate of a national system of
Public Schools, and by the advocacy of this system in Presbyteries,
Synods, and General Assemblies, as well as in public addresses both in
Eastern and Western Canada, he did much to strengthen public opinion in
support of the principle that State funds should be appropriated to the
support of only non-sectarian institutions. He saw clearly that for the
future unity and homogeneity of the nation, the great agencies were the
Church and the Public School. And at a critical period in the history of
the great struggle to maintain our Public School system, the influence of
Dr. Robertson did much to conserve for the Province this priceless
possession. One phrase of his that appeared in his report to the Assembly
of 1895 became a watchword in the campaign—" The dead hand has too long
hampered the freedom of the living."
His desire to establish missions among the foreign
peoples settling in the West arose out of, not only his loyalty to his
Church and to her great mission to all classes of citizens, but out of
this conviction as well, that it would be fatal to the national
development to allow large sections of our country to remain untouched by
the religious life of the majority of the Canadian people. At an early
date in the history of the West he established missions among the
Icelanders, Hungarians, Germans, Finns, and Scandinavians, not with the
idea of making them Presbyterian, but simply to Canadianize these peoples
and to develop in them the Christian ideals held by the people of Canada.
The segregation of foreigners in large colonies he considered a mistaken
policy.
After the establishment of the large Galician colonies
in Western Canada, the Superintendent was anxious to find some means of
approach by which these people could be reached. In faith they were about
equally divided between the Greek and the Roman Catholic Churches, while
the vast majority of those holding formally to the Roman Catholic Church
practiced the Greek rite. The presence of large colonies of these people
in Western Canada, for whose religious care no Church was making adequate
provision, Dr. Robertson considered at once a challenge and a menace to
Canadian Christianity. But for some years no avenue of approach seemed to
open up. One evening there came to the Rev. C. W. Gordon’s study two
Galician students who expressed their eager desire that something should
be done for their fellow-countrymen both in the matter of education and in
regard to religious privileges. Mr. Gordon introduced the two young men to
the Rev. Dr. King, Principal of Manitoba College. That clear-visioned
educationist and statesman saw immediately the importance of this opening.
The Superintendent was approached. At once an arrangement was made by
which these young men were entered upon the roll of Manitoba College.
There they received the special attention and teaching of the Principal,
the Superintendent assuming the responsibility for their support. This was
the beginning of the important work which the Presbyterian Church is
carrying on among the Galician people of Western Canada. Within a year,
schools were opened up among these people, and, before two years had
passed, as a result largely of the effect of these schools and of the
pressure brought to bear by the Presbyterian and other Churches, the
Government of Manitoba so modified its educational policy as to allow the
extension of the Public School system to the foreign populations within
the Province.
One of the striking characteristics of the
Superintendent was his interest in contemporary thought. Pressed as he was
with the almost overwhelming details of his immediate work, he snatched
precious minutes to dip into and devour the newest books.
"I was often surprised," says Principal Gordon, "at the
amount of reading he used to get through on the railway. It was his only
time for study, and far too precious to spend on the ordinary style of
railway literature. He generally carried with him some new book, and kept
himself well up in recent criticism and theology. Any minister who has
enjoyed a quiet hour's talk with him must have been struck with his
familiar knowledge and firm grasp of current questions."
A similar sentiment is expressed by the Rev. Dr. Boss:
"Another thing that impressed me was his grasp of
problems outside his own work. I delighted to turn his conversation to
subjects that I had been studying, that I might look at them with his
eyes. I was often surprised to find him at home in some things that one
would scarcely have expected him to know,
e. g., certain aspects of the Kenosis theory. He spent so much
time travelling and his own work was so exhausting that he trained himself
to take the heart out of a book in a little while, and all the time he was
studying the subject in the light of the bearing which it had on some
phase of life, thought, or work in the West. And the intense thought he
had given to his own work had proved a splendid mental discipline for
him."
He was interested in the study of Theology, but he was
far more interested in religion than in Theology, and to those who knew
him intimately it was always a pleasure to discuss theological questions
and to note how Theology with him was ever related to the practical
problems of living. This appears to have impressed President Falconer, who
writes as follows:
"I was always much surprised at his grip upon
theological problems and his modern attitude. . . .
Religion was to him so much the dominant factor of life, and he was
so sincere in his own, that he made Theology the living, real expression
of this hidden religious life. That is what makes Theology vital; that
will never allow practical men of Dr. Robertson’s stamp to degenerate into
ecclesiastics. And, in a living essential Theology of this nature, lies
our hope for the future."
And Dr. Pollock says:
"Men do not appear at their best at our Assemblies. All
that I could perceive of him there, was that he was a man swallowed up, as
it were, by a great work. The practical side of life seemed to have
absorbed all other sides of it, and he was filled with one idea, the
vastness of the West and its necessities. After I knew him better I found
that he was a thinker as well as a pioneer and practical worker."
Dr. Robertson was far more than a Churchman. He was a
citizen of Canada, with a very practical interest in the development of
the resources and industries of the nation. He was a warm personal friend
of many of the leaders in the commercial and the industrial world. No man
in Canada was more thoroughly acquainted with the West and its varied
resources than was Dr. Robertson, and not infrequently was his advice
sought and followed by men representing the largest business interests of
the country. It is well known that even so large and important a
corporation as the Canadian Pacific Railway, with whose chief officers he
maintained throughout his life the most cordial relations, was more than
once guided by his judgment. On one occasion the advice of Dr. Robertson
was considered sufficiently weighty to determine the direction of one of
the Company’s branch lines. It was largely upon Dr. Robertson’s suggestion
that the Canadian Pacific Railway initiated that most happy and popular
institution of winter excursions to Eastern Canada. And
it was largely due to the Superintendent’s ability to show the railway
officials the important and favourable effect of Home Missions upon the
material interests of the country in which their Company was so heavily
involved, that they were prepared to grant missionaries transportation
privileges, not only upon grounds of Christian courtesy, but also upon the
basis of sound business principles.
Thus, such was his intellectual ability, his accurate
and wide knowledge of Western Canada, his shrewd, practical common sense,
and his lofty character, that Dr. Robertson was able to move amid the
leaders of Canadian thought and enterprise as a man moves among his peers,
and to command their entire confidence and respect. |
