The Awkward Marriage

Wife in a black wedding dress...

The Temperance Colonization Society (TCS) of Toronto began with an invitation and a speech.  "J.A. Livingston, a one time district preacher, organ pedlar, and amateur lecturer on economics" shared his vision of a colony in the North-West territories with John N. Lake.  Both men were believers in the Temperance cause and both had strong connections with the Methodist church (Lake being a retired minister within that denomination).

The timing was right for a colony in the west in terms of economics as well.  John A. Macdonald's 'National Policy' required an expansion into the North West.  Raw materials were needed for manufacturing, American expansion needed to encounter a Canadian hegemony, and the government of Canada had been largely unsuccessful in attracting migrants into its territories.  As a result, the government turned to the success of colonizing western Ontario through the use of Land Colonization Companies and applied this strategy to the emerging North West Territories.

Are we really getting married?

The emergence of the Canadian National and Pacific Railways also made a move to the North-West feasible.  Canada's economy was strong and the creators of the TCS saw a chance to make some money through the process of 'land speculation'.

The principal of Queen's University (G.M. Grant) supported this endeavour in a speech he gave at the Toronto Exhibition in September of 1881.  In reference to the emerging prospectus offered by the TCS he declared "All believe that drunkenness, and the drinking habits that lead to it, are bad for the individual and bad for the country...Keep strong drink then out of as wide a section as possible of the North-West which is to be the home of our children." (Globe - Toronto) Shortly after this speech "3100 men and women had subscribed to over 2 million acres in the North-West"(kerr and handson) sight unseen.

An awkward marriage developed that points to a history of an unstable husband (the greed of Land Speculation) dominating over a quiet and moral wife (the ideals of the Temperance movement).  As Kerr and Hanson point out "The TCS was a matter of both morals and money".(kerr and hanson 1)

The Charter and By-Laws of the company point to this awkward marriage as well.  Note how 7 of the 8 foundations of the charter refer to finances while only the second foundation points to an ideology.

Further proof of this awkward marriage comes from the lack of ideology (or spirituality) found in the by-laws of the charter.  While it is noted at the very beginning of this charter that this will be a "Temperance Colony" and that Liquor shall not be "manufactured, sold, or imported" from within this colony, the lack of any reference to the non-business nature of this venture is telling.  For instance, here is a copy of the 'order of business':

One question that a Methodist Christian looking to be free from the scourge of alcohol might ask is "Where is the opening prayer?" or "What is the plan we have in place to manage and enforce Temperance ideals in the colony?"  One has to wonder how serious these stockholders were about keeping the temperance ideal.

More 'evidence by omission' could be found in the reporting and historical analysis of the Methodist Mission movement within the North West context.  Various documents will point to pioneering missionaries in the area, missionary activities amongst Aboriginal people, the work of various churches in the region and even discussions about the 'Primitive Methodists' and their colony at Grenfell, SK.  This only touches on some of the Methodist activity recorded within church-based documents within the North West territories of the time period.  In all of this no mention is even made to the Temperance Colony of Saskatoon.  While it is true that John N. Lake was a former Methodist minister one has to start asking the question "how former" of a minister was Lake?  

While some of this entry is delving into speculation, the evidence seems to indicate that there really was a joint ideology in regards to Temperance, but that this ideology was loosely based on the spiritual connections with the Methodist church.  In reality, it seems that some like-minded people saw an opportunity to make a lot of money (and perhaps start a new and successful life) through land speculation in the North-West.  This convenient, but awkward, marriage ended ultimately with bankruptcy and bars in only 10 years of existence.

Why did we ever get married?