Malcolm Norris (1900–1967) was an influential

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Métis leader of the twentieth century, and celebrated Aboriginal activist. He was born to pioneer Edmonton businessman John Norris and his Metis wife Euphrosine Plante, in 1900 in Edmonton. Euphrosine was John's third wife, and she was younger than some of the children of his earlier pairings. So it was not a smoothly blended family. As well there was a degree of racial prejudice - the earlier children, themselves of a Metis mother, had not faced racism to the same degree in the years of the old North West as Malcolm and his siblings faced in the early 1900s. (Dobbin, One-and-A-Half Men, p. 34-5 Norris served for a time with the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

, and as an employee of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

. During his on-the-job travels he developed his political views in response to the disorganization and poverty he saw in Métis and

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

communities throughout northern

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

. He became a Marxist

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

and Métis

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

. He was a founding member of the Métis Association of Alberta (now called the

Métis Nation of Alberta The Métis Nation of Alberta (MNA) is a registered not-for-profit society in Alberta, Canada, that acts as a representative voice on behalf of Métis people within the province. Formed in 1928 as the Métis Association of Alberta, its primary fo ...

), alongside his friend

James P. Brady James Patrick Brady, better known as Jim Brady (March 11, 1908 – disappeared June 7, 1967), was a Canadian Métis political leader and activist in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Along with Malcolm Norris, he is generally regarded as one of the two ...

and others, in 1932. In the Second World War he served in the

Royal Canadian Airforce The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environme ...

. Afterwards he settled in northern Saskatchewan. For many years he worked with and for the new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation government in Saskatchewan. During his time in Saskatchewan, Norris sought self-government and fiscal self-sufficiency for his people through organizing the Métis Association of Saskatchewan. When the

Saskatchewan Liberal Party The Saskatchewan Liberal Party is a liberal political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The party was the provincial affiliate of the Liberal Party of Canada until 2009. It was previously one of the two largest parties in the provi ...

returned to power in 1964, he was dismissed from his government job in Prince Albert. Following this he served as President of the Métis Association of Saskatchewan and advised

Chiefs and bands on political organization. In 1967 he moved back to Alberta, where he died from a stroke.

References

External links

Aboriginal Faces of Saskatchewan Biography of Malcolm Norris

Encyclopaedia of Saskatchewan entry on Malcolm Norris Métis politicians Canadian activists Canadian socialists Indigenous leaders in Alberta Indigenous leaders in Saskatchewan 1900 births 1967 deaths Canadian Métis people Nationalists of North American nations {{Canada-activist-stub

See also

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Further reading

External links