Holyrood pays tribute to Scots pioneers in Canada

Published on Friday 16 March 2007 12:23

SCOTS links with Quebec, dating back nearly 250 years, are celebrated in a historical exhibition at the Scottish Parliament from today.

Photographs highlighting the achievements of Scottish settlers in Canada's largest province will be on display in the main public foyer at Holyrood for the next four weeks.

The first influx of Scots immigrants to Quebec was in the 1760s, when disbanded soldiers took advantage of land grants to settle along the shores of the St Lawrence River.

But larger numbers of Scots arrived in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

And the free exhibition looks at the lifestyles and pastimes of these Scottish pioneers who left their home towns in Scotland to create a new life for themselves and their families overseas.

Many successful Scots left a philanthropic legacy which survives to this day.

And the exhibition illustrates Scots' achievements in the fields of engineering, commerce, shipping and academia.

Among those pictured in the exhibition is Sir William Edmond Logan, who was born in Montreal to Scottish parents in 1798 and studied at Edinburgh University before returning to Canada, where he was one of the founding Directors of the Geological Survey of Canada.

His importance to Canadian geology has been commemorated in the naming of Canada's highest mountain after him: Mount Logan.

Other photographs include one of curling on the St Lawrence River in Montreal in 1878.

It features the Governor General, Lord Dufferin, and his wife, Lady Dufferin, along with Sir John A Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada. Scottish headgear, such as Balmoral and Glengarry bonnets, is very much in evidence.

The exhibition, organised by Quebec's representatives in London and the McCord Museum in Montreal, runs until April 12.

Presiding Officer George Reid said: "Over the last eight years the Scottish Parliament has sought to engage on the international stage, to build friendships across an ever more globalised world with the aim of supporting and learning from each other's parliamentary experiences.

"In that international dimension Quebec has always had a special relationship with Scotland.

"This relationship has not only been built out of shared experience, but also out of the human stories of the Scots who centuries ago played a key role in the development of Quebec and Canada."

Quebec's agent general in London, George MacLaren, said Scotland had played an important role in Quebec's history.

He said: "The Scots made an immense contribution to the intellectual, medical, commercial and philanthropic development of Quebec in the 19th century.

"Scotland and Quebec have always enjoyed a special relationship."

Also featured in the exhibition are James McGill, a Glasgow-born merchant who went on to become one of the richest men in Montreal, leaving money to found the prestigious McGill University; Henry Morgan, born in Fife, who became one of Quebec's most successful retailers; he opened the first department store in Canada; and William Notman, an amateur photographer from Paisley who built a commercial empire from modest beginnings. The majority of photographs in the exhibition come from his collection.

Other Scots connections highlighted range from a girls' school in Montreal named Bute House to a St Andrew's Society ball in 1878.