Borden, Robert Laird, Sir, 1854-1937 : Prime Minister of Canada (1911-1920)
Robert Laird Borden was born on 26 June 1854 at Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia. He taught school in Nova Scotia and New Jersey before apprenticing as a lawyer and building a prominent practice in Halifax. He sat on corporate boards, served in the militia and helped found the Canadian Bar Association.
Borden was elected to parliament as a Conservative in 1896 for the riding of Halifax and succeeded Sir Charles Tupper as party leader in 1901. After losing his seat in the 1904 election, he was returned for Carleton. He was re-elected for Halifax in 1908 and 1911, and for King's in 1917.
Borden was elected prime minister in 1911, serving concurrently as president of the Privy Council (1911-17) and secretary of state for external affairs (1912-20). His government initiated civil service reform, passed the Canada Grain Act (1912) and introduced legislation supporting agriculture, business, infrastructure and Canada's navy.
The First World War dominated Borden's time in office. Soon after the war started in 1914, the government passed the War Measures Act and established the Canadian Patriotic Fund. Finances were secured through the Wartime Business Profits Act (1916) the War Tax Act (1917), the War Appropriation Act (1918) and by selling bonds. Borden also took control of wheat crops by establishing the Board of Grain Supervisors (1917), which became the Canadian Wheat Board. He founded the National Research Council (1916), the Dominion Bureau of Statistics (1918), inaugurated daylight savings time and began nationalising the railways.
In June 1917, Borden introduced conscription under the Military Service Act, splitting public opinion and prompting him to invite members of the Liberal Party to join the cabinet. This 'union government' was formed in October, and won a large majority in the December election thanks to the Military Voters Act (1917), which enabled men in uniform to cast ballots, and the War-time Elections Act (1917) which disenfranchised enemy aliens while giving many women the vote. However, Quebec stood alone and massively supported the Liberal rump led by Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
Borden increased Canadian autonomy from Britain. He ensured Canada's wartime contributions were recognised by an independent Canadian army, membership in the British war cabinet and a seat at the peace negotiations. Subsequently, Canada joined the League of Nations and the International Labour Organisation independent of Britain. At home, Borden called on the police to put down the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike.
After retiring in 1920, Borden represented Canada at the Washington Naval Conference (1922) lectured at the universities of Toronto (1922) and Oxford (1927), held corporate positions and was chancellor of McGill (1918-20) and Queen's (1924-30) universities. He was president of the League of Nations Society (1921-25), the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (1928) and the Canadian Historical Association (1930-31).
Borden was knighted in 1914. He married Laura Bond in 1889. Borden died at Ottawa on 10 June 1937 and was buried at Beechwood Cemetery.
Borden endorsed the federal government's systematically racist relationship with Indigenous Peoples, which caused tremendous ongoing trauma, displacement, disenfranchisement and exclusion. Specifically, a 1918 amendment to the Indian Act gave the government unilateral powers to take reserve lands and funds without the consent of First Nations and lease the land to settlers for farming. A 1920 amendment to the Act made attendance at Day or Residential Schools compulsory and increased the government's powers over enfranchisement and the status of First Nations women.
Borden also endorsed racism and nativism. He campaigned in the 1911 election under the slogan 'A White Canada.' In April 1914, he refused to allow the ship Komogata Maru, which carried Indian immigrants, to dock in Vancouver. During the war, Borden interned more than 8,500 people, mostly immigrants from German and Austro-Hungarian territories. Approximately two-thirds were Ukrainian-Canadians. In addition, approximately 80,000 people, mostly Ukrainian-Canadians, were required to register as 'enemy aliens.'
The damage done by Borden's policies and actions has been acknowledged in recent years. The prime minister at the time apologised for Indian Residential Schools in 2008 and 2017, and for the Komogata Maru incident in 2008 and 2016. The government passed the Internment of Persons of Ukrainian Origin Recognition Act in 2005 and established a $10-million education grant in 2008.
