John Sutherland: A Testament
to the Irrepressible Scottish Spirit
By AARON CHAPMAN
As Robby Burns Day comes around for another year, Hibernians and those would-be Scots get ready celebrate all things Scottish. Out comes the kilts, the haggis, and us unaccented ones rolling our "r"s uncontrollably for laughs.
But real Scottish figures are rooted in our history, especially those pioneers whose names echo in British Columbia and its history.
But that hearty spirit of the Scots perhaps isn't so immediately apparent to us in our urban life. Dusty portraits of Simon Fraser, or the charts of early maps by Alexander MacKenzie are the revered Scots that fill chapters in the libraries, but it's also the less distinguished Scots, and those that never got their name on a River, University, or street name that are woven into this culture as well.
The Vancouver Sun newspaper of Tuesday, March 1, 1949 contains a small article about one such Scot - a Vancouver resident by the name of John Sutherland. Two days earlier, Sutherland had been visited by city Police for playing his bagpipes in the 2600 Block of Parker street.
There's little biographical detail in the article of the man except to note that Sutherland had immigrated to Canada 20 years earlier, lived in "a one room shack" and made his living as "a tinker" - essentially an odd-jobs man.
The grizzled 60-year-old bachelor was known to occasionally spend his relaxed hours playing the bagpipes and the accompanying photograph shows the rugged, bearded Sutherland at his home workshop broodily sharpening an axe.
The Police had asked Sutherland to stop playing after responding to noise complaints throughout the neighbourhood. But instead he argued with police and responded that he wanted to appeal the matter to Police Chief Walter Mulligan.
It was not his first run in with the law for his music. He'd been in jail 20 times - always for playing his pipes - and complaining that each time he was arrested his bagpipes had been broken.
The article notes Sutherland's previous incarceration in December 1947, where upon release Oakalla officials returned his broken pipes to him, and left Sutherland the handyman to once again to repair them.
Perhaps it was his numerous jail-stays for disturbing the peace that left him with an above average understanding of the law at the time. He claimed he only needed permission to play a musical instruments on main streets where he could potentially obstruct pedestrians, and more proudly he claimed his legal right "as a British subject to play his pipes on the side streets."
Sutherland maintained he was not begging or busking, though he noted he usually made $5 a day playing pipes compared to one or two dollars a day tinkering. But if "people wanted to give me money for playing that's their business."
Through it all, the article doesn't note Sutherland's actual musical ability, or offer the counter opinion of his neighbours. So we're left to wonder how good or bad a bagpiper he was.
Perhaps the incident is proof that appreciation of bagpipes has always been a love-hate affair? Maybe the neighbours couldn't appreciate Scottish music, or just couldn't stand the volume?
But Sutherland was unapologetic. "I'll keep on playing. They can't touch me." And when questioned for a statement, Police Chief Walter Mulligan simply stated, "Constables will continue doing their duty."
Sutherland and his pipes passed as into the city's history without further stir. Maybe the neighbours got used to the pipes and stopped complaining? Maybe Sutherland got thrown in jail again and finally gave up? Maybe he just got tired of repairing his pipes? But it somehow seems doubtful. It's easy to imagine that Sutherland just kept on playing, and probably kept on getting arrested.
World-over the Scots are characterized to be nothing if not irrepressible. Perhaps a testament to perseverance, some might say stubbornness. But this Robby Burns day, if you're not up to donning a kilt, or gulping down that Haggis, maybe put some bagpipe music on the stereo, turn up the volume, and think of John Sutherland. Or no matter what you're doing, whatever it is that gives you pride in who you are - don't stop.
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