In the Village of Viger

Duncan Campbell Scott was born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1862. He was educated there and at Stanstead College in Quebec. He entered the civil service in 1879 as a junior clerk in what would become the Department of Indian Affairs; by 1913 he had risen to the rank of Deputy Superintendent General, a position he held until his retirement in 1932.Urged to write by his close friend Archibald Lampman, Scott became a skilled and popular poet, short-story writer, and casual essayist. His best-known stories, such as those collected in In the Village of Viger (1896), are delicate yet intense explorations of traditional communities and cultures struggling to adjust to a rapidly changing world. His poetry often reflects his concerns for and sympathy with the lives of Native peoples.Duncan Campbell Scott died in Ottawa in 1947.