author
Duncan Campbell Scott
1862–1947
Remembered both as a major Canadian poet and as a powerful civil servant, this is a writer whose legacy is impossible to separate from the country he helped shape. His work helped define an era in Canadian literature, even as his role in government remains deeply controversial.
4 Audiobooks
Lundy's Lane, and Other Poems
by Duncan Campbell Scott
Labor and the Angel
by Duncan Campbell Scott
The Magic House, and Other Poems
by Duncan Campbell Scott
In the Village of Viger
by Duncan Campbell Scott
About the author
Born in Ottawa in 1862, Duncan Campbell Scott became one of the best-known figures among Canada's Confederation Poets. Alongside his literary work, he spent most of his career in the federal civil service, joining the Department of Indian Affairs as a young man and eventually serving as deputy superintendent general from 1913 to 1932.
Scott published poetry, short fiction, and criticism, and for many years he was celebrated for his place in early Canadian literature. Reference works such as The Canadian Encyclopedia and Britannica note both his importance as a writer and the fact that his reputation changed sharply over time.
Today, Scott is also widely condemned for his central role in policies aimed at the assimilation of First Nations peoples, including the residential school system. That tension shapes how he is read now: as a significant literary figure whose career in government caused lasting harm, making his life and work part of a difficult but important chapter in Canadian history.