The Conservative Archipelago, Part 2

Updated on Sunday, May 4, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. ET

In my last column, I described the discovery by Vilhjalmur Stefansson in 1915 of a large, previously unknown island that he named First Land, later to be named Borden Island, in the High Arctic.

Turning south from this as-yet unnamed island, Stefansson and his men reached their quarters at Cape Kellett on Melville Island on Aug. 9, 1915.

The next year, he would continue his exploration of the farthest reaches of Canada’s north and bestow a number of names honouring Conservative party members and politicians.

In 1916, Stefansson and his party left Cape Kellett in January — the coldest and darkest time of the year — and headed farther north. After reaching his Borden Island, he continued northeast and arrived at Ellef Ringnes Island on May 29.

It had been named earlier by Norwegian explorer Otto Sverdrup. Stefansson continued even farther northeast, where he discovered a new island, which he circumnavigated.

Anticipating its discovery, Stefansson wrote: “I have always thought that the discovery of land which human eyes have never seen is about the most dramatic of possible experiences.”

He wrote in his diary about the discovery: “Reached land 12:15 a.m. June 15, but did not go ashore as I knew the boys were anxious to be the first. As Charlie [Karsten Andersen] seems to have been the first to see what is clearly identifiable as this land, I called that honor enough for him and let [Harold] Noice step ashore first.”

Stefansson called it Second Land, “the most nearly barren place I have seen in the Arctic,” before deciding to honour Arthur Meighen, a Conservative party member of Sir Robert Borden’s cabinet, who served as solicitor-general, minister of the interior, and superintendent-general of Indian Affairs. He would go on to succeed Borden as prime minister in 1920.

In later years, doubt would be cast on whether Stefansson’s party was in fact the first to discover Meighen Island, but that’s another story for another time.

Returning southward from Meighen Island, Stefansson corrected the existing surveys of King Christian Island and the Findlay Group of islands.

Previous explorers had shown some confusion in their narratives over the identification of King Christian Island, confusing it with a group of islands known as the Findlay (sometimes Finlay) Group. Stefansson undid that confusion. He named five of the mostly small islands, before continuing south and wintering on northern Melville Island.

Paterson (or Patterson) Island had been named in 1853 by Sherard Osborn on a Franklin search expedition, and Stefansson did not rename it.

He named tiny Stupart Island after Sir Robert Frederic Stupart, a Canadian meteorologist and member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

Although Stefansson would not know it until he returned south two years later, Stupart, who was politically well-connected, was knighted in 1916.

Edmund Walker Island was named for Sir Byron Edmund Walker, a banker and philanthropist who advised then-prime minister Borden on a number of issues and was knighted in 1910. He headed the “Toronto Eighteen,” a group of prominent businessmen who had campaigned against Wilfrid Laurier’s Liberals and unleashed “a firestorm of anti-American sentiment,” leading to Laurier’s defeat by Borden in 1911.

Grosvenor Island took its name, uncharacteristically, from an American, Gilbert Grosvenor, editor of the National Geographic magazine and a supporter of Stefansson.

The largest of the Findlay Group was initially called simply Third Land.

Stefansson described it as “a delightful summer resort … The country was rolling hills, well covered with vegetation,” and added, “It is a hospitable if not a pretentious place.”

He decided to call it Lougheed Island after Canadian businessman and politician James Alexander Lougheed from Alberta, a long-time senator. He would serve in the Senate for 35 years; he also held a number of cabinet posts. He was, of course, staunchly conservative.

In 1921, the Liberals came to power under William Lyon Mackenzie King. He served three non-consecutive terms as prime minister between 1921 and 1948.

The islands which Stefansson had named in the High Arctic were part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, but the Liberals took to calling them, disparagingly, the Conservative Archipelago. This was never an official name and you won’t find it on any map.

Remember that Stefansson initially believed Brock Island and Borden Island were one, which he called Borden Island. Eventually they were found to be two, and Brock got its own name. But, in fact, they had been three islands.

The island that Stefansson eventually called Borden Island was in reality two islands separated by a strait. An aerial survey eventually proved this, at a time when the Liberals were in power.

It was time to get even for the perceived slight of the Conservative Archipelago.

Under the Liberal government, the northernmost but smallest of the two islands retained the name Borden Island. But the largest, separated from Borden Island by Wilkins Strait, was named Mackenzie King Island, to honour King, a Liberal prime minister.

And there it remains, a Liberal reminder in the midst of the otherwise Conservative Archipelago.

Taissumani is an occasional column that recalls events of historical interest. Kenn Harper is a historian and writer who lived in the Arctic for more than 50 years. He is the author of Minik: The New York Eskimo and Thou Shalt Do No Murder, among other books. Feedback? Send your comments and questions to kennharper@hotmail.com.

This article was update from its originally published version to correctly identify explorer Otto Sverdrup as Norwegian.