Frank Oliver (politician)

Frank Oliver
Minister of the Interior
In office April 8, 1905 – October 6, 1911
Preceded by	Clifford Sifton
Succeeded by	Robert Rogers
Personal details
Born	Francis Robert Oliver Bowsfield September 1, 1853 Peel County, Canada West
Died	March 31, 1933 (aged 79) Ottawa, Ontario
Signature

Francis "Frank" Oliver PC (born Francis Robert Oliver Bowsfield;^[1] September 1, 1853 – March 31, 1933) was a politician and journalist from old Northwest Territories, and later Alberta, Canada.

Born in Peel County, Canada West, Oliver learned Journalism in Toronto, Ontario. In 1880 he moved west and founded the Edmonton Bulletin with his wife Harriet Dunlop (1863-1943).^[2] When the first issue was printed on December 6, 1880, it became the first newspaper in what is now known as the province of Alberta,^[3] and one which he owned until 1923. His other contributions to the Canadian Northwest includes the creation of the territories first public school system.^[4]

Oliver served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories for Edmonton from 1883 to 1896.

Oliver resigned from the legislature in 1896 to run for a seat in the House of Commons for the Liberal Party of Canada. He was elected representing the Alberta (Provisional District), and later Edmonton and Edmonton West. He served until 1921. From 1905 until 1911 he was appointed and served as the Minister of the Interior and Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs. As Minister, Oliver pushed for the recently discovered hot springs and contiguous area be given to the people of Canada, thereby creating Banff National Park;^[5] the first national park in Canada.

Oliver was assigned by Wilfrid Laurier to draw up the electoral boundaries used in the 1905 Alberta general election. The boundaries were said to favour the Edmonton region where the Alberta Liberal Party enjoyed the most support. He used his political weight to make certain that Edmonton, and not Calgary, would become the provincial capital.^[6]

Oliver's legacy includes drafting a law forbidding blacks from immigrating to Canada and using his newspaper to successfully lobby for having the Papaschase Cree removed from their Treaty 6 Reserve territory south of Edmonton.^[7] By 1911, Oliver's Immigration Policy called for tighter controls on immigration. Oliver was staunchly British, and his policies favoured nationality over occupation. By 1911, he was able to assert that his immigration policy was more "restrictive, exclusive and selective" than his predecessor's.^[8]

Frank Oliver was born Francis Bowsfield. "Due to some disagreement in the family he dropped the name of Bowsfield and adopted the name of his grandmother," Nancy Oliver Lundy. Frank Oliver died in 1933 in Ottawa.^[9]

He was the Son of Allan Bowsfield and Hannah (Anna) Lundy

References

• Frank Oliver (politician) – Parliament of Canada biography
• Frank Oliver, Manitoba Historical Society
• Frank Oliver and the 1905 election Alberta Heritage
• Frank Oliver and the Michel Band

2. Sanderson, Kay (1999). 200 Remarkable Alberta Women. Calgary: Famous Five Foundation. p. 16.
3. Brennan, Brian (2001). Alberta Originals: Stories of Albertans Who Made a Difference. Fifth House. p. 18. ISBN 1-894004-76-0.
4. Brennan, Brian (2001). Alberta Originals: Stories of Albertans Who Made a Difference. Fifth House. p. 18. ISBN 1-894004-76-0.
5. Brennan, Brian (2001). Alberta Originals: Stories of Albertans Who Made a Difference. Fifth House. p. 20. ISBN 1-894004-76-0.
6. Brennan, Brian (2001). Alberta Originals: Stories of Albertans Who Made a Difference. Fifth House. p. 18. ISBN 1-894004-76-0.
7. http://www.papaschase.ca/history.html
8. http://blackhistorycanada.ca/timeline.php?id=1900
9. Lundy, Euphemia. Lundy 1823-1989 Weston ON 1989.