Behind the Man: John Laurie, Ruth Gorman, and the Indian Vote in Canada (review)

This is an intriguing book, constructed like a mille feuille, with the sweetness of many layers. At first glance it may too easily be dismissed as a dutiful posthumous rendering of the last work of Calgary society matron, Mrs Ruth Gorman. She had worked a good part of her adult life with John Laurie, a ‘shy and modest’ schoolteacher who for many years was the secretary of the Indian Association of Alberta and one of their important political advisors. Together they were stalwart ‘Friends of the Indian,’ offering the kind of support that characterized liberal social activism of non-Aboriginal Canadians in the postwar decades. Gorman had come to admire Laurie and to believe that his story should be told. The core of this book, then, is an edited version of her idealized interpretation of the life and times of the man she was proud to ‘stand behind.’

Yet we are offered more than this. True, the story of John Laurie and his role in bringing the federal franchise to Aboriginal people, and his initiative in the Hobbema case of 1952 – a landmark victory over the Department of Indian Affairs – is worth remembering, and Mrs Gorman gives us a close, candid view of his work. But in so doing she offers even greater insight into her own role and character. She grew up in Mount Royal, in a privileged ‘society’ household. Unusually for a woman, she took both an arts and a law degree and put her expertise, her energy, and her social conscience to work for many diverse and worthy causes in her province. She took an active role in many of the good works of the Calgary Council of Women, was the founder and editor of Golden West magazine, and through the 1950s and 1960s was a significant figure in the legal and political struggles of Aboriginal people in Alberta. Sharp in cross-examination of departmental officials, she deferred to men quite consciously and without rancour. Clear in her strategic thinking, she pursued her goals within the constraints women faced in 1950s Canada. A striking photograph shows her departing by train for Ottawa, accompanied by Chief John Samson, to take on (effectively as it turned out) Parliamentary committees. Her bearing is confident as befits a former debutante, her hat and gloves immaculate! Ruth Gorman’s full biography remains to be written, but her unaffected account of her partnership with Laurie offers many insights into the life of a professional woman at mid-century.

A final layer of this mille feuille is the work of the editor, Frits Pannekoek, now president of Athabasca University, who contributes a lengthy introductory essay and extensive footnotes. Faced with more than forty boxes of Gorman’s records and her unfinished manuscript, and aware that both she and Laurie had attracted serious criticism, he nevertheless saw an opportunity to open a window on an important period in the history of the peoples of Alberta. Pannekoek’s essay is both accessible and thoughtful. He offers the context of a time and a society that, like Gorman herself, undervalued the achievements of women’s voluntary work. He recognizes her place in the world of women’s writing described by Carolyn Heilbrun and Jil Conway and senses the importance of her relationship with her father. Finally he had the advantage of knowing and interviewing Ruth Gorman and has been able to convey, to a contemporary audience, her paternalism, her patrician sense of duty, and her determination to serve the ‘Indian cause.’