Calgary & Southern Alberta

Constantine Scollen

Constantine Scollen, born in Ireland in 1841, arrived at St. Albert in 1862 where he taught English and French. Upon learning Cree, Scollen prepared a grammar and dictionary of the language with the aid of Father Lacombe. He established the first mission in southern Alberta in 1873 and remained there for the next eleven years. He worked primarily among the Kainaiwa. Following the signing of Treaty Six, David Mills, Minister of the Interior, asked Scollen to prepare a report on the Blackfoot Confederacy. Scollen compared the Blackfoot unfavorably with the Cree, presented them as warlike, and argued that a treaty be signed with them as soon as possible. Present at the signing of Treaty Seven, Scollen later found the government’s treatment of the Kainaiwa alarming. As a consequence, he lobbied the federal government to fulfill its treaty obligations.

Return to Missionaries: Precursors to Settlement