Land Grant:

The Earl of Selkirk was a Scottish nobleman. He saw farmers being forced off their land in Scotland, and decided to help. He asked the British government for a land grant in the Red River area of what is now the Canadian province of Manitoba; he was refused because Red River was in Rupert’s Land, owned by the Hudson Bay Company (HBC). Selkirk would not be discouraged and bought enough shares in HBC to gain control of the company. This gave Selkirk enough power to get a land grant of 3000 square kilometers in the valley of the Red and Assiniboine rivers.

Rupert's Land:

The vast 7,770,000 k. area known as Rupert’s land lay to the West of the Dominion of Canada. Eventually, the area came to be known as the North West Territories, though it was still technically Rupert’s Land.
In 1840, there were between 30,000-40,000 Indians living in Rupert’s land. The Metis and Fur Trade Employees also lived there.
The Metis of the Red River Settlement were farmers, Hudson Bay Company employees, and self employed fur traders and trappers.

Settlers:

The first of settlers arrived in late 1811 at a remote HBC trading post. They made the difficult journey to Red River and founded a settlement. Unfortunately, they arrived too late to plant crops, and endured a grueling first winter. They survived mainly because of the help they received from the local Métis.

In the spring of 1813, another group of settlers arrived.

Conflict:

Assiniboia was formed from land grants given to the HBC. However, Assiniboia was in North West Company (NWC) territory and on an NWC trading route. The NWC thought that the HBC was trying to cut off their pemmican supplies. If this occurred, it would seriously disturb trading practices.

The Metis and Indians feared that the Red River settlers would interfere with their buffalo hunts. The NWC in turn, feared that food, especially pemmican, would become rare if the Metis no longer hunted buffalo.

Also, though the Metis had been farming the land in and around Assiniboia for generations, they had no legal title of deed for the land; they could legally be driven off the land by the settlers. As you can imagine, this worried them very much.

Conditions were harsh for the settlers, as food was always scarce. The governor of the Red River settlement, Miles Macdonell, passed a law that stated that no food could be taken from Assiniboia without a license; Macdonell would hand out the licenses. This angered the Metis, as selling pemmican ¹ to the NWC was a major source of income for them.

Thus, a very tense situation developed

The Metis began to destroy the settlers crops. Sometimes they made raids upon the settlement itself. By 1815, only 60 settlers remained.

In 1816, at a place called Seven Oaks, an armed conflict began between the Metis, led by Cuthbert Grant, and the settlers, led by Governor Semple. It was never established who fired the first shot, but when the encounter ended 1 Metis, 20 settlers and the governor lay dead on the ground.

The following year, Selkirk himself came to the colony with 90 German and Swiss soldiers; Selkirk effectively took control of the colony.

Soon many settlers began to return to the Red River settlement.

Effects:

After the merging of the NWC and the HBC, where there were formerly two forts, only one was needed and the other closed. This caused much unemployment. To make matters worse, with fewer men to feed, the pemmican trade declined. The HBC and NWC also had a monopoly on the fur trade in the area, and so furs were sold at very low prices (the trappers got low prices for their furs).

Metis Identity:

Before the events surrounding the Red River Settlement from 1812-1821, the Metis had been hunters, traders and employees of the NWC. When all of this changed, the Metis developed a fierce sense of unity, which was to greatly influence events in 1869 and 1870.

Later History:

Many of the Metis living in the Red River Settlement were of French decent. The Metis had developed a distinct identity and unique culture over the years.

The Canadian government was interested in Rupert’s land for two major reasons. Those were:
1. There was little good farming land left in Ontario.
2. The Canadian governments goal was for Canada to stretch from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

In 1869, the Canadian government bought Rupert’s land from the HBC. The government re-named it the North West Territories.²

Red River Resistance:

The Canadian government decided to start sending surveyors into the North West Territories to begin mapping out roads before the official transfer in December 1869.

The people from the Red River Settlement, especially the Metis, were surprised by this. They had not been informed by the Canadian government that this was going to occur.

The Metis decided to stop the surveyors by taking away the chains the surveyors used for measurement. The surveyors gave up and left. The government of Canada also decided to appoint William MacDougal governor of the region. This greatly angered the Metis as MacDougal had been the one responsible for sending the road and land surveyors.

Louis Riel was a well educated Roman Catholic who emerged as leader of the Metis; Riel became the secretary of the Metis National Committee. The purpose of the committee was to negotiate with the Canadian government the future of the Metis people.

One of the first acts of the Metis National Committee took place on November 2nd, 1869. When Governor MacDougall tried to enter the Red River Settlement, his way was blocked by fourteen (14) armed Metis. He was told not to enter the colony until he had the permission of the inhabitants. This act however, was justified as MacDougall did not yet officially take over the North West Territories.

On the same day, the Metis National Committee seized Upper Fort Garry, the headquarters of the HBC without firing a shot. Inside, was enough food to last a large group the winter and a large amount of war making materials. The capturing of Upper Fort Garry allowed the Metis to negotiate with the Canadian government from a position of strong military strength.

It was important for the Metis to establish a united front in the face of the Canadian government. On November 16th, Riel met a 12 English and French speaking people representing the white community of the Red River Settlement. They discussed setting up a provisional government. At that time, Riel had the support of the majority of people in the Red River Settlement.

Macdonald did not want the Red River Settlement to become a part of Canada until order had been restored. However, the HBC did not want to step in to restore order, because it no longer had any control there. A few months later in 1869, MacDougall officially became governor of the region; he crossed the border and read aloud the proclamation claiming Rupert’s Land for Canada, and left again.

On December 7th, Riel surrounded a store filled with a huge stock of government pork. He took the pork, and imprisoned the 50 men guarding the pork in the cells of Fort Garry.

Riel then drew up a Metis Bill of Rights and set up a provisional government.

Thomas Scott was a 28 year old laborer when he arrived in the Red River Settlement. He joined “the Canadians”, a group of people who believed that English Protestants should control the North West Territories. He was imprisoned by Riel. He showed contempt for the Metis and attacked and abused his guards while imprisoned. Soon after being imprisoned, he escaped. He was once again captured by the Metis and sentenced to death. He was executed by firing squad on March 7, 1870.
This proved to be a major political mistake. The execution of Thomas Scott provoked unbridled outrage in all quarters. Many former supporters turned against Riel. Some demanded that MacDonald send an army to the Red River Settlement to bring Riel to justice.

The Manitoba Act:

After several months of consideration, the Canadian government agreed that the area surrounding the Red River Settlement should become a province. The government had originally planned to leave it as a territory. A province had much greater control over its own affairs than did a territory. That is why the Metis were negotiating to be a province.

On July 15th, 1870, the Manitoba act went into effect. Through this act, Canada’s fifth province, Manitoba, came into being.

Colonel Wolsely:

Prime Minister Macdonald wanted to satisfy the demands of the citizens of Ontario and punish Riel. Finally, MacDonald sent a message to the Americans saying he had lost control over the area.

An expedition under Colonel Wolseley was dispatched to the Red River Settlement. Upon arriving, Wolseley couldn’t find Riel. In anger he brutally beat one of Riel’s second in command, and another drowned trying to escape. Riel, fearing for his life, escaped to the United States. However, his role in history was not over.

Causes of the North West Resistance:

Several major causes are attributed to playing a part in beginning the resistance. Those are:
1. Land Ownership. When the Metis settled in the NWT, the area had not been surveyed. But they new that eventually, the same thing that happened to them at the Red River Settlement would happen in the NWT too; that is they would be overwhelmed by the whites and subsumed. They wanted reserve rights but were not granted them.
2. Ability to earn a living. The Metis were traditionally buffalo hunters. But the buffalo had moved away from the area in which they were living. This took away an important source of income. Transporting goods was another major occupation for the Metis. With the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) being built, it looked as though the railway would perform this task. So the Metis turned to farming and agriculture. Just then however, a drop in grain prices made farming an untenable occupation. The Metis had no work.
3. Louis Riel. Riel came back to Canada from his exile in the United States, and convinced the Metis that the only way to resist the government was to use force.

The Resistance Begins in Earnest:

In 1884, Riel returned to Canada and met with various groups of Metis in Saskatchewan. He drew up a petition that demanded more rights and compensation for the Metis. MacDonald responded by offering all the Metis large land grants and money. They wanted more however, and asked Riel to stay to help them. Riel accepted.

In 1885, Riel and his men seized large amounts of ammunition and powder. Riel then set up a provisional military government; Gabriel Dumont was made head of that government.

When Riel asked for help from the Indians and settlers in the region, he was refused with the exception of the chiefs Big Bear and Poundmaker; these Indians acted independently of the Metis however.
The rebellion officially began in 1885 when the first shot was fired at the Battle of Duck Lake. The Metis ambushed a group of RCMP and killed 12; 5 Metis died in the battle.

At the end of March, Chief Poundmaker traveled with his tribe to a government depot where they stole food supplies.

The most serious incident of the rebellion occurred at Frog Lake when Big Bears war chiefs killed nine government agents who wanted to negotiate.

When Prime Minister Macdonald got wind of this, he sent 8000 troops to quell the rebellion. These troops were commanded by Col William Dillian Otter. These troops were headed for Fort Batoche, a Metis controlled area. Riel believed that it was his fate to defend Fort Batoche. The Battle of Fort Batoche lasted three days. Eventually, the Metis lost and were taken prisoner. Riel escaped but gave himself up after a few days. Dumont escaped, but Poundmaker surrendered. Big Bear escaped but soon gave himself up.

Riel’s trial was relatively fast. He was sentenced to death for treason. Many of the French demanded that Riel be imprisoned, not hanged. MacDonald had the power to stop the hanging but did not. Louis Riel was hung on November 16th, 1885.

The Results of the North West Rebellion: