Haliburton, Robert Grant

  • From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: See full biography at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Grant_Haliburton
    • Robert Grant Haliburton Q.C. D.C.L. (3 June 1831 – 6 March 1901) was a Canadian lawyer and anthropologist who founded the Canada First organization that contended that English Canadians were the “heirs of Aryan northmen” and that French Canadians were a “bar to progress”.
    • Haliburton was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia. His father was the Canadian author and British MP Thomas Chandler Haliburton, who wrote the bestselling Clockmaker series about the humorous adventures of the character Sam Slick. His brother was Lord Haliburton, who was the first native Canadian to be raised to the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
    • Like his father he graduated from University of King’s College and was part of the local volunteer militia in which he rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was called to the bar in 1853.
    • The Canada First movement was founded in Ottawa in 1868, by Ontario residents George Denison, Charles Mair, William Alexander Foster, and Robert Grant Haliburton. It was supported by Goldwin Smith and Edward Blake. The founders contended that the milder southern climate induced “degeneration, decay, and effeminacy” in its inhabitants, whereas the harsher northern climate stimulated “the inclination to be moderate”.
    • The Canada First movement contended that the French Canadians and Métis people impeded the development of civilisation in Canada by the English Canadians.
  • Great Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=3275
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50545256/robert_grant-haliburton