The Red River Resistance and the Creation of Manitoba, 1869–1870

Let's start with a question

Imagine that someone you have never met sells your neighbourhood to someone else you have never met. Then strangers arrive and start measuring your backyard, without asking you anything.

That is close to how many people at Red River felt in 1869.

Remember from Grade 7

In Grade 7 you learned that the Métis Nation grew at Red River, with its own language (Michif), the buffalo hunt, river lots and a strong sense of nationhood shown at Seven Oaks (1816) and in the Sayer trial (1849). By 1869, about 12,000 people lived in the Red River Settlement, and most of them were Métis, both French-speaking and English-speaking.

What happened in 1869

• In 1869, the Hudson's Bay Company agreed to give up its claim to Rupert's Land to Canada. Canada paid £300,000 (British pounds). The transfer was set for December 1, 1869, but was delayed until July 15, 1870.
• Nobody asked the people of Red River. Not the Métis, not the First Nations, not the settlers.
• In summer 1869, Canadian surveyors arrived and began marking square lots over the Métis river lots. On October 11, 1869, a group of Métis led by Louis Riel, then 24 and educated in Montreal, stopped a survey crew by standing on their survey chain.
• Canada sent William McDougall to be lieutenant-governor. The Métis blocked him at the US border.
• In November 1869, the Métis took over Upper Fort Garry, the HBC post, without a fight. They formed a provisional government, with Riel as its president from December, and drew up a List of Rights: the terms on which they would agree to join Canada.

Conflict and the death of Thomas Scott

Not everyone at Red River supported the provisional government. A group of mostly Ontario-born men, part of the Canadian Party, opposed it, and some were arrested.

One prisoner, Thomas Scott, an Orangeman (a member of a strongly Protestant society) from Ontario, was tried by a Métis court and executed by firing squad on March 4, 1870. This was a turning point. In Ontario, many Protestants were outraged and demanded Riel's arrest. In Quebec, many French-speaking Catholics saw Riel as a defender of Catholic, French-speaking Métis. The event deepened divisions between English and French Canada.

The Manitoba Act, 1870

Delegates from Red River went to Ottawa and negotiated. The result was the Manitoba Act, which made Manitoba Canada's fifth province on July 15, 1870.

• English and French both official in the legislature and courts.
• Catholic and Protestant schools protected.
• 1.4 million acres (about 5,700 square kilometres) set aside for Métis children, and existing river lots to be recognized.
• The new province was small, sometimes called the "postage stamp" province, around Red River. Canada kept control of public lands in Manitoba.

Canada also sent a military expedition under Colonel Garnet Wolseley, which reached Red River in August 1870. Riel fled to the United States, fearing for his life. Some soldiers and newcomers treated Métis people violently in the following months.

What happened next for the Métis

• The land promised to Métis children was handed out very slowly, often years late, partly through scrip. Many scrip certificates ended up bought cheaply by speculators.
• Many Métis families left Red River in the 1870s and 1880s, moving west to places like the South Saskatchewan River (for example, Batoche). This sets up the events of 1885.
• Riel was elected to Parliament for the riding of Provencher, Manitoba, but could not safely take his seat, and he was expelled from the House of Commons in 1874. He lived in exile.
• Today, Louis Riel is honoured by many as the founder of Manitoba. Manitoba celebrates Louis Riel Day on the third Monday of February.