Richard Hardisty

Richard Charles Hardisty (3 March 1831 – 15 October 1889) was a Hudson's Bay Company official at Edmonton and a politician in the North-West Territories, Canada.

The Honourable Richard Hardisty
Senator from Edmonton, North-West Territories
In office 23 February 1888 – 15 October 1889
Nominated by	John A. Macdonald
Appointed by	Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	James Alexander Lougheed
Personal details
Born	Richard Charles Hardisty (1831-03-02)2 March 1831 Fort Mistassini, Rupert's Land
Died	15 October 1889(1889-10-15) (aged 58) Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Richard Hardisty’s father was a Hudson’s Bay Company chief trader, born in London, England. His mother, Margaret Sutherland, was of First Nations and Scottish heritage.

He married Eliza McDougall, daughter of George Millward McDougall, on 21 September 1866 while he was a Hudson's Bay Company employee.^[1] They had three children.^[2]

in the 1887 Canadian federal election he ran as an Independent Conservative in Alberta (Provisional District). He finished a close second to Donald Watson Davis.

He was appointed to the Senate of Canada on the advice of Prime Minister John A. Macdonald on 23 February 1888, the first Métis senator.

He died on 15 October 1889, two weeks after being thrown from a horse-drawn buggy. (His replacement in the Senate was Sir James Lougheed, who was married to Richard Hardisty's niece Isabella (Belle) Hardisty. James Lougheed was the grandfather of Peter Lougheed, premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985.)^[3][4][5]

The village of Hardisty, Alberta, is named in his honour, as is Mount Hardisty in Jasper National Park.^[6]