Leslie Howard Saunders (September 12, 1899 – March 30, 1994)
was
Mayor of Toronto
The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in ...
, Canada, from 1954 to 1955 and the last member of the
Orange Order
The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots heritage. It also ...
to hold the position until
William Dennison. He also served as Mayor of
East York
East York is a former administrative district and municipality within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1967 to 1998, it was officially the Borough of East York, a semi-autonomous borough within the upper-tier municipality of Metropolitan Toron ...
in 1976.
Early life
Saunders was born in London, England and immigrated with his family to
North Bay, Ontario
North Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District, and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing. North Bay developed as a railroad centre, and its airport was an important military ...
at the age of six.
[ He began his working career in ]Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Provi ...
with the Ontario Northland Railway
The Ontario Northland Railway is a Canadian railway operated by the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, a provincial Crown agency of the government of Ontario.
Originally built to develop the Lake Timiskaming and Lake Nipissing area ...
. A trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
ist, he became president of his local union and ran as a Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
candidate for North Bay's city council. He served in World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and then became Secretary-General of the Great War Veteran's Association in North Bay helping raise money for a war memorial.
Political career
A staunch Salvationist
The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents co ...
, Saunders joined the Orange Order in 1918.[ He had a 37-year-long political career which began in North Bay where he served as an alderman for six years.][ He and his family moved to ]Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
in 1928 and, during the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, Saunders became Business Manager of ''The Sentinel'', the Orange Order's influential, twice-weekly publication. In 1936, Saunders founded a rival publication, ''Protestant Action'', as he felt ''The Sentinel'' was not taking a strong enough stand against Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
-run Separate School
In Canada, a separate school is a type of school that has constitutional status in three provinces (Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan) and statutory status in the three territories ( Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut). In these Canadi ...
s. Saunders entered politics and was elected as a school board trustee and then as an alderman in the 1942 election.
The council that Saunders joined was dominated by the Orange Order. 16 out of 23 members were Orangemen. Saunders was considerably more radical in his Orangeism than his fellows. He at times refused to stand for "O Canada
"O Canada" (french: Ô Canada, italic=no) is the national anthem of Canada. The song was originally commissioned by Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony; Calixa Lavallée composed the mus ...
", arguing the monarchist "God Save the King
"God Save the King" is the national anthem, national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in ...
" and the "Maple Leaf Forever
"The Maple Leaf Forever" is a Canadian song written by Alexander Muir (1830–1906) in 1867, the year of Canada's Confederation. He wrote the work after serving with the Queen's Own Rifles of Toronto in the Battle of Ridgeway against the Feni ...
" were Canada's true anthems. In 1946 he led a campaign against the city holding a public welcoming for newly proclaimed Cardinal James Charles McGuigan
James Charles McGuigan (November 26, 1894 – April 8, 1974) was a Canadian prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the longest-serving Archbishop of Toronto, serving for almost 37 years from 1934 to 1971. He became the first English-speaking ...
. Saunders argued that Catholics had no right to parade through the streets of what was a "Protestant City". He also led a letter writing campaign against the ''Encyclopedia Americana
''Encyclopedia Americana'' is a general encyclopedia written in American English. It was the first major multivolume encyclopedia that was published in the United States. With ''Collier's Encyclopedia'' and ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclo ...
'', for what he argued was a biased article on the Orange Order. The campaign was a success and the volume was recalled and replaced with an article written by Saunders.
Saunders was chairman of the city committee which established Regent Park
Regent Park is a neighbourhood located in downtown Toronto, Ontario built in the late 1940s as a public housing project managed by Toronto Community Housing. It sits on what used to be a significant part of the Cabbagetown neighbourhood and ...
as Canada's first public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...
project.[
In 1945, Saunders attempted to win the Progressive Conservative nomination for Riverdale, but he lost narrowly to his fellow Ward 1 alderman ]Gordon Millen
Gordon James Millen (September 8, 1899 – April 10, 1948) was a politician from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He served several years on city council before being elected as a Member of Provincial Parliament.
Background
Millen was a dentist b ...
. Saunders then tried to win election to the Board of Control. He received no major newspaper endorsements, and in the 1945
1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
Januar ...
and 1946 elections failed to win a seat. In 1947 he won back his old seat on city council he served there for two years before trying again for the Board of Control. In the 1949 election he was endorsed by all three daily papers and won a seat on the Board.
Mayor
Saunders topped the Board of Control vote in the 1953 election. When mayor Allan Lamport
Allan Austin Lamport, (April 4, 1903 – November 18, 1999) was mayor of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, from 1951 to 1954. Known as "Lampy", his most notable achievement was his opposition to Toronto's Blue laws which banned virtually any activ ...
resigned to become head of the Toronto Transit Commission
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...
, Saunders was appointed mayor. Saunders caused almost immediate controversy when one of his first acts was to write a Twelfth of July
The Twelfth (also called Orangemen's Day) is an Ulster Protestant celebration held on 12 July. It began in the late 18th century in Ulster. It celebrates the Glorious Revolution (1688) and victory of Protestant King William of Orange over C ...
letter on official stationery extolling William of Orange's victory in the Battle of the Boyne
The Battle of the Boyne ( ga, Cath na Bóinne ) was a battle in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II of England and Ireland, VII of Scotland, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II (his cousin and ...
. Controller Roy E. Belyea, a fellow Orangeman, criticized Saunders for his action accusing him of being intolerant of religious minorities.
The Mayor's letter was reprinted in the press prompting him to be vilified in editorials. The controversy, along with Saunders's decision to bar the press from attending meetings of the Board of Control, was a contributing factor in his subsequent electoral defeat at the hands of Nathan Phillips, the first non-Protestant, the first non-Orangeman in the twentieth century and first Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
to be mayor of Toronto. During the election, Saunders had proclaimed himself to be running as "Leslie Saunders, Protestant". In pointed contrast to Saunders, Phillips was hailed as "Mayor of all the people".
Forty members of the Orange Order had become Mayor in Toronto's history, including all of Toronto's mayors in the twentieth century up to and including Saunders. After his defeat, Saunders became Grand Master of the Orange in Canada and Imperial Grand President but was unable to stem the decline of the Order, particularly amongst youth, in what was becoming an increasingly multicultural, non-sectarian city.
East York
Saunders became politically active in the Toronto suburb of East York. He ran for reeve in 1960, and was defeated by True Davidson
Jean Gertrude "True" Davidson, CM (19 April 1901 – 18 September 1978), was a Canadian politician, teacher, and writer. She was the first mayor of the Borough of East York, Ontario, and she was one of Metropolitan Toronto's most colourful polit ...
. He was elected to the East York council in 1961, where he became a fixture. In 1976, he argued against holding a Flag Day to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Maple Leaf Flag
The national flag of Canada (french: le Drapeau national du Canada), often simply referred to as the Canadian flag or, unofficially, as the Maple Leaf or ' (; ), consists of a red field with a white square at its centre in the ratio of , in ...
replacing the Canadian Red Ensign
The Canadian Red Ensign (french: Enseigne Rouge Canadienne ) served as a nautical flag and civil ensign for Canada from 1892 to 1965, and later as the ''de facto'' flag of Canada before 1965. The flag is a British red ensign, with the Royal Un ...
as Canada's flag.[
He served as the borough's chief magistrate in 1976 when he became interim mayor, appointed to complete the term of Willis Blair upon his appointment to the ]Ontario Municipal Board
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) was an independent administrative board, operated as an adjudicative tribunal, in the province of Ontario, Canada. It heard applications and appeals on municipal and planning disputes, as well as other matters sp ...
. He was re-elected to council as an alderman for a final term before retiring in 1978.[
]
Orange Order
Saunders was a devoted Orangemen and served as Imperial Grand President of the Grand Orange Council of the World, the Order's highest office, for six years.[
]
References
*Leslie Howard Saunders. ''An Orangeman in public life: the memoirs of Leslie Howard Saunders.'' Britannia Printers, 1980
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Leslie Howard
1899 births
1994 deaths
Mayors of East York, Ontario
Mayors of Toronto
Metropolitan Toronto councillors
People from North Bay, Ontario
Toronto District School Board trustees