John Christian Schultz

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Sir John Christian Schultz, KCMG (January 1, 1840 – April 13, 1896) was a Manitoba politician. He was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1871 to 1882, a Senator from 1882 to 1888, and the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba from 1888 to 1895.

Schultz was born in Amherstburg, Upper Canada (now Ontario). Despite being raised in a low-income household, he saved enough money to study medicine at Queen's College in Kingston (1858 – 1860) and Victoria College in Cobourg (1860 – 1861). He did not graduate from either institution, but nonetheless advertised himself as a "Physician and Surgeon" after moving to the Red River settlement later in 1861. He also worked as a businessman and speculator in this area, and eventually owned a number of stores in the Red River colony's business sector. Arrested for improper business practices in 1868, he was soon freed by his supporters. He continued to live and work in the area, in open defiance of the Council of Assiniboia.

Schultz became part-owner of the Nor'Wester newspaper in 1864, and its full owner the following year. He was a bitter opponent of the Hudson's Bay Company — and, as the only newspaper editor in the colony, provided his readers with a very negative picture of the institution. Schultz also helped to establish a museum and masonic organization in the region. He sold the Nor'Wester in 1868, but remained involved in the region's burgeoning newspaper culture.

Schultz was initially on good terms with Red River's francophone community, but his unscrupulous business practices soon made him unpopular with most established settlers, anglophone and francophone alike. By 1869, he had emerged as the leader of a small, ultra-Protestant organization known as the Canadian Party. This group promoted the annexation of Red River by the Canadian government, and encouraged new anglophone/Protestant immigration from Ontario. Schultz and his followers were actively engaged in land speculation, and were viewed with extreme suspicion by most of Red River's Métis community.

During the Red River Rebellion of 1869 – 1870, Schultz emerged as one of the leading opponents of Louis Riel's provisional government (which was supported by most of the area's population). Schultz's followers engaged in a number of military skirmishes with the Riel government, and Schultz was forced to leave the region in February 1870. He arrived in Toronto in April.

Schultz made several speeches against the Riel government during his time in Toronto, and played a significant role in swaying Protestant opinion against the Métis leader. He frequently referred to Thomas Scott (an Ontario Orangeman executed by the Riel government for treason) as a Protestant hero, and called upon Ontario's Orangemen to avenge his death (both Schultz and Macdonald were also Orangemen, as were most of the Ontairio militiamen).

Schultz returned to Red River (now renamed Manitoba) in September, after the Canadian government had taken the area with militia units from Ontario. These Ontario soldiers frequently engaged in violence against the Métis population; there can be little doubt that Schultz approved of and encouraged their actions.

The newly-established government of Manitoba sought conciliation among the province's ethnic, religious and linguistic factions, and generally regarded Schultz as a disruptive force. Lieutenant-Governor Adams George Archibald hated Schultz, and refused to consider him when constructing his first administration. In Manitoba's first provincial election (December 30, 1870), Schultz's Canadian Party was the only real opposition to the governing alliance. His followers won four seats (one of which was overturned on appeal), and were responsible for the death of at least one aborginal government supporter. Schultz himself was defeated by Hudson's Bay Company spokesman Donald C. Smith in the riding of Winnipeg and St. John, 70 votes to 63. There was a riot among the Ontario militiamen when the result was announced.

The Canadian Party continued as a parliamentary force after this defeat. At one stage, Archibald warned Prime Minister John A. Macdonald that they were promoting the "extermination" of the Métis.

Manitoba elected its first representatives to the federal House of Commons in March 1871, and Schultz declared himself a candidate in the riding of Lisgar. In a campaign marked by violence and intimidation, he defeated local government supporter Colin Inkster by 315 votes to 65.

Schultz's political affiliations were ambiguous in this period. John A. Macdonald attempted to bring him into the Conservative ranks in 1871, almost certainly with the intent of neutralizing him. These efforts were unsuccessful, and by 1872 Schultz was apparently calling himself an Independent Liberal. He started another local paper, the Manitoba Liberal, before the year was over.

In the federal election of 1872, Schultz defeated his former ally Edward Hay, 273 votes to 128. He defeated Hay a second time in 1874, 285 votes to 216. He was also appointed to the Council of the Northwest Territories in 1872, and served on that board until its restructuring in 1876.

Notwithstanding Schultz's past agitations against the Métis, he was actually a defender of aboriginal rights for most of his time in parliament. He sought better compensation for the aboriginal population covered under Treaty 3, and tried to protect the buffalo from being hunted to extinction. He also sought to provide the west's Métis population with sufficient provisions for farming.

These positions may appear strikingly out of character of Schultz's previous actions, but they can probably be explained by the reduced influence of Louis Riel in the Canadian west after 1875. Most English-speaking aboriginals in the region were opposed to Riel, as were a number of francophone Métis; these groups generally did not consider Schultz as an enemy, nor was he unfavourably disposed toward them. Schultz continued to be a leading opponent of Riel in the 1870s, supporting his expulsion from parliament in 1874 and his five-year banishment from Canada in 1875. (It may also be noted that Schultz stood to benefit financially from some of the policies which he advocated for western Canada's native population.)

Schultz was re-elected by acclamation in the federal election of 1878, as John A. Macdonald's Conservatives won a national victory. Schultz would thereafter identify himself as a Liberal-Conservative and a supporter of Macdonald. Manitoba's population was by this time becoming dominated by Ontario immigrants (Riel's followers having largely abandoned the area), and Schultz was no longer considered a dangerous outsider by the local power structure.

In 1882, Schultz was defeated by Arthur Wellington Ross (also a Conservative), 760 votes to 720. Schultz was in poor health by this time, and many believed that he had little time left to live. Perhaps out of sympathy, John A. Macdonald appointed him to the Senate on September 23, 1882.

Schultz's health subsequently recovered, and he was able to function as an active member of the Senate. He supported prohibition, and continued to defend aboriginal rights against outside incursions.

On July 1, 1888, he resigned his Senate seat to become the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba. He was instructed to keep the Macdonald government updated on developments in the province, and to attempt to influence the government of Thomas Greenway on matters involving Macdonald's National Policy. He played little part in the Greenway government's anti-bilingualism legislation (which resulted in the Manitoba Schools Crisis), though he dutifully signed it into law on March 1, 1890, following Macdonald's orders. Schultz subsequently sought concessions for francophone schools.

Schultz stepped down as Lt. Governor in 1895. He travelled to Mexico in an attempt to improve his faltering health, but died there in 1896.

Schultz's progress from political outsider to Lt. Governor reflects the changes which occurred in Manitoba from 1870 to 1888. Although his early demagoguery was moderated over time, it is unlikely that he could have assumed high office had it not been for the high movement of anglophone settlers from Ontario to Manitoba in the intervening years. In 1870, he was regarded as a nuisance; when he died, he was a respected citizen.