IC

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 MĂ©tis
    • decides how to protect MĂ©tis 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 MĂ©tis
    • They will not have any governor without being consulted first
    • Louis Riel and the MĂ©tis 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 MĂ©tis 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 MĂ©tis 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 MĂ©tis, 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 MĂ©tis 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