Scott was born on August 1, 1899, in
Quebec City, the sixth of seven children. His father was
Frederick George Scott, "an
Anglican priest, minor poet and staunch advocate of the civilizing tradition of imperial Britain, who instilled in his son a commitment to serve mankind, a love for the regenerative balance of the Laurentian landscape and a firm respect for the social order."[1] He witnessed the riots in the city during the
Conscription Crisis of 1917.
Scott returned to Canada, settled in
Montreal, studied law at
McGill University, and eventually joined the
law faculty as a professor. While at McGill, Scott became a member of the
Montreal Group of
modernist poets, a circle that also included
Leon Edel,
John Glassco, and
A. J. M. Smith.[2]
Scott and Smith became lifelong friends.[1] Scott contributed to the McGill Daily Literary Supplement, which Smith edited; when that folded in 1925, he and Smith founded and edited the McGill Fortnightly Review. After the Review folded, Scott helped found and briefly co-edited The Canadian Mercury.[citation needed] Scott, assisted by Smith and
Leo Kennedy, also anonymously edited the modernist poetry anthology New Provinces (in which he published ten poems), which was published in 1936.[3]
The
Great Depression greatly disturbed Scott; he founded the
League for Social Reconstruction (LSR) with the historian
Frank Underhill to advocate
socialist solutions in a Canadian context. Through the LSR, Scott became an influential figure in the
Canadian socialist movement. He was a founding member of the
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and a contributor to that party's
Regina Manifesto. He also edited a book advocating Social Planning for Canada (1935).[1] In 1943, he co-authored Make This Your Canada, which spelled out the CCF national programme, with
David Lewis. Scott was elected national chairman of the CCF in 1942, and would serve until 1950.[1]
In March 1942 Scott co-founded a literary magazine, Preview, with the Montreal poet
Patrick Anderson. Like the earlier Montreal Group publications, "Preview's orientation was
cosmopolitan; its members looked largely towards the English poets of the 1930s for inspiration."[4]
In 1950–1951, Scott cofounded Recherches sociales, a study group concerned with French–English relations. He began translating French-Canadian poetry.[1]
In 1952, he served as a
United Nations technical assistance resident representative in
Burma to help build a socialist state in that country.[1]
Scott began translating French-Canadian poetry and published
Anne Hébert and
Saint-Denys Garneau in 1962. He edited Poems of French Canada (1977), which won the
Canada Council prize for translation.
Scott opposed Quebec's
Bill 22 and
Bill 101, which established the province within its jurisdiction as an officially-unilingual province within an officially-bilingual country.
After his death on January 30, 1985, Scott was interred in
Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal.
Scott is the subject of a number of critical works, as well as a major biography, The Politics of the Imagination: A Life of F. R. Scott by
Sandra Djwa.
Canada Today: A Study of Her National Interests and National Policy – 1938
Canada's Role in World Affairs – 1942
Make This Your Canada: A Review of C.C.F. History and Policy – 1943 (with
David Lewis)
Cooperation for What? United States and British Commonwealth – 1944
The World War Against Poverty – 1953 (with R. A. MacKay and A. E. Ritchie)
What Does Labour Need in a Bill of Rights – 1959
The Canadian Constitution and Human Rights – 1959
Civil Liberties and Canadian Federalism – 1959
Dialogue sur la traduction – 1970 (with
Anne Hebert)
Essays on the Constitution: Aspects of Canadian Law and Politics – 1977
Scott, Frank R. (1986). A New Endeavour: Selected Political Essays, Letters, and Addresses. Edited and introduced by
Michiel Horn. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
ISBN0-8020-5672-5.
The Blasted Pine: An Anthology of Satire, Invective and Disrespectful Verse – 1957 (with
A. J. M. Smith)
Discography
Six Montreal Poets. New York: Folkways Records, 1957. Includes A. J. M. Smith, Leonard Cohen, Irving Layton, F. R. Scott, Louis Dudek, and A. M. Klein. (cassette, 60 mins)
Canadian Poets on Tape. Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1969, 1971. (cassette, 30 mins)
A Poetry Reading. Toronto: League of Canadian Poets, 1982. (cassette, 60 mins)