THE RED RIVER RESISTANCE

• 1869; Canada bought ruperts land from HBC
• does not have right to establish rule in area until december
• government survey land, gets it ready for settlement
• surveyors sent into region
• 1 crew steps into andre nault’s land
  • Nault is french-speaking metis in red river settlement
• returns with 16 metis, louis riel tells them they cant go farther
• most aboriginal groups in west were nomadic (wandering)
• moved = place to place hunting buffalo, traps fur-bearing animals
• only european settlers were HBC employees at trading posts
  • job; buy furs exchange for HBC goods
• large settlement in region; red river colony
  • 12 000 pop. ; some original Selkirk settlers or descendants
  • come from scotland w/lord Selkirk; lord established colony in 1811
  • were poor farmers displaced from their lands
  • endured hardships like floods, hunger, and sickness
• other settlers; french-speaking roman catholic farm families from lower Canada
  • english-speaking protestant farmers from Canada west 
  • attracted by rich prairie farmland
• largest group in colony were metis
  • metis culture combined elements of their varied heritage
  • Clothes made in european style, decorated w/quills & beads; aboriginal fashion
  • Scottish jigs & square dances combined w/traditional dances
  • Most popular dance; red river jig
  • Fiddle fav instrument
  • Metis, riders, buffalo hunters, farmed like euro.
  • Metis people woven from different backgrounds, speak different languages
  • French
  • English
  • Scottish
  • Cree
  • Ojibway
  • Aboriginal cultures
• Red River Cart
  • Metis own “freight trains”
  • Red river carts tied together
  • 500 carts in 1 train (sometimes)
  • Whole families rode carts that carried;
    • furs
    • pemmican (dried buffalo meat mixed with fat and berries)
    • dried buffalo meat
    • moccasins (shoes)
    • skin garments to trade
  • To cross rivers & streams; 
  • wheels removed & attached to bottom of box
  • cart floated across rivers like raft
  • Early cart trails became roads and highways
  • descriptions 
  • Shrieking noise
  • Ungreased wheels griding against wooden axles
    • Sound: 1000 fingernails being drawn across a chalkboard
• The Buffalo Hunt
  • 100s of metis men, women, children gathered
  • red river carts & horses; travelled for 100s of km across prairies
  • At camp, chose 10 captains leading a group of hunters.
  • hunt followed strict military-like organization
  • everyone followed rules & leadership of captains
  • After hunt, women skinned carcasses, cut meat to be dried
  • Made pemmican
  • kept for years without going bad
• Metis Sash
  • distinct colourful sash
  • tied around waist
  • decorative & practical
  • woven from wool
  • could become scarf in cold weather
  • emergency, it could become;
  • rope
  • bandage
  • towel
  • bridle (headgear used to control a horse)
  • saddle blanket for horse
  • fringes on the end; emergency sewing kit
  • some up to 6m long
  • symbol of metis culture
• Background to Resistance
  • HBC withdrawn rule from ruperts land
  • 1 year, people of territory had no legal government
  • Who would protect their rights?
  • surveyors driving stakes into ground of farms
  • ground metis thought was theirs to use
  • Metis not consulted about the methods & reasons
  • Worried bc they had no paper to proved they owned their homes & land
  • Settlers coming in and taking over their lands alarmed them
  • Disturbed by rumours of railway built across buffalo country
  • Ready to fight
  • Gathered in a council meeting, turned for leadership from louis riel
  • he forms the National Committee of the Métis
  • decides how to protect Métis lands
  • John A. M has appointed a lieu-tenant-governor for North-West Territories
  • William McDougall
  • on his way to colony; set up a Canadian government
  • McDougall has to travel through US bc there is no road joining Ontario and NWT
  • McDougall arrives at border of settlement
  • finds the road to Fort Garry blocked by the Métis
  • They will not have any governor without being consulted first
  • Louis Riel and the Métis take over Fort Garry
  • fort has large supplies of food and ammunition
  • they can control the colony.
  • set up a Provisional government to replace the HBC rule
  • Riel says it speaks for their area in any dealings with the Canadian government
  • macdonald sends messenger to find out what metis want
  • Wants peace before canada takes over
  • Does not send troops
  • Metis draw up a bill of rights w/requests and sent it to ottawa
  • settlers from ontario riot to protest provisional government
  • Jailed by riel
  • Thomas scott threatens to escape and kill riel
  • Striked riels guards
  • Called metis a pack of cowards
  • Insults roman catholic religion
  • Scott brought to trial and is found guilty
  • Worked out agreement with ottawa called manitoba act
  • 1870, manitoba enters confederation
  • macdonald sends troops
  • Riel flees to U.S

IMPORTANT WORDS

Thomas Scott:

• an Irish Protestant who emigrated to Canada in 1863

National Committee of the Metis:

• the voice of Métis Nation governments brought together and made a committee on October 16, 1869

Pemmican:

• a mixture of tallow, dried meat, and sometimes dried berries

Gabriel Dumont:

• a Canadian political figure best known for being a prominent leader of the Métis people

Metis Bill of Rights:

• intended to be brought to Ottawa to petition the Canadian government to protect the language and cultural rights of the Métis, and our rights to self-government and fair representation

Provisional Government:

• an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition

Manitoba Act:

• a constitutional statute that created the Province of Manitoba

Barracks:

• a building or group of buildings used to house soldiers

Nomadic:

• a member of a community without fixed habitation

Lieutenant Governor:

• a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction

Scrip:

• any substitute for legal tender, often a form of credit

Metis:

• a distinct Indigenous people with mixed indigenous and Euro-American ancestry

The Cree:

• a North American Indigenous people a unique history, culture, language, and territory

Fort Macleod:

• a town in southern Alberta, Canada

Red River Carts:

• a mode of transportation used by Métis people in the Prairies during the settlement of the West

Whiskey Traders:

• American fur traders who traded Native peoples liquor, having a devastating effect on their way of life

Fort Whoop Up:

• the nickname given to a whisky trading post, originally Fort Hamilton

The Great March:

• the initial journey of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) to the Canadian prairies

Sam Steele:

• an officer of the NWMP head of the Yukon detachment during the Klondike Gold Rush

Treaty No. 6:

• surrender of Indian land rights; transition to an agricultural economy; provision of reserves

Treaty:

• a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law

Smallpox:

• an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus

Annuity:

• a financial product that provides you with a guaranteed regular income

Poundmaker:

• a Plains Cree chief known as a peacemaker and defender of his people

Reserves:

• a supply of a commodity not needed for immediate use but available if required

Big Bear:

• was a powerful and popular Cree chief

Pacific Scandal:

• a political scandal in Canada involving bribes being accepted by 150 members of the Conservative government in the attempts of private interests to influence the bidding for a national rail contract

Nitroglycerin:

• a dense, colorless, oily, explosive liquid

Sod House:

• small structures cheaply built out of blocks of sod and rudimentary house fittings

The Dominion Land Act:

• aimed to encourage the settlement of the Canadian Prairies and to help prevent the area being claimed by the United States

Militia:

• a military force that is raised from the civil population to supplement a regular army in an emergency

High Treason:

• the crime of disloyalty to the Crown

Chinese Head Tax:

• a fixed fee charged to each Chinese person entering Canada

National Policy:

• a Canadian economic program introduced by John A. Macdonald's Conservative Party

Red Fife Wheat:

• a bread wheat variety that Dave Fife and family began to grow in 1842

Chilled Steel Plow:

• cast in a mold which allowed the metal to be cooled rapidly, resulting in a hard surface that kept a sharp edge

Marquis Wheat:

• bread wheat that is a cross between Red Fife and Hard Red Calcutta

Panning for Gold:

• is a form of placer mining and traditional mining that extracts gold from a placer deposit using a pan

Quarter Section:

• a quarter of a square mile of land; 160 acres

Gatling Gun:

• a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861

Clifford Sifton:

• a Canadian lawyer and a long-time Liberal politician

Colonist Car:

• a type of railway passenger coach designed to provide inexpensive long-distant transportation for immigrants

Blackfoot People:

• a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Montana

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