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Sir Frederick Haultain, first and last Premier of the North-West Territories
circa 1900

Credits:
SAB. R-B1027.

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"Anyone studying the history of western Canada since the establishment of governmental institutions cannot fail to be struck by the remarkable calibre of the men who have been leaders in public life". So wrote one journalist in 1935, beginning an article on Sir Frederick Haultain, first and last premier of the former North-West Territories, and founding father of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Haultain is one of the men responsible for laying the legislative foundation for the North-West Territories. Yet despite his involvement in the formative years of nation building, his contributions to the judicial system and his fight for responsible government in the North-West Territories and for provincial autonomy have been overlooked.

Born in Woolwich, England in 1857, Haultain came to Peterborough, Ontario with his family in 1860. Haultain studied law at Osgoode Hall in Toronto, and was called to the bar in Ontario in 1882. In 1884, he relocated to Fort Macleod, North-West Territories, now Alberta, and was called to the bar there shortly thereafter.

Despite Haultain's extensive legal education, he is most often remembered for his contributions to the political landscape of the North-West Territories. Haultain was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories in 1887. In 1897, he and the Assembly successfully lobbied the federal government for the right to form responsible government. Haultain formed the first government in 1897, effectively becoming the first and last Premier of the North-West Territories before it was granted provincial status.

Shortly after taking office, Haultain "brought about the incorporation of the Law Society, and placed the legal profession on a sound footing". Thus, from very early on, Haultain used his legislative position to establish a legal foundation for the region. To be sure, in his first years as premier, Haultain remained active in his legal career, acting as Counsel for the Crown on the Herchmer Inquiry.

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Frederick Haultain Biographical Sketch from the Regina Leader-Post [page 2 of 9]
30 January 1942

Credits:
SAB. SHS 25. Leader-Post. January 30, 1942.

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Haultain's commitment to the prairies and use of his legislative powers to establish a stable judicial system can be explored through his involvement in two events at the Wolseley courthouse. In 1898, Haultain appeared at the courthouse as Premier of the North-West Territories at the incorporation banquet of the Town of Wolseley. During this event, Haultain outlined his vision of the West as an undivided and non-partisan entity free from party politics and patronage. In 1908, Haultain appeared at the courthouse as the defense lawyer for Samuel Prior, who was tried and convicted of the murder of Rosa Mohr. During the trial, Haultain demonstrated his belief in the infallibility of the system with his strident defense of a man who, at the time, was considered guilty before the trial even began.

When Haultain arrived at Wolseley on 20 December 1898 to honor the incorporation of the Town of Wolseley , he had only been serving as Premier of the North-West Territories for a little over a year, having been appointed 7 October 1897. Haultain, however, was not new to territorial politics, having served in the North-West Territorial Council, which was later replaced by the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories, since 1887. Surrounded by his peers, including Lieutenant-Governor Amédée E. Forget, Minister of Public Works James Hamilton Ross, Mayor R.A. Magee, and Senator W.D. Perley, Haultain outlined his vision of the North-West Territories, which stressed the importance of women in public affairs and the importance of non-partisanship in governance. Haultain was "glad to see ladies present" at the banquet meeting, stating it to be a "splendid departure" from the old ways of meeting. Haultain "believed that the public men would be better and the administration of public affairs better, the larger the interest taken in them by the women of the country". Though all women, regardless of race, would not receive the right to vote in Canada until 1960 , the speech reveals Haultain's focus on equality and his beliefs relating to society's political institutions.

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"His Honor Banquetted." Article on the incorporation banquet of the Town of Wolseley
22 December 1898

Credits:
SAB. Regina Leader. December 22, 1898.

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Additionally, Haultain asserted that non-partisanship was the best form of governance for the North-West Territories. As such, he reminded the attendees of the banquet of the "absence of partyism in the Assembly" and believed that the Lieutenant-Governor, in "[r]epresenting the Queen, … represented all that was most stable and august in their institutions: far removed from their little party fights". Haultain's belief in non-partisanship was called into question, however, during his tenure because of his ties to the federal Conservative party.

Despite Haultain's vision, his role in history has been, arguably, disregarded. It was Haultain who led the fight for provincial autonomy at the turn of the twentieth century, lobbying for a single province, to be called "Buffalo", out of the North-West Territories. Haultain's fight for provincial autonomy has been romanticized by historians and journalists, but Hugh Amos Robson finds this depiction of Haultain to be inaccurate: "to place him as a gladiator fighting the beasts at Ottawa, or their Lieutenant-Governor at Regina, all the time, as was the fashion of some writers, was all wrong.... Examination shows no evidence of Haultain's [sic] encouraging such sensationism [sic].... He did not... upset the public by resigning his seat in the Assembly and coming back a hero." In this respect, Robson argues that Haultain is not a "hero" of provincial rights or autonomy, but a level-headed politician who "got what he wanted by convincing Ottawa" . Yet, what Robson fails to recognize is that Haultain did not get what he wanted-not exactly. The North-West Territories was divided into two provinces, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and not the one province model proposed by Haultain. The decision to divide the North-West Territories into two provinces was made by Liberal Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier. Laurier feared a single province would result in a large western stronghold that could challenge the powers of his Liberal government.

Additionally, when it came time to appoint the leaders of the new provinces, Laurier passed over Haultain, a Conservative sympathizer, in favour of Liberal party supporter Walter Scott as Premier. Though Haultain was a victim of government patronage, this did not suppress his political spirit. Haultain formed the Provincial Rights party, a non-partisan party determined to keep the federal government out of provincial matters. In the first provincial election in 1905, Haultain's Provincial Rights party had a strong showing, but was ultimately denied the opportunity to form government by Saskatchewan voters in favour of Scott's Liberal government. Haultain's Provincial Rights Party was relegated as the Official Opposition.

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First page of court transcript, Crown v. Prior
1908

Credits:
Court records for the Crown v. Samuel Prior, 1908. © Government of Canada. Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada (2011).
Source: Library and Archives Canada/Department of Justice fonds/RG13-B-1, Vol. 1425 (1,2), File 392 A, No. 72395.

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Statement of the Accused, Crown v. Prior
22 August 1907

Credits:
Court records for the Crown v. Samuel Prior, 1908. © Government of Canada. Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada (2011).
Source: Library and Archives Canada/Department of Justice fonds/RG13-B-1, Vol. 1425 (1,2), File 392 A, No. 72395.

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Rosa Mohr's gravemarker at Greenville Cemetery, south of Wolseley
1907
Wolseley, Saskatchewan

Credits:
Denton Keating, 2011.

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Because Haultain was unable to form government, he re-entered the practice of law in Regina after eighteen years of administrative service to the North-West Territories. Haultain's re-entry and apparent focus on law may have been what placed him back in the Wolseley courthouse in 1908 for the case of Crown v. Samuel Prior.

Crown v. Prior was a sensational case, and according to the newspaper archives, the most important to be tried in the Wolseley courthouse between 1895 and 1909. The defendant, Samuel Prior, was tried for the murder of the six-year-old Rosa Mohr just outside of Wolseley. The case received considerable coverage in The Wolseley News and involved political and legal heavyweights Sir Frederick Haultain for the defense and Levi Thomson for the Crown.

The details of the case were gruesome. Rosa Mohr was found in a bluff just outside of Wolseley. According to Dr. Charles Wesley Hunt, a medical practitioner at Indian Head and coroner at this case, Mohr was killed instantly by a stab wound to her neck. Additionally, Hunt indicates, "there was a cut in the abdomen running from the right up towards the left, of about six or seven inches in length, and the bowels were protruding". The newspaper continues to go into further detail of the evidence presented, which, as Haultain states in his closing remarks, "[was a] complicated mass of contradiction submitted as evidence."

Perhaps because the case was so complex, the newspaper accounts fail to mention much in the way of the character of Haultain or of his debate style. Hugh Amos Robson, a lawyer and colleague of Haultain's, wrote generally of Haultain: "There might be detected in Haultain's debating style a certain acidity which one began to look for and which made his speeches tasty. There was no flamboyance, no gesticulation. The voice was rich, the language perfect, the flow easy, and the tones fell agreeably on the ear". Indeed, it may have been this style of debate that allowed Haultain to present a solid case for the defense at Crown v. Prior. Writing of Levi Thomson's closing remarks, The Wolseley News describes Thomson as "pull[ing] his case together well, after the battering it received at Mr. Haultain's hands". Haultain's oratory skills allowed him to present a strong, clear, and concise case for Prior, nothing less than any person placed before the court deserved.

Yet despite Haultain's strong showing, Prior was still found guilty. The most damaging piece of evidence, according to Thomson, was Prior's confession to the police. The confession was recounted to the court by Sergt. Debuque of the Royal North-West Mounted Police. If Prior's confession was falsified in front of the court by Sergt. Debuque, then, as Haultain suggested, "Sergt. Debuque was a worse man than the defendant". Prior was sentenced to hang 26 March 1908 , however, later inquiry into Prior's mental state found him unstable, and his sentence was commuted to imprisonment in the Alberta Penitentiary in Edmonton.

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The Judge's Charge, Crown v. Prior [page 1 of 3]
1908

Credits:
Court records for the Crown v. Samuel Prior, 1908. © Government of Canada. Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada (2011).
Source: Library and Archives Canada/Department of Justice fonds/RG13-B-1, Vol. 1425 (1,2), File 392 A, No. 72395.

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The Judge's Charge, Crown v. Prior [page 2 of 3]
1908

Credits:
Court records for the Crown v. Samuel Prior, 1908. © Government of Canada. Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada (2011).
Source: Library and Archives Canada/Department of Justice fonds/RG13-B-1, Vol. 1425 (1,2), File 392 A, No. 72395.

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The Judge's Charge, Crown v. Prior [page 3 of 3]
1908

Credits:
Court records for the Crown v. Samuel Prior, 1908. © Government of Canada. Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada (2011).
Source: Library and Archives Canada/Department of Justice fonds/RG13-B-1, Vol. 1425 (1,2), File 392 A, No. 72395.

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After his battle in the court, Haultain returned to battle in the legislature. On 14 August 1908, the second provincial election was held. Haultain's Provincial Rights party again sought to take power from Scott's Liberal government, but was once again defeated. Though Haultain had essentially been removed from administrative power, he did not shy away from the public eye. In 1912, at the retirement of Chief Justice Edward Wetmore, Haultain was appointed Chief Justice of Saskatchewan. This appointment, according to one writer, placed Haultain back into a position that he was the most effective at, for "[h]is mind was cast in a judicial mold rather than a political one, and when he was elevated to the bench he found his proper sphere in the calm judicial atmosphere of the court of appeal".

Throughout his career, Haultain fought for provincial autonomy, the rights of Western Canada, and the rights of every person placed before the court. Haultain believed in the stability and the infallibility of the institutions of the North-West Territories, and fought to establish and maintain them despite difficulties from the federal government. Because of Haultain's contributions to the institutional foundation of the North-West Territories, Hugh Amos Robson, a colleague of Haultain's and his partner in law for a short period, states, "If the Prairies ever come to the time for monuments to their statesmen, the first choice should be easy to name."