Today, of course was the birthdate, in 1887, of Canadian legend James Gladstone, the first Indigenous Senator in our country's history. As a youth, James Gladstone had attended a residential school and an Indian Industrial school.  He later apprenticed as a printer and interned at the Calgary Herald.  In 1911, he worked as a scout and interpreter with the Royal Northwest Mounted Police but later found his way into farming and ranching. He was appointed to the Red Chamber by Prime Minister Diefenbaker in 1958.   The appointment by Canada's 13th Prime Minister came only two years before Dief and his Conservative government secured voting rights for all Indigenous Peoples in Canada.  Before his appointment, Gladstone had served as the elected president of the Indian Association of Alberta, during which time he played an important role in the fight to ensure the franchise was granted to his peoples. Senator Gladstone served with distinction in Canada's Upper Chamber until 1971.  He died of a heart attack in September 1971. caption id="attachment_558397" align="aligncenter" width="281" James Gladstone/caption Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist.  He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy.  A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.