BX June 21, 1973
An Outstanding Indian – Dr. Gilbert C. Monture Dies
One of Canada’s most distinguished Indians, Dr. Gilbert C. Monture, O.B.E. died in Ottawa on Tuesday at the age of 77.
A mining specialist who served as Canadian delegate to many international conferences and worked in several foreign countries, Dr. Monture was born in Tuscarora Township on August 27, 1896. He was a direct descendant of the famed Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant.
Dr. Monture, a former head of mineral resources branch of the federal mines department who worked as a technical adviser in such countries as Indonesia, Malaya and Bolivia, was the son of a sailor turned “hard luck farmer.”
He received his early education on the Six Nations Reserved and at Hagersville District High School. He taught school on the reserved for two years before entering Queen’s University, Kingston, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in mining and metallurgy.
Nickname
It was in university that he picked up the nickname “Slim.”
Between entering Queen’s in 1914 and graduating in 1921, Dr. Monture served in the First World War as a lieutenant with the Royal Canadian Engineers. After graduation he took further courses in business finance, commercial law, Economics, accounting and commercial geography.
From 1923 to 1939 he was editor of publications for the Dominion department of mines and in 1929 he was named chief of the division of mineral economics of the mines branch of the department.
He held a lieutenant’s commission in the RCE non-permanent active militia from 1935 to 1940. That year he was loaned to the department of munitions and supply as executive assistant to the metals controller.
Dr. Monture was appointed Canadian executive officer of the Combined Production and Resources Board in Washington in December, 1940, and served in this capacity until the end of the Second World War.
Following the war, Dr. Monture was appointed chief of the mineral resources division of the department of mines and held the position for 10 years. During these years he also was Canadian Delegate to the International Tin Study Group and International Tin Council and in 1946, to the Commonwealth Scientific Conference.
His numerous representation on behalf of Canada took him to New York, Paris, Malaya, Indonesia, Jamaica, Israel, Ghana, Ecuador, Afghanistan, Bolivia and, in 1960, to the Philippines and Singapore as a consultant for the United Nations Special Fund projects.
Dr. Monture was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1946 for distinguished public service, and he received an honorary doctor of science degree from the University of Western Ontario, London, in 1948. He was also a member of the council of Queen’s University and, in 1965 was named to the board of governors of Trent University, Peterborough.
In the late summer of 1956, several months after he resigned from government service, Dr. Monture became a vice-president of a Canadian minerals exploration and development company.
In 1957 he received the Indian Achievement Award of the Indian Council Fire (founded by Indians and interested friends in the United States in 1923 to annually honor Indians making notable contributions in all fields of endeavor) for his work in mining. He was the first Canadian so honored.
The following year, his own Mohawk tribe of the Six Nations made him an honorary chief. He was given the name “Ahs-to-sera-gowash,” meaning “Big Feather.”
He was a founder and, at his death, honorary president of the Indian-Eskimo Association of Canada.
Dr. Monture was predeceased by his wife, the late Elva Leona Penwarden of Cobourg. He leaves a daughter, Mrs. A.E. (Barbara-Anne) Manoch.
