Hayter Reed

Hayter Reed (May 26, 1849 – December 21, 1936) was a Canadian politician. He served on the 1st Council of the Northwest Territories.

Reed was born in L'Orignal, Ontario, the son of George and Harriet Read, two English immigrants. He received education at Upper Canada College and Model Grammar School, both in Toronto. He briefly did military service, serving as brigade major, No. 6 Div. Military District No. 3 from 1870 to 1871 and serving as an adjutant in Manitoba from 1871 to 1877. Called to the bar in 1872, he gained employment and worked for the Department of the Interior, as an Indian Agent for the Battleford area (1881), Assistant Indian Commissioner of the North West Territories (1884), Indian Commissioner of the North West Territories (1888), and finally Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, until his dismissal by Interior Secretary Clifford Sifton in 1897. Reed is responsible for purposely hindering flourishing Indigenous economic agricultural development in the plains through the Peasant Farming Policy, which aimed to push Indigenous peoples to the socioeconomic positions of peasants. In 1882, Reed was appointed as a member of the North West Territories Council; during his time on the council he would fill in for the Lieutenant Governor in his absence. He lived in Regina. He served on the council until 1888, and later worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway hotels. He died in 1936.