Métis in the Northwest

Chapter 4 Summary

The Northwest experience many changes during the nineteenth century. It was rival territory for the HBC and NWC. By 1800, contact between European fur traders and the Native peoples led to the creation of a new ethnic group - the Métis.

Irish and Scottish settlers came to the Red River area in 1812. They were brought there through an arrangement of the HBC. There was intense conflict over the entitlement of the land, and the HBC became upset when the HBC tried to stop them from selling pemmican to the NWC. Later on, HBC and NWC were forced to merge due to the lack of resources.

As the century wore on, the Métis and the later settlers lived peacefully together. After Confederation, the Canadian government wanted to acquire Rupert's Land from the HBC. The Métis were never consulted, and created a List of Rights to protect the rights of all citizens in the Red River Settlement. In 1869, Louis Riel led the Red River Rebellion, but John A. Macdonald's government ignored their demands. The region became the province of Manitoba in 1870.

• Métis made up the majority of people in the new province

• Their rights seemed to be protected under the new legislation

• English and French are the official languages.

•  The Métis received 1.4 million acres of land for farming

• The transition from settlement to province was not smooth

 In the wake of the Red River Rebellion, Macdonald ordered troops into the area to keep the peace—but they did not act as peace agents

 Métis was brutalized almost as a matter of course—many died as a result of the beatings they received

 These actions were not officially condoned, and the soldiers who engaged in violence were not punished for their actions

• All settlers in Manitoba were required to have scrip.

Scrip is a piece of paper that was similar to money.

It helped gain title to the land that had been reserved for the settlers.

TWO TYPES OF SCRIP

 When land speculators arrived in the Red River Valley, they were successful in buying up almost all the scrip - usually for an amount for far below the actual value of the land.

 The government of Manitoba often threatened the Métis with imprisonment if they did not turn over their scrip to the speculators.

They gravitated to the Northwest, where they tried to recreate the culture they had enjoyed in the Red River settlement before 1869

Some Métis also left for the Dakota and Montana territories in the US.

In the Northwest, the Métis recreated the pattern of settlement established at Red River at the beginning of the nineteenth century

They laid out their farms in the traditional manner—long lots “10 chains across and two miles deep” with frontage on the river.

The catholic church was always at the centre of the community.

By the early 1870s, the bison were beginning to disappear. The decline of the bison greatly alarmed the Métis, because the hunt was a large part of their livelihood.

In December 1873, the Métis adopted the “Laws of St. Laurent.”

The Chief Factor at Fort Carlton was the main HBC post in the area.

Lawrence Clarke had been with the HBC since the age of nineteen. He was very ambitious.

Made a show of getting along with both the Métis and European settlers

He believed that the Métis were inferior and he used his position to lower the Métis standard of living.

Hired Métis carriers on temporary contracts instead of offering them full-time work with HBC, and paid them as little as he could

By 1875, he was paying the Métis in trade goods rather than cash, which reduced the expenses of the HBC

Asked the Canadian government to provide a magistrate to enforce Canadian law in the Fort Carlton area.

The government agreed and Clarke became the magistrate, and it gave him sweeping powers to maintain order - used these powers for the benefit of the HBC.

Any Métis who objected to the low pay, or who attempted to strike for better wages, could be imprisoned

In the spring of 1875, a group of Métis who were not members of the St. Laurent community began hunting bison before the official St. Laurent hunt had begun

Gabriel Dumont, the Métis president of St. Laurent, arrested and fined the participants, according to the new laws of the hunt

Those who were charged in the incident appealed to Chief Factor Clarke, who issued warrants for the arrest of Dumont and others

The Canadian government admitted that Clarke had engineered the crisis and that Dumont had acted properly, it did not censure Clarke, who went ahead and arrest Dumont and his men.

Clarke tried them at Fort Carlton, acting as magistrate

This incident invalidated the Métis's "Laws of St. Laurent."

Ottawa had extended the power to control the Métis—who would now have no authority to regulate the buffalo hunt

GAME SHOW TIME!

What were the Métis often threatened with if they didn’t turn over their scrip to the speculators?

What three sources did the Métis draw their income from?

What are the Laws of St. Laurent and why are they important?

Why did many Métis leave Manitoba in the early 1870’s? What did they want to do?

Why was the winter of 1874-1875 very difficult for the Métis and the Aboriginal Nations living on the Prairie?

What did Lawrence Clarke ask the Canadian government? How did the government respond?

What was life like for the Métis in the beginning of the New Settlement in the Northwest?

What could happen to any Métis who objected to the low pay, or who attempted to strike for better wages?

Who was Gabriel Dumont? What did he do?

by: Gabrielle, Anahita, Joanna and Susan

What are the two kinds of scrip? Explain what each of them are.

The Métis found themselves in a terrible situation.

• They were already struggling to survive

• They were now deprived of the right to make their own laws and conserve their livelihood.

As the 1870s drew to a close, the Métis saw themselves as being powerless to deal with the changes that were sweeping the Northwest.

 Their income was drawn from three sources:

• Subsistence farming on small garden plots on their land

• Hunting buffalo

• Hauling freight for the HBC

THE CHIEF FACTOR

AT CARLTON:

Lawrence Clarke

Income and Life

The Passing of the

Manitoba Act

• Two education systems: Protestant and Catholic

(1870)

In the beginning, life was good.

• Buffalo and other game were still plentiful

The winter of 1874-1875 was very difficult for the Métis and aboriginal nations:

• The soil was rich in nutrients

• The bison had been eliminated

• Doing business with the HBC provided cash, which could be used to buy manufactured goods

• There was very little to eat

•  Impossible to make pemmican - loss of food and income for the Métis (pemmican was the principle winter food)

THE TRANSITION:

Settlement to Province

LAWS OF ST. LAURENT

In 1873, the Liberals came to power under Alexander Mackenzie

During this administration(1873-1878) the Canadian government left the Métis alone

MÉTIS IN THE NORTHWEST

 LAND OWNERSHIP

• Most Métis did not understand the value of the scrip because their traditional economy did not include money or deeds.

• Governed all aspects of life in the settlement, including the bison hunt

• The new hunting rules were very strict, because it was necessary to conserve the bison for as long as possible

• The speculators could then use the scrip as collateral for much larger bank loans, which provided them with even more investment capital.

Money Scrip

Example: scrip to the value of $160 could be used to obtain a loan of as much as ten times that amount.

• Had a value of $160 = a quarter section of land, which was then worth $1 an acre {0.405 hectares}.
• Money scrip was also convertible to cash to $160

Land Scrip

• This type of scrip entitled a person to exchange the scrip for a homesteader’s quarter-section land.
• (160 acres or 64.8 hectares)



Many Métis left Manitoba in the early 1870s.