Robert Bird Steinhauer (Cree)

Robert Bird Steinhauer (1861–1941) was a Cree minister, teacher, interpreter, and advocate for First Nations education and treaty rights. In 1887 he earned a BA in Philosophy and Polity at Victoria College, now part of the University of Toronto. He was the second Indigenous Canadian to graduate with a BA from a Canadian university and the first Indigenous Canadian from the territory that became Alberta to earn a university degree. 1

His importance extends beyond those educational milestones. His university writing challenged government conduct towards First Nations, and his subsequent ministry brought him into the daily struggles over schooling and Indigenous participation in public life. His biography illustrates how an Indigenous university graduate used his education in the service of western communities while working within church institutions committed to their transformation.

Family and the Whitefish Lake community

Steinhauer was born at Whitefish Lake mission on 16 February 1861. His parents were Henry Bird Steinhauer, an Anishinaabe Methodist minister from Upper Canada, and Jessie Joyful, also known as Seeseeb or Mamenawatum, a Cree woman. 2 Robert’s Cree identity and his father’s Anishinaabe origins were both part of his family history.

Henry established the mission at Whitefish Lake in 1857. His work joined Christian teaching with schooling and agricultural development. 3 Robert therefore grew up within an Indigenous community already making decisions about education and economic change, rather than encountering these questions for the first time at university.

George Monro Grant’s 1873 travelogue provides contemporary evidence of that setting. Grant described a Whitefish Lake school with eighty Cree children and a teacher who travelled with the community during buffalo hunting, carrying books and slates and continuing lessons at successive camps. He also described families cultivating wheat, barley, and potatoes. 4 The account shows that schooling could accompany seasonal movement and that cultivation coexisted with other livelihoods.

Grant’s account is a Christian observer’s assessment and uses the assumptions of nineteenth-century missionary writing. Its description remains valuable because it records practical educational arrangements. The later residential school system should not be projected backwards onto every form of mission schooling: the travelling school he described operated in close proximity to families and their activities. 4

John Maclean’s Vanguards of Canada places Cree literacy at the centre of Henry’s ministry. It describes reading in syllabic characters, Bible translation, hymn books, day schools, and congregational participation. 3 This was a formative environment for a future minister whose work would depend on communication in Cree as well as English.

Education in Alberta and Ontario

Elizabeth Ann Barrett taught at Whitefish Lake from 1875 to 1877 and gave particular attention to Robert and his elder brother, Egerton Ryerson. She prepared them for further study; in 1879 they travelled to Cobourg, Ontario, to attend its Collegiate Institute. 5 Their educational ambition grew from instruction and encouragement received within their home community.

Maclean records that the brothers worked during the summers to supplement assistance from their family. 3 Higher education required labour and financial sacrifice as well as ability. His account also describes Egerton returning west to help their father, whose declining health increased the need for assistance with the mission. Robert continued his studies in Ontario. 3

Robert entered Victoria College in 1883. A tall, accomplished runner and football player, he also possessed a strong bass voice and led the glee club. His fellow students elected him Senior Stick, or class president, in 1886. 5 These activities place him within the social and musical life of the college as well as its academic programme.

His BA in Philosophy and Polity followed in 1887. 1

Treaty rights and the writing of an undergraduate

During the spring of 1886 Steinhauer published “The Indian question” in Acta Victoriana, the college journal. He argued that western First Nations had grounds for dissatisfaction because treaty promises remained unfulfilled. He also criticized the appointment of Indian agents through political patronage and their lack of competence. 6 He demanded accountability for promises made.

Later that year he assisted John McDougall and the visiting Indigenous leaders Pakan, Samson, and Jonas Goodstoney during their tour of Ontario and Montreal. At Toronto’s Metropolitan Church, Robert sang before Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, with Pakan joining in Cree. 6 His participation combined interpretation, public presentation, and music.

The tour also exposed the distance between the visitors’ expectations and official policy. Pakan sought control over reserve property and produce, and objected to restrictions on movement and sales. The government failed to provide the equality he wanted. 6 His Christian affiliation coexisted with demands for treaty fulfilment.

Smith’s documented account reproduces passages from the original article. 6, 7

Ministry marriage and community service

Steinhauer began mission work at Saddle Lake in 1887, subsequently serving at Whitefish Lake, the Red Deer Industrial Institute, Morley, and Battle River near present-day Maskwacis. He returned to Saddle Lake in 1919 and remained there until his death. Around 1890 he married Charlotte Pruden; their family included six daughters and five sons, one adopted. 2

His successive postings brought him into the competing expectations of church authorities and Indigenous families. His work depended on sustained residence in western communities.

In 1896 he underwent enfranchisement, relinquishing legal Indian status to obtain the rights and independence that the government attached to that change. 8 Legal classification and Cree identity were distinct aspects of his life.

He and Egerton helped revise a Cree hymn book published in 1920. 2 Their collaboration continued the family’s engagement with religious literature in Cree.

Education and residential schooling

Steinhauer taught at Red Deer during its first year, 1893–94. He later urged a boycott around 1908, then renewed support after reforms. His children’s schooling also revealed dissatisfaction: several moved to public schools or Alberta College, while the younger Ruby and Barner attended public school in Edmonton. When his adopted son Lawrence fled residential school in 1931, Robert did not send him back. 8

His objections coexisted with continuing involvement: he interpreted at the Edmonton institution’s opening in 1924. 8 His judgments changed, and his commitment to schooling did not amount to unconditional acceptance of the available institutions. His choices for his children are especially revealing, showing a minister seeking alternatives within the unequal educational opportunities of his time.

His participation and criticism both belong in the record. 8

Indigenous political organization

Steinhauer supported the League of Indians of Canada and served as chief interpreter at its Alberta meeting at Hobbema in 1922. 2 His language skills thus served an Indigenous political forum as well as Christian worship.

Laurie Meijer Drees’s history explains how the League, founded by Frederick Ogilvie Loft in 1918, spread westward and developed an important presence in Treaty 6 communities. Its meetings gave communities a means of identifying shared grievances. Resolutions at Saddle Lake in 1931 opposed further reserve land surrenders, defended hunting, trapping, and fishing rights, and sought greater economic assistance. 9

This context gives substance to Steinhauer’s participation. Interpretation enabled discussion across linguistic differences and helped Indigenous people communicate their concerns collectively. The League’s demands also connect his later activity with the questions he had raised as an undergraduate: the treatment of Indigenous communities by government and the practical meaning of promised rights. His professional ministry did not exhaust the uses to which he put his education.

Recognition final years and historical legacy

Victoria University awarded Steinhauer an honorary Doctor of Divinity in 1937; its official list records him as a recipient from Saddle Lake. 10 The presentation took place on 27 April, when he was seventy-six. The centenary honour also acknowledged his father’s connection with Victoria. 5

Steinhauer died at Saddle Lake on 1 July 1941. A day school opened there in 1951 was named for him. 2 His BA of 1887 remains an especially important accomplishment in the history of Indigenous university education. 1

The surviving record offers more than a list of honours. The archival description of his papers identifies correspondence, diaries, notebooks, certificates, Cree syllabic translations, and baptism, marriage, and burial records from Saddle Lake. 11 These holdings preserve evidence of a working intellectual life grounded in language, faith, family, and community responsibilities.

Taken together, his university advocacy, western ministry, educational choices, and political interpretation show a man attempting to make education useful to Indigenous communities. His historical significance lies both in his university milestones and in the sustained work that followed. His career also reveals the difficult choices faced by Indigenous Christians who sought greater opportunity while participating in institutions pursuing assimilation.

References

1. Indigenous Canadian Academic Milestones: A Timeline; https://indigenius-canada.wishartlab.com/pioneers/ (accessed 7 October 2026).
2. Smith DB. Steinhauer, Robert Bird. In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography [Internet]. Vol. 17. Toronto and Quebec: University of Toronto and Université Laval; 2024 [cited 2026 Oct 5]. Available from: https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/steinhauer_robert_bird_17E.html
3. Maclean J. Vanguards of Canada [Internet]. Toronto: Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, Young People’s Forward Movement Department; 1918 [cited 2026 Oct 5]. p. 101–118, especially 114–116. Available from: https://archive.org/details/vanguardsofcanad00macl
4. Grant GM. Ocean to ocean: Sandford Fleming’s expedition through Canada in 1872 [Internet]. Toronto: James Campbell and Son; 1873 [cited 2026 Oct 5]. p. 165–166. Available from: https://archive.org/details/oceantoocean00granuoft
5. Smith DB. Elizabeth Barrett and Shahwahnegezhik / Henry Bird Steinhauer: a gifted Ontario school teacher and the Steinhauer family. In hindsight: half a century of research discoveries in Canadian history [Internet]. Episode 12. Ontario Historical Society; 2023 Apr 25 [cited 2026 Oct 5]. Available from: https://ontariohistoricalsociety.ca/podcast/in-hindsight-episode-12/
6. Smith DB. Chiefs journey. Canada’s History [Internet]. 2017 Sep 5 [cited 2026 Oct 5]. Expanded documented version of Worlds apart, October–November 2017. Available from: https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/first-nations-inuit-metis/chiefs-journey
7. Steinhauer RB. The Indian question. Acta Victoriana. 1886 Mar;9(6):5–6. Cited through the passages and bibliographic details reproduced in Smith, Chiefs journey [reference 6].
8. Smith DB. The Steinhauers, father and sons: First Nation missionaries to First Nations’ people. Touchstone [Internet]. 2008 Sep [cited 2026 Oct 5]:45–61. Available from: https://paperzz.com/doc/9247735/profile-the-steinhauers—father-and-sons—first-nation
9. Meijer Drees L. The Indian Association of Alberta: a history of political action. Vancouver: UBC Press; 2002. p. 17–18. Digitized text consulted [cited 2026 Oct 5]. Available from: https://dokumen.pub/the-indian-association-of-alberta-a-history-of-political-action-1nbsped-9780774850216-9780774808767.html
10. Victoria University. Honorary degrees conferred by Senate [Internet]. Toronto: Victoria University; [date unknown] [cited 2026 Oct 5]. Entry for Robert Bird Steinhauer, 1937. Available from: https://vicu.utoronto.ca/about-victoria/honorary-degrees/honorary-degrees-conferred-by-senate
11. Glenbow Museum and Archives. Robert Bird Steinhauer fonds. Alberta On Record [Internet]. [date unknown] [cited 2026 Oct 5]. Reference code GLEN glen-2189; dates 1881–1941. Available from: https://www.albertaonrecord.ca/informationobject/browse?languages=en&page=10&repos=329&sf_culture=en&sort=alphabetic&sortDir=desc&subjects=577&topLod=0&view=table