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James McKay (1828-1879): Metis trader, guide, interpreter and MLA.

Article Excerpt
James McKay was a unique individual, but he was also representative of his time: his life and career illustrate both the halcyon days of the western fur trade and its twilight time, as well as the attempts by Metis commercial and political leaders to adapt to the rapid changes that followed Confederation. He found commercial success in the "old" West of the fur trade and the buffalo hunt, and political success in the "new" West of agriculture and settlement. He bridged the gaps between different worlds, nomadic and sedentary, English and French, Protestant and Catholic, Aboriginal and British.

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Trader, Freighter, and Guide

James McKay was born at Edmonton House in the Hudson's Bay Company's Saskatchewan District in 1828. His father, also named James (born Farr, Sutherlandshire, circa 1797), was a seasoned veteran of the HBC, having served as a boatman and guide since 1816. James Sr. retired to Red River in 1840, after spending the last four years of his career with the HBC-sponsored Arctic expeditions of Dease and Simpson. Young James' mother was Marguerite Gladu, born at Cumberland House (circa 1808?) to a First Nations mother (probably Cree); it is not clear whether her father was First Nations, Metis, or French-Canadian.

Young James--known variously as Jamie, Jimmie, and Big Jim--went to school in Red River and followed his father into the Hudson's Bay Company's service in 1853. He served mostly in the Swan River District of south-western Manitoba and south-eastern Saskatchewan, although in 1859 he established two HBC posts in American territory. The Company had hired him as a clerk and entrusted him with the management of small trading posts, but it was his skills as an interpreter and guide that gained McKay widespread fame both during and after his time with the HBC.

Let me paint you a word-picture of James McKay in his prime. The Earl of Southesk, visiting the HBC's territories in 1859, recorded his first impressions of his impressive guide, upon meeting him in St. Anthony, Minnesota Territory:

A Scotsman, though with Indian blood on the mother's side, he was born and bred in the Saskatchewan country, but afterwards became...

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