George McDougall

George Millward McDougall (September 9, 1821 – January 25, 1876) was a Methodist missionary in Canada who assisted in negotiations leading to Treaty 6 and Treaty 7 between the Canadian government and the Indian tribes of western Canada.

McDougall was born in Kingston, Ontario (then Upper Canada). In 1842 he married Elizabeth Chantler and they eventually had nine children. After attending Victoria College in Cobourg, he was ordained in 1854. In 1860 he was sent to the Rossville near Norway House. In 1863 he established the Victoria Mission near Edmonton, the earliest Methodist mission in the West, and was superintendent of Methodist missionary work in the Saskatchewan District. In 1871 he founded a permanent mission at Edmonton House, a Hudson's Bay Company outpost at what is now Edmonton, Alberta. McDougall also helped prepare the Natives for the signing of Treaty 6 and Treaty 7. He died in a blizzard while on a buffalo hunt near what is now Calgary, Alberta.

He and his son John McDougall served missions over a wide area, ministering to Indian groups at Pigeon Lake, Stoney Lake, Saddle Lake and Whitefish Lake.

He and his son founded the McDougall Orphanage and Home, an Indian residential school, in about 1875. The school closed in 1910.

George extended his ministry to southern Alberta, establishing a mission - McDougall Mission - on the Bow River named Morleyville. It was on a hunting trip in January 1876 near the Nose Hill area that Rev. George McDougall was lost in a blizzard and was found dead several days later.

An indication of his influence in the creation of present-day Alberta can be found in the large number of memorials that have been established throughout the province, including hospitals, schools and other local landmarks.