Resistance, Rebellion, and Aftermath

In the meantime, changing social mores were creating tensions in their own right as European standards, replacing those of the indigenous northwest, led to a series of scandals in which the Metis were targets for prejudice. These in turn exacerbated the political problems, leading to open defiance of the HBC’s tattered authority. Voices were raised advocating “a temporary government formed by the people themselves for the time being until the British Government shall see fit to take the place in its own hands.”

The period 1862–68 was marked by drought, grasshoppers, prairie fires, and crop failures. The buffalo hunt was receding in the distance, and the fisheries were at low ebb; even rabbits were at a point of cyclic scarcity. Already, before Confederation had been proclaimed on 1 July 1867, arrangements were under way for the transfer of Rupert’s Land to Canada. Paragraph 146 of the British North America Act laid the basis for that eventuality.

An important issue was land survey, a requirement for the agricultural use of land. The square survey that was adopted by Canada threatened the Metis settlement pattern of river-frontage strip farms that had been brought from New France: long thin ribbons of land stretching back into woodlots, assuring each holder access to the river, the principal transportation route. When the Canadian government sent surveyors to Red River without consultation or even forewarning, the result was a confrontation in which Louis Riel informed them that they had no right to be doing such work without the permission of the people. Riel’s position was that the HBC’s trade monopoly did not include rights over the land and the people, and that before any transfer could be negotiated it would be necessary to deal with Amerindian and Metis rights. Recently returned from studying law in Montreal, Riel now took over the reins of Metis leadership.

As neither London nor the Metis would budge from their respective positions, the situation became a crisis when Rupert’s Land was scheduled to be transferred from the HBC to Canada, 1 December 1869. In the political vacuum that resulted, Riel issued his “Declaration of the People of Rupert’s Land and the Northwest” on 8 December. It stated that “a people, when it has no Government, is free to adopt one form of Government in preference to another, to give or refuse allegiance to that which is proposed.” This position was in accord with international law, as Ottawa was only too well aware. Two days later, the Metis flag was hoisted, and on 27 December Louis Riel was elected president of Red River’s first provisional government. To that point, it had been a bloodless coup.

The consequence of the Metis’ stand was the creation of the province of Manitoba in 1870, largely acceding to Metis demands. Among other provisions, the Manitoba Act set aside 1.4 million acres (500,000 hectares) for children of Metis heads of families. The distribution of the grants was so poorly handled, however, that by the time it was concluded only an estimated 15 to 20 percent of Metis beneficiaries had possession of their entitlements. In Metis eyes, this was a massive miscarriage of a promise to their people; it contributed to an ongoing exodus to the west and north as Metis sought locations where they could be themselves – Otipemisiwak (free people). It is estimated that as many as two-thirds of the 10,000 Manitoba Metis were involved. This pattern of behaviour owed much to Amerindian custom, in which dissenting groups were free to separate and form their own autonomous bands. There was also a movement towards the south, particularly to Montana, Minnesota, and North Dakota, where descendants of the Metis are known as “Canadian Cree” or, in North Dakota, as “Michif Indians.” Economic considerations were also important factors in these dispersals, as they would be also in 1885. For one illustration, the demands of the buffalo-robe trade, which peaked from about 1850 to the mid-1870s, were such that families which participated could not continue even part-time farming in the settlements but had to be close to the herds, where they established log-cabin camps. They were known as hivernants, “winterers.” Besides that, rising prices during the 1880s made it profitable for Metis farmers to sell their lands and re-establish in less settled areas. In other words, the people were scattering for various reasons, both before and well after the confrontations. As for Riel, although he was elected twice to Parliament, in 1873 and again the following year, hostility against him, particularly in Ontario, was such that he was not able to take his seat. In 1875 he was offered amnesty for his role in the resistance of 1869– 70, but only after a five-year banishment; by that time, he was already living in the United States.

The spirit of the New Nation survived even as the Metis adapted to the new economy that overtook them after the loss of the rich resources of the buffalo herds. Although assimilation into the dominant society proceeded apace, substantial numbers continued to retreat to the northern forests, where hunting and trapping still offered free common access. On the plains and in the parklands, the people turned to ranching and horse breeding as well as farming; freighting, logging, interpreting, and guiding also provided livelihoods. Some individuals, such as the perennial buffalo-hunt captain Gabriel Dumont, did well in the short term, participating in the “Wild West” shows that were so popular at the turn of the century on both sides of the Atlantic. In the longer term, Dumont and others followed their “freeman” tradition and established independent businesses. Dumont operated a ferry and had a small store, complete with billiard table. Another who prospered following a similar path was François-Xavier Letendre dit Batoche; his success is indicated by the fact that his sobriquet became the name of the settlement on the South Saskatchewan River, forty-four kilometres southwest of Prince Albert.

For most, however, the transition from frontier life meant a drop in living standards.To begin with, adaptation was not made easier by the disregard of incoming settlers for the rights of Metis or Amerindians, particularly in connection with land. A Metis proposal that reserves be set aside for them as was being done for Amerindians who signed treaties drew a cool official response: they were told to apply for land on the same basis as whites. Neither did the Metis elicit constructive suggestions when, in 1872, they asked the government for advice on “what steps they should adopt to secure to themselves the right to prohibit people of other nationalities from settling in the lands occupied by them, without the consent of the Community.” Not surprisingly, land surveying continued to be problematic, since many Metis had not gone through the formalities of acquiring legal title to their properties.

The Metis were losing out on all counts: their claim to aboriginal right was not recognized, and even their claims to prior settlers’ rights were being challenged. For instance, at Rat River, in the present-day Northwest Territories, eighty-four of ninety-three Metis claims were rejected out of hand because of insufficient cultivation. Five claimants who had houses considered to be adequate and who had cultivated at least two hectares received sixteen hectares; four who had cultivated four and one half hectares received thirty-two hectares. The Metis request that they be exempted from homestead requirements since they had defended the land against the Sioux drew no response. If the Metis often did not help themselves by being negligent about filing claims (they did not see the need for this, because in their eyes their aboriginal blood gave them the right to live wherever they chose), it could be pointed out that official survey maps were slow in appearing and, until they did, the Metis could not make legal claims. They certainly were not negligent about filing petitions for what they believed to be their rights; by 1885, they had sent fifteen.

In the meantime, in the mid-1870s the government moved to implement the Manitoba Act land grant by the issuance of scrip, an entitling certificate for land. Scrip (from the Latin scriptum, “written”) was at first made out for varying amounts of cash for the purchase of land at a dollar an acre up to a maximum of 160 acres (64 hectares). This was soon increased to 240 acres (97 hectares). Instead of discouraging speculation, for which the program had been ostensibly designed, scrip, being transferable by means of a power of attorney, quickly became an instrument for encouraging it. Most Metis preferred to take cash for their scrip rather than land, and usually at a heavy discount.

On the other side of the coin, the capacity of the Metis to be effective in cross-cultural situations was demonstrated yet again during the negotiations for the early numbered treaties, in which they actively participated. The Metis James McKay, successful trader and politician, played a crucial role in the first six treaties. That this was appreciated by the Amerindians was evident during Treaty 3 negotiations when they told officials, “We wish that they [Metis] should be counted with us, and have their share of what is promised.” The Ojibwa stressed the same point to Alexander Morris, lieutenant governor of the North-West Territories from 1873 to 1876: “We wish you to understand that you owe much to the half-breeds.” Instead of recognizing their services, Ottawa amended the Indian Act in 1880 to exclude Metis both from the provisions of the act and from the treaties. In practice, however, Metis continued to influence negotiations, as well as to have the option of being included in the treaties if they qualified as Amerindians and so wished. Lord Dufferin, governor general of Canada from 1872 to 1878, remarked that the Metis were “the ambassadors between East and West.” He attributed the rarity of frontier wars in Canada to the Metis, whom he saw as playing an essential role in maintaining the generally peaceful frontier. This made all the more ironic Canada’s reluctance to recognize their aboriginal claims.

The stage was being set for the rebellion of 1885, in spite of the prosperity of the preceding two decades, which did not dim the Metis’ perception that their lands were being stolen, “and now they are laughing at us.” A vague amendment to the Dominion Lands Act that appeared to recognize Metis rights had no consequences. In fact, the opposite seemed to be happening: in 1882 Dumont was one of those who signed a petition protesting being forced to pay for land they had occupied before the survey, if it happened to fall into odd-numbered sections not being made available for homesteading.

During these years, the nearly completed Canadian Pacific Railway allowed more and more settlers to arrive in the west. Whereas in 1869–70 the Metis had held the balance of power in Red River, they were now outnumbered by whites. There seemed to be no way to get Ottawa’s ear; even such a leader as Dumont was not able to get results. When Ottawa in 1882 named an investigator into the Metis complaints, he could not speak French and it was 1884 before he appeared on the scene. His report, sent to Ottawa at the end of that year, did not elicit action until early 1885. By that time, the Metis had already asked Riel for help. Riel, then a teacher in a Jesuit mission school in Montana, accepted the challenge.

Not only were the buffalo herds in full retreat, but two years of poor crops (1883, frost; 1884, wet harvest) had resulted in an extremely hard winter in 1884–85. In the midst of hunger and discontent, Riel struck a pacific note: over and over he repeated his peaceful intentions. He asked that Ottawa send adequate food rations to the west, and he even came to the defence of the white settlers, claiming that they were being charged too much for land. Ottawa was equally consistent in its apparent obliviousness to the western situation. It disarmed the North-West Territories militia, despite warnings that things were not as peaceful as they seemed. In 1884 Riel prepared to meet with Hector-Louis Langevin, minister of public works, in Prince Albert; Langevin cancelled the visit without warning. The Metis got nowhere when they asked that Riel replace Pascal Breland on the Territorial Council, on the ground that Breland was not effectively representing their interests. When Ottawa actually responded to Riel’s 1884 petition requesting, among other items, that the Metis be treated with the full dignity of British subjects, jubilation was the order of the day. However, when the Metis examined the message more closely, they realized that all it promised was to set up a commission to enumerate those who were resident in the northwest in 1870, as well as their claims; it did not make provision for settling grievances. The disillusioned Metis agreed among themselves that, if necessary, they would take up arms “to save our country.” On 19 March 1885 (the feastday of Saint Joseph, patron saint of the Metis), Riel proclaimed a provisional government, which he backed with a ten-point Bill of Rights, and the people armed themselves.

Riel’s Bill of Rights reveals his concern for social justice for all, not just for the Metis. Besides the points already noted, it asked that patents should be issued to all Metis and white settlers “who had fairly earned the right of possession on their farms,” and that the districts of Saskatchewan and Alberta be created provinces “so that the people may no longer be subject to the despotism of Mr. Dewdney.” (Edgar Dewdney was lieutenant governor of the North-West Territories, 1881–88). It asked for hospitals and schools, respect for “the lawful customs and usages which obtain among the Metis,” that the region’s administrative centre be moved to Winnipeg, and that the administration be for “the benefit of the actual settlers, not for the advantage of the alien speculator.”

When fighting broke out, it did not last long; it was over for the Metis when they were defeated at Batoche on 12 May after a three-day battle; on 15 May, Riel surrendered. For the Amerindians, the end was formally signalled when Big Bear presented himself to a startled sentry on 2 July. The rebellion’s toll was 53 whites killed, 118 wounded, and about 35 Amerindians and Metis killed. Of the 84 trials that resulted, 71 were for treason-felony, 12 for murder, and 1 (Riel’s) for high treason. Of 81 Indians jailed, 44 were convicted and 8 hanged for murder. Of the 46 Metis who were taken into custody, 19 were convicted, 1 hanged (Riel), and 7 conditionally discharged; the rest were either unconditionally discharged or not brought to trial. Although Riel had become an American citizen during his sojourn in the United States, he was tried and convicted under the British doctrine that a person born a British subject could not lose that status through naturalization in another country. His lawyers’ attempts to win his acquittal on grounds of insanity had been countered by Riel himself during his trial.

Although Metis and Cree had both been protagonists in the uprising, they had each fought their own battles; there was mutual sympathy but no formal alliance. Riel, in taking the broad view when he included Amerindians and whites in his Bill of Rights, was implicitly acknowledging the dual heritage of the Metis.

One consequence of the “prairie fire,” as the rebellion has been called, was the acceleration of the issuance of scrip, which now came in two forms, one for cash and one for land. Between 1885 and 1921, there were twelve commissions set up for scrip distribution. Eligibility varied as regulations changed over time; after 1899, it was tied to the date when a treaty was signed in a given region. Only Metis born after that date qualified. The vast majority chose money scrip; for instance, during the negotiations for Treaty 8 in 1899, there were 1,195 money scrips issued and only 48 land scrips. This reflected the fact that much of the land offered to the Metis was marginal for farming, besides being remote from land offices. Official attempts to control speculators, who encouraged the Metis to sell their scrip for a fraction of its value, met with resistance from the Metis themselves. In its final report on the scrip project in 1929, the year before control of crown lands reverted to the provinces, Ottawa said that 24,000 claims had been recognized in the North-West Territories, involving 2.6 million acres (1,1052,183 hectares) in land scrip, and 2.8 acres (1,133,120 hectares) in money scrip. Later it would be claimed that over 90 percent of this scrip ended up in the control of banks and speculators.

Whereas Amerindians who signed treaty had reserved land that could not be alienated, many Metis ended up as a landless minority – “road allowance people,” living on the fringes of both white and Amerindian communities – wandering from job to job, their traditional way of life being steadily restricted as agriculture and resource development became dominant. Even the Metis role as interpreters and mediators between Amerindians and whites became irrelevant as treaties settled issues. At the initiative of the Oblate priest Albert Lacombe, who had a trace of Amerindian blood but did not identify himself as Metis, Saint-Paul-des-Métis was established in 1896 in north-central Alberta as an experiment in helping the people to become full-time sedentary farmers. It was the first time since Treaty 3 that a tract of land was set aside for the exclusive use of the Metis. Each participating family was to receive 80 acres (32 hectares, one-half of the standard homestead allotment), as well as livestock and agricultural equipment to get started. Though the federal government of Wilfrid Laurier approved the project, it contributed only $2,000. Underfunded as it was, the project had difficulty providing the promised help to the fifty families who participated; most of them, discouraged, drifted away, most often to unsurveyed crown lands in the north where they could continue their accustomed hunting, trapping, and fishing. Their farm leases at Saint-Paul were terminated in 1908, and the following year the reserve was thrown open for French-Canadian settlement. In the meantime, the creation of Alberta and Saskatchewan as provinces in 1905 further complicated matters for the Metis, since they were now divided under different administrations, making it difficult for them to speak with one voice.