Professional Documents
Culture Documents
& Culture
Rupert's Land and the Hudson’s
Bay Company 1700’s
Hudson’s bay Company Employed Orkney
Men, French and English to Establish the
Fur Trade
The HBC had a affinity for Orkney Men
due to their hardiness. 70% of the
Hudson’s bay employees were of Orkney
Origin
Employees of the HBC took Aboriginal
Wives called “Country Wives” creating a
New Nation
The Red River Colony
By 1811, a Scottish nobleman, Thomas
Douglas Fifth Earl of Selkirk, gained a
controlling interest in the HBC.
The London Committee
of the HBC agreed to
grant Lord Selkirk a
296,960
square kilometre tract of
land in the vicinity of the
Red and Assiniboine
Rivers for an
agricultural settlement.
The land ceded to
Selkirk for
a nominal sum of ten
shillings was to be
henceforth known as
"Assiniboia.
The Red River Colony
In the wake of
confederation (and
without consultation with
the colony's inhabitants
or guarantees of their
rights) arrangements
were made to transfer
the colony and Rupert’
Land to Canada, the
stage was set for the
Red River Rebellion
Battle of Seven Oaks
Part of North West Company-Hudson's Bay
Company Rivalry
The Battle of Seven Oaks (known to the Métis
as la Victoire de la Grenouillière, or the Victory of
Frog Plain) took place on June 19, 1816 during
the long dispute between the Hudson's Bay
Company and the North West Company,
rival fur-trading companies in western Canada.
The Red River Settlement land-surveying episode set in motion the irrevocable
rise in tensions between the Métis and the federal authorities. When surveyors from
Canada ignored the lot lines of the Métis farms, Riel took action.
A band of Métis occupied Upper Fort Garry and Riel formed a provisional government to
negotiate the colony's entry into Canada. Riel assumed the leadership
of the movement Riel established a provisional government on December 8, 1869.
The provisional government's goal was to manage the settlers' lives and protect their
material goods and establish a “List of Rights”
The execution of
Thomas Scott Riel had the support of both the Métis and the
mixed bloods but English speaking
Canadians who had moved into the colony
opposed the provisional government.
Riel ordered the execution by a firing squad of
an Orangeman from Ontario, Thomas Scott, for
his constant opposition to Riel's authority.
March 4, 1870
Royal Proclamation of 1869
December 06, 1869
The Queen has charged me as her
representative, to inform you that
certain misguided persons in Her
settlements on the Red River, have
banded themselves together to oppose
by force the entry into Her North-
Western Territories of the officer
selected to administer, in Her name,
the Government,….
By Her Majesty’s authority I do
therefore assure you, that on the
union with Canada all your civil
and religious rights and privileges
will be respected, your properties
secured to you, and that your
Country will be governed, as in the
past, under British Laws, and in
the spirit of British justice.
Wolseley’s Proclamation to the Red River
Inhabitants
The Red River Rebellion 1885
In addition, Many Half-breeds did not enter treaty due to the realization that they
would starve if they were bound to the Reserve and took scrip.
Alexander Morris 1880
Are you a Half-breed or an Indian?
“During the Payment of Several Bands, it was found that in some and most
notably in the Red River Indian settlement and Broken head River Band, a
number of those residing among the Indians, and calling themselves Indians,
are in reality half-breeds, and entitled to share in the land grant under the
provisions of the Manitoba Act.
Alexander Morris 1880
Confusion of
Identity
Treaty & Scrip
Desjarlais,
Daniel
Chartrand,
Ducharme,
Gladu,
Lavallee,
Mcleod,
Chabolliez
Allarie
St . Peter’s Indian Band
•Flett
•Fiddler
•Favelle
•Halcro
•Sutherland
•Spence
•Sinclair
•Thomas
•Tait
•Cameron
•Desjarlais
•Bird
Métis Meeting with Scrip
Commission in Dunvegan
1899
Métis communities
dispersed into
Montana, South &
North Dakota,
Saskatchewan,
Northern parts of
Manitoba, Alberta &
BC
Métis in Montana
The Canadian and US
The 10th Cavalry Government paid 5000.00 and
issued a Deportation order for all
“Métis” and Indians that entered
into Montana due to the
Rebellion.
There was wide spread fear that
the “Métis” would be subject to
punishment from their
participation in the Northwest
Rebellion as did the Rebellion
Leader Louis Riel
Métis “JIG”
Métis Modes of Transport
Métis cart Train arriving from the
North of Calgary circa 1870
Each wheel was said to have its own peculiar shriek, announcing the
coming of a train from a great distance. (Grease or oil would have only
mixed with the dust, wearing down the axles.) As it was, a cart often used
four or five axles on the trip to St. Paul from the Red River settlement.
Harness was made from a buffalo hide, often in one piece. Carts moved
single file, except when in danger from Indians, when they traveled several
abreast. Each driver controlled five or six carts strung out behind him,
each ox tied to the cart ahead.
Métis History Presentation
2011
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