Fred O. Loft
Founder of the Indian League of Canada
Frederick Ogilvie Loft (1861-1934), known by his Mohawk name Onondeyoh, was born on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario. A hero of the 1914-1918 war, in 1918 he founded the Indian League of Canada, the first nationwide political organization. He was immediately met with systematic opposition from the Department of Indian Affairs. He was discredited, branded an agitator and the organization's meetings were monitored. The Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Duncan Campbell Scott, considered him a radical activist and threatened to strip him of his Indian status. Though the organization dissolved in the early 1930s, Loft's determination is credited with paving the way for the emergence of Indigenous political organizations on a national scale.
