Canadian Connections

Thousands more sailed direct to Canadian ports, to Halifax, St John, Quebec, Montreal. My curiosity was stirred on that first and subsequent visits. Everywhere I went – Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, Toronto, the shores of Lake Huron, Vancouver – I found a Scottish presence.

Twenty years later I was asked to develop and lead a National Museums of Scotland programme to investigate the Scottish diaspora. Working on the Museum of Scotland, which opened in 1998, had sharpened an understanding of just how much of Scotland's history had taken place outwith Scotland. The legacy of this small nation's remarkable mobility can be found in every continent. From the middle of the eighteenth century Canada was a key arena for Scottish emigrants and sojourners, and it quickly became a focus of my new role.

There are not many Scots in Scotland without some kind of connection with Canada. It's not just that thousands have forebears who settled there, but that Canada affected the life and work of thousands more who never left Scotland. Many people's livelihoods and the business of many of Scotland's ports depended on transatlantic trade and shipping. The timber and fur trades particularly affected Scots personally and economically, and made them aware of Canadian opportunities. At times, Canada was regarded almost as an extension of Scotland, with land available for people who at home were displaced or struggling.

When I retired from the NMS in 2001 plans were taking shape for an exhibition on Scots in Canada to open in 2003. With about nine months to go, my former colleagues enthusiastically ran me through the exhibition's storyline. Shortly afterwards I mentioned to Gavin McDougall of Luath Press that it was a pity that there would be no book to accompany the 'Trailblazers' exhibition. 'It's not too late,' was his pragmatic response, and the next thing I knew I was agreeing to write what became Scots in Canada. The book was in the shops a few days after 'Trailblazers' opened in October.

I worked on the book knowing that the story of Scots in Canada is important for both Scots and Canadians. It reminds us that Canada has played a part in shaping the Scottish nation. It also demonstrates the extraordinary extent to which Scots have contributed to the development of Canada. Scots were quick to identify commercial potential and to involve themselves in crucial nation-building activities. The impact they made was entrepreneurial as well as pioneering, visionary as well as practical. And although they shared in the British imperial exploitation of the aboriginal population many had respect for the Natives and a readiness to learn from them. The experiences of Scottish settlers were often backbreaking, sometimes heartbreaking, and many found that their new country failed to live up to their hopes. Nevertheless, the Scottish imprint on Canada is indelible. I was prepared to be sceptical about the catalogue of Scottish-Canadian achievements; if anything, my preconceptions underestimated the role of Scots in Canadian life.

They traded fur, felled timber and dug mines, they farmed and fished, they explored and surveyed, they established banks and businesses, they built railways and ran shipping lines, they were prominent in politics, education and religion, and they sustained communities which kept alive the language and traditions of the old country. Scots did well in so many different capacities partly because the vast, challenging territory of Canada provided scope and opportunities which Scotland, so often politically and culturally marginalised, could not. The evidence of their dynamic response to this challenge is found throughout Canada today and ensures that the Scottish-Canadian connection remains vivid and relevant.