The VGs performing at their 60th Anniversary Concert in April 2013. The group recorded its first album in 1988 with Live From the Studio and has since released 22 studio albums. The VGs most recent album release was in 2016 with Upside Down, a reference to their recent travel to Antarctica. In addition, he was the 50th Reunion year rep for 1953, worked on the East Kildonan Collegiate/Miles Macdonell Collegiate mini reunion in 2004, which covered East Kildonan Collegiate students and the first two years of Miles Mac. He also came back to Winnipeg for the 60th reunion in 2012. More schools should show pride in their history, like Miles Macdonell Collegiate, which will unveil four names on its “Alumni of Distinction” at its 60th anniversary reunion Saturday.
Miles MacDonell (c. 1767 – 28 June 1828) was the first governor of the Red River Colony (or, Assiniboia), a 19th-century Scottish settlement located in present-day Manitoba and North Dakota.
Biography[edit]
He was born in Inverness, Scotland, around 1767. In 1773, his father, Colonel John MacDonell of Scothouse (Spanish John), Inverness-shire and three of his cousins chartered the Pearl and brought over five hundred of their families and friends, at the invitation of Sir William Johnson, and settled at Caughnawaga, on the Mohawk River, in the Province of New York.
Their son Miles, who showed military tendencies at an early age, was appointed ensign in the King's Royal Regiment of New York in 1792, lieutenant in the Royal Canadian volunteers in 1794, and captain in the same corps in 1796. At the request of Lord Selkirk, he came to London in 1803, and was induced by that nobleman to assume the post of governor of Selkirk's planned colony on the Red River in the Northwest territory. Selkirk, a shareholder in the Hudson's Bay Company, had bought 300,000 km² (116,000 mi²) of land in the Red River Valley from the company in order to provide a home in the New World for destitute Scots and to deny the land to Hudson's Bay's commercial rival, the North West Company.
Macdonell collected the first body of colonists, composed principally of evicted Scottish Highlanders from the Sutherland estates, in 1812. He sailed from Stornoway for the colony in 1811. The group wintered at York Factory, and reached the Red River the following August. On his arrival, he was at once met with opposition from the agents of the North West Company, whose headquarters were at Montreal. On 11 June 1815, representatives of the North West Company attacked and fired upon the colonists, and demanded the surrender of Governor Macdonell, who, to avoid the loss of blood, gave himself up voluntarily. He was taken to Montreal as a prisoner, and charges were laid against him by his enemies, but his case was not tried. During his ten or twelve years' connection with the Red River Colony, he was its leading spirit and took an active and decided part in the feuds of the Hudson's Bay Company and North West trading companies, after which he returned to his farm at Osnabruck, Upper Canada.
Historians have generally agreed that, despite the inherent difficulties of establishing a colony at the Red River amid the fierce competition between the fur-trading companies, Macdonell must bear some of the responsibility for the colony’s initial failure. They have focused upon his character faults, his inability to inspire trust and loyalty among his people, his obstinacy, his arrogance, his unaccommodating temper, and his lack of staying power. It was these flaws, as well as his lack of shrewdness and diplomatic skill, that led to his failures. Either he never understood his situation, or worse, refused to come to grips with it. Nowhere is this better shown than in the decision to issue the Pemmican Proclamation. It was promulgated at a time when the colony was too weak to defend itself and it offered the NWC excellent propaganda against both the HBC and Lord Selkirk. His behaviour during those years suggests that he saw the colony as entirely separate from the fur trade but his point of view does not excuse an insensitivity that blinded him to the provocative nature of his actions. Through a similar blindness he alienated his own people, seeking out the company of 'gentlemen' in preference to theirs.[1]
In later years, he lived at the residence of his brother John at Pointe-Fortune on the Ottawa River where he died in 1828.
Miles Macdonell Collegiate in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada was named in his honour. It opened in 1952.
References[edit]
- ^Mays, Herbert J. (1987). 'Macdonell, Miles'. In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. VI (1821–1835) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
External links[edit]
About Us
Objectives
Miles Macdonell Collegiate 60th Anniversary Gift
- To serve its members and Miles Macdonell Collegiate by serving the alumni of the collegiate.
- To generally promote the image of Miles Macdonell Collegiate in the community and specifically through programs to facilitate the relationship between the collegiate and its alumni, commonly known as 'friendraising', in order to promote a continuing affiliation with the collegiate.
- To communicate with all interested alumni to promote a continuing affiliation with the collegiate.
- To advise the collegiate on matters of interest of the alumni.
- To facilitate fundraising among the alumni to promote projects to benefit the collegiate.
Miles Macdonell Collegiate 60th Anniversary Gifts
The Miles MacDonell Collegiate Alumni Association has made many contributations to the collegiate and the students since its formation. As a result of the scholarship fund, 26 Miles Mac students have received a total of $43,500 towards their post secondary education since 2002. The scholarship fund was founded as a result of the Miles MacDonell Collegiate 50th Anniversary Reunion held June 28-30, 2002 with $92,000 being deposited with the Winnipeg Foundation in 2002; total contributions have now reached $94,425. The Association has provided $950. towards to the Multi Media Department, that have been used to provide awards for outstanding students. The Alumni Association website has been created and maintained by Miles Mac students for which these student webmasters have received a total of $1,150. At the time of the creation of the Association in 2002, the collegiate's Music Department received $5,000 and a total of $2,500 was given to the collegiate to build a new sports case to hold the many trophies and awards won by the collegiate over the years. The EAL (English as Additional Language) Students have received new benches in their area of the collegiate at a cost of $500 and as well four pizza lunches were provided to these students by the Association at a cost of $1,688. For the collegiate's archives two binders of historical articles detailing with the collegiate's history were donated to collegiate at a cost of $481. The Alumni Association has provided a grant of $500 towards the cost of starting a Miles Mac literary magazine. A total of $1,000 was given to the music program. A total of $2,500 was given to create a mural in Gym A. In total the Miles MacDonell Collegiate Alumni Association has provided a total of $59,769 to the collegiate and its students since the formation of the Association after the 50th Anniversary Reunion in 2002. The Alumni Association has also scanned and digitized all of the yearbooks of the collegiate from the first year 1952 - 1953 to 2007 - 2008. Other Directors Rick Dondo, Carmen Dondo, Debb Brethauer, Principal Greg Daniels