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There are a couple ways to look at this 1955 photo of Diefenbaker posing with children from Saskatchewan’s Beardy Okemasis band. Diefenbaker showed an unprecedented level of interest and concern for Canada’s First Nations. His government brought the vote to Indigenous people and he appointed the first Indigenous person to the Senate, James Gladstone. That’s not a novelty headdress he’s wearing; several bands conferred Diefenbaker with the honorary right to wear a war bonnet. What was then called the Indian Association of Alberta even proclaimed him a defender of “Indian rights.” At the same time, when this photo was being taken, thousands of children like those in the photo continued to be sent to residential schools, with one of the largest being situated in Diefenbaker’s hometown of Prince Albert.

Diefenbaker mugs for cameras while he’s London for the 1960 Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference. It was at this same conference in 1961 that Diefenbaker would stage what was arguably his most triumphant act of statesmanship: Leading the charge to get Apartheid South Africa kicked out of the Commonwealth. “We believe that in a Commonwealth composed of many races and colours, and with an overwhelming majority of colours other than white, the principles of equality without regard to race … must be acceptable to all member nations,” he told reporters.

These flying related images are as good as any to mention the Avro Arrow, the Diefenbaker-cancelled aircraft program that still causes his name to trigger immediate anger in flying types. The Arrow was an interceptor; an aircraft designed to move as fast as possible in a straight line in order to shoot down Soviet bombers before they got to an urban centre like Vancouver or Toronto. The aircraft was technologically advanced, but also increasingly expensive — and its entire purpose was rendered obsolete by the invention of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The effect of the cancellation on Canadian aviation was devastating, to be sure, but it all comes down to a Conservative prime minister being asked to pour money into an emerging boondoggle simply to keep a private aviation company in business. “Responsibility rested upon us to ensure that the defence dollar expended in Canada shall return the largest potential in defence,” Diefenbaker said at the time.