Born and raised in New Glasgow, Prince Edward Island (PEI), David Laird
led a life of political and social activity befitting his family standing.
David Laird was the son of Alexander Laird, a prominent fixture within the
small community of New Glasgow as a farmer and a shipbuilder. His mother
was Janet Orr, the daughter of one of the original proprietors on the
island. Laird was raised as a devout Presbyterian and attended school on
the island, eventually earning a position at the Presbyterian Theological
Seminary in Truro, Nova Scotia, where he had hoped to join the ministry
upon his graduation. However, shortly after graduation, Laird was pulled
in a different direction, towards Charlottetown, where he founded and was
editor and publisher of the Charlottetown
Patriot. David Laird originally opposed Canadian confederation. However,
in spite of this opposition, he was sent to Ottawa in 1873 to negotiate
the admission of Prince Edward Island to the new Dominion.
David Laird sat on the Charlottetown City Council, its Board of
Education, and Board of Works, and he was a Governor of the Prince of
Wales College. Later, he represented the electoral district of Belfast in
the Prince Edward Island Legislative Assembly from 1871 to 1873 and
Queen's County in the Canadian federal House of Commons from 1873 to 1876.
Regarded as the leader of the Prince Edward Island Liberal Members of
Parliament, his refusal to support Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald
during the "Pacific Scandal" helped bring down the Conservative
government. Sir John's Liberal successor, Prime Minister Alexander
Mackenzie, appointed David Laird Minister of the Interior, and he served in
that capacity from 1873 to 1876. During the summer of 1874, he negotiated
the Qu'Appelle Lakes Treaty with the Native population of that area. This
treaty made way for the construction of the Dominion Telegraph and the
Canadian Pacific Railway.
On the advice of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie, David Laird was
appointed lieutenant-governor of the Northwest Territories effective
October 7, 1876. This appointment was made by the Earl of Dufferin,
Governor General of Canada.
With his secretary, Amédée E. Forget, who would later become
lieutenant-governor of the Northwest Territories himself, and an escort of
Northwest Mounted Police, David Laird spent his first winter in the
Territories at Fort Livingstone which was located near the Manitoba border,
approximately one mile northwest of present-day Pelly, Saskatchewan. In
March, 1877, he presided over the first meeting of the Northwest
Territories Council in a temporary building formerly occupied by the
Northwest Mounted Police Commissioner. In 1879, he and his council moved
to the new territorial capital of Battleford. David Laird served as
lieutenant-governor of the Northwest Territories until his successor was
appointed effective December 3, 1881.
Following the completion of his term as lieutenant-governor of the
Northwest Territories, David Laird served as editor of the Charlottetown
Patriot from 1881 to 1898. In 1898, he was appointed Indian Commissioner
of the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, and Keewatin, a position he held
until his death. In 1899, he negotiated Treaty 8 with the Native
population of the vast Athabasca District north of Edmonton. After 1909,
he served as an adviser to the Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa. He died on January 12, 1914, at Ottawa, Ontario, and was buried in the
Sherwood Cemetery, a few miles northeast of Charlottetown, Prince Edward
Island. |