[citation needed] Upon arriving, he helped build the first public school in Edmonton, and then moved to Pakan, Alberta, to teach First Nations children for a year.

[citation needed] In 1897, the pair founded McDougall & Secord, which advertised itself as "general merchants, wholesale and retail; buyers and exporters of raw furs; dealers in land scrip and north west lands; outfitters for survey parties, traders, trappers, miners and others for the north, and suppliers for country stores."

The two ran the company until 1907, when they sold it and went into business as a financial house and mortgage corporation called McDougall & Secord, Limited, which still existed up until the 20th century and is now permanently closed.

[2] Secord first sought political office during the 1898 municipal election, running for alderman on Edmonton Town Council.

[citation needed] Secord ran in the 1904 federal election as a Conservative candidate in Edmonton, but was handily defeated by Liberal Frank Oliver.

[citation needed] Secord had a significant impact on Edmonton through his expenditures of money and financial support to the community.