Gilbert Clarence Monture was born on August 27, 1896, on the Six Nations Reserve, Brant County, Ontario. Monture came from a family of military tradition. He was the great grandson of Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea), a famous Mohawk leader who fought for land rights and independence of the Six Nations Confederacy. Brant was also a warrior who fought for the British during the Seven Years’ War and the American Revolutionary War.
Monture was raised with seven siblings in a two-room log cabin in Tuscarora Township, Ontario. At age 12, he enrolled in the Hagersville District High School and walked eight kilometres each way to school. He graduated four years later and taught school for two years on the Six Nations Reserve.
During the First World War, he interrupted his studies to enlist in the military and in December 1917, he joined the Royal Canadian Field Artillery as a gunner. He had five months of previous service with the unit while it was being formed for overseas duty. Monture became a lieutenant on May 1, 1918 in Quebec, sailed to Britain in July and was stationed at Seaford Camp.
On April 30, 1918, he joined the Royal Canadian Engineers. Because of medical reasons after the war ended, a young Lieutenant Monture returned to Canada in July 1919 and was released from military service.
In 1921, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mining and Metallurgy from Queen's University. Monture enlisted in the First World War as a gunner in the Royal Canadian Field Artillery. In 1923 he became editor of publications for the Department of Mines and in 1929 became chief of the Division of Mineral Economics of the Mines Branch in Ottawa.
In 1935 he joined the militia as a 40-year-old civil servant and served five years in an engineer unit as a lieutenant. During the Second World War, he had hoped to transfer to active force, but was unable to because of a hand injury from an earlier mining accident. Instead, Monture worked in the Department of Munitions and Supply as executive assistant to the Metals Controller. In early 1944, he was Canadian executive officer of the Combined Production and Resources Board formed by Canada, Britain and the United States. He helped allocate much-needed strategic minerals to the war effort and made similar contributions during the Korean War and to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
After the Second World War, Monture was appointed Chief of the Mineral Resources Division by the government for more than 10 years. He was selected as the Canadian government’s representative on several international committees dealing with mineral-economic matters, including committees in the Commonwealth and the United Nations.
Monture resigned from government service in 1956 and was appointed vice-president of Stratmat, a Canadian minerals exploration and development company. He was a member of the Board of Governors of Trent University from 1966-1973, and Monture House was named after him. He died on June 19, 1973 in Ottawa.
Honours and Awards:
Order of the British Empire (1946)
Indian Achievement Award, Indian Council Fire (first recipient from Canada) (1957)
Six Nations honorary chief (Ohstoserakówa, meaning “Big Feather”) (1958)
Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Western Ontario (1966)
Vanier Medal, Institute of Public Administration of Canada (1966)
Officer, Order of Canada (1967)
Member, Canada’s Indian Hall of Fame, Canadian National Exhibition (1967)
