Red River Rebellion – or Red River Resistance?

http://www-tc.pbs.org/empireofthebay/maps/red_river_big.jpg

Vocabulary Review

• negotiation • rebellion • settlers • agricultural • surveyors • provisional

This is a fight about land, who owns it, and who gets to make decisions about the land, and who gets to run the government, and if ordinary citizens can help make the decisions that affect them.

Hmm… Good question. Who DOES own it?

Who

owns

the land around Red River?

Hudson’s Bay Company?

• Land was given to them by the King of England in 1670 • Legally it is theirs • (By their own laws)

• The Métis culture had developed in the area over time, as traders and First Nations married, had children, and developed a new way of living on the land • They certainly believed the land they had lived on, hunted on, grew crops on, went to church on, belonged to the Métis community and themselves personally • In 1811, the HBC had given a portion of Rupert’s Land to its employees at the juncture between the Red and Assiniboine Rivers

The Métis?

First Nations of the Prairies?

This is a picture of Big Bear and Poundmaker, Cree Chiefs that will go to jail during the North West Rebellion of 1885 – part of the Métis and Native struggle for land and rights on the Prairies http://www.abheritage.ca/alberta/fn_metis/i_bigbear_poundmaker_prison.html

• Cree, Blackfoot, Peigan, Blood, and Salteaux • They had reached near starvation with the collapse of the fur trade economy and the extinction of the buffalo • They, too, were fighting for their rights. We will discuss the treaties they were forced to sign to try to survive • Their story is also part of the Métis story

The Settlers?

• Remember that problems between settlers and the Métis had already occurred – Settlers from Scotland, who had been kicked off their land by the English, had come to the Northwest to start the first agricultural settlement – The Métis had fought for their land and rights at the Battle of Seven Oaks and continued to do so throughout the 1800s – After that, the settlement continued to grow, and was a mixture of Métis, settlers from Scotland and other parts of Canada and the US

The Dominion of Canada?

• Hudson’s Bay company begins negotiations with Canada to hand the land over • Canada will buy the land, and HBC agrees to this in 1860 • Negotiations take many years • In the meantime, settlers continue to move into the area • The settlers are not friendly to the Métis, and Canada is negotiating for the sale as if the Métis don’t exist at all • Surveyors move in and start to divide up the land with little or no regard for the Métis

1869 – Canada sends in surveyors

• Surveyors (sent by John A. MacDonald) came in to the Red River area to mark off land for more settlers • When they moved onto Métis land, Louis Riel and other Métis stopped them and also prevented the new governor from entering the territory

John A. MacDonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister

Métis take over Fort Garry • From here, they plan to run a provisional government and negotiate with Canada for the protection of their land rights • They want to make sure their French language, land and Catholic religion will be respected • Remember that the English were mostly Protestant, English speaking and moving onto Métis land as if they owned it

Provisional Government

• They want Red River to be a province of Canada • Negotiations begin with Canada, and everything seems to be going well Louis Riel is the leader – educated, understands law and English

Peace destroyed

• A group of anti-Métis, Canadian settlers attack Fort Garry • One man was killed on either side • Riel takes several people prisoner • Remember, he sees himself as the government • Thomas Scott verbally abuses him, threatens him against Métis law • Riel and a council have him executed • People from English Canada see this as cold blooded murder • French-Canadians are more sympathetic to the Métis – a big split between the English and French of Canada