| Red River Rebellion Rébellion de la rivière Rouge (French) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The Métis provisional government | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Provisional Government of Rupert's Land and the North-West | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | 1 (Thomas Scott) | ||||||
TheRed River Rebellion (French:Rébellion de la rivière Rouge), also known as theRed River Resistance,Red River uprising, orFirst Riel Rebellion, was the sequence of events that led up to the 1869 establishment of aprovisional government byMétis leaderLouis Riel and his followers at theRed River Colony, in the early stages of establishing today'sCanadian province ofManitoba. It had earlier been a territory calledRupert's Land and been under control of theHudson's Bay Company before it was sold.
The event was the first crisis thenew federal government faced afterCanadian Confederation in 1867. TheGovernment of Canada had boughtRupert's Land from theHudson's Bay Company in 1869 and appointed anEnglish-speaking governor,William McDougall. He was opposed by theFrench-speaking mostly-Métis inhabitants of the settlement. Before the land was officially transferred to Canada, McDougall had sent outsurveyors to plot the land according to the squaretownship system used in thePublic Land Survey System. The Métis, led by Riel, prevented McDougall from entering the territory. McDougall declared that theHudson's Bay Company was no longer in control of the territory and that Canada had asked for the transfer of sovereignty to be postponed. The Métis created a provisional government to which they invited an equal number of Anglophone representatives. Riel negotiated directly with the Canadian government to establishManitoba as a Canadian province.
Meanwhile, Riel's men arrested members of a pro-Canadian faction who resisted the provisional government. The arrested included anOrangeman,Thomas Scott. Riel's governmenttried Scott for insubordination, convicted him and thenexecuted him.[1] Canada and the Assiniboia provisional government soon negotiated an agreement. In 1870, theParliament of Canada passed theManitoba Act, 1870, allowing the Red River Colony to enterConfederation as the province of Manitoba. The act also incorporated some of Riel's demands, such as the provision ofseparate French schools for Métis children and the protection ofCatholicism.
After reaching an agreement, Canada sent amilitary expedition to Manitoba to enforce federal authority. Now known as theWolseley expedition, or the Red River Expedition, it consisted of Canadianmilitia and British regular soldiers, led by ColonelGarnet Wolseley. Outrage grew in Ontario over Scott's execution, and many there wanted Wolseley's expedition to arrest Riel for murder and to suppress what they considered to be rebellion.[1]
Riel peacefully withdrew fromFort Garry before the troops could arrive in August 1870. Warned by many that the soldiers would harm him and denied amnesty for his political leadership of the rebellion, Riel fled to theUnited States. The arrival of troops marked the end of the incident. In 1885 Louis Riel would lead another rebellion, theNorth-West Rebellion, ending with his capture and execution.
In the late 1860s, theRed River Colony ofRupert's Land was changing rapidly. It had developed under the aegis of theHudson's Bay Company (HBC), which had a continent-wide trading and commercial network. It had been confirmed on the territory byQueen Anne, who had evictedKing Louis XIV and his subjects from it by the 1713Treaty of Utrecht.[2] Further notice was given in 1763, whenKing George III dispossessedKing Louis XV of nearly all his colonies ofNorth America at theTreaty of Paris.
Historically, the population was mainlyfrancophone Métis, who developed a mixed ethnicity descended ofFirst Nations andFrench descent and a unique culture during the decades of the fur trade. In the 18th and the 19th centuries, they intermarried; established a tradition of men working as trappers, guides, and interpreters to fur traders; and developed farms. Métis women also were sometimes active in the trade, and among several influential families inSault Ste. Marie in the early 19th century, the husbands were European. The Métis culture was based on the French language and Roman Catholic religion.
In the late 18th century, English and Scottish men entered the fur trade and also married into theOjibwe people and other First Nations in this region. Their mixed-race descendants generally spoke English and were sometimes known as the "country born" (also asAnglo-Métis). The third group of settlers to the region was a small number ofPresbyterian Scottish settlers. MoreanglophoneProtestants began to settle there fromOntario in the 19th century.[3]
The newer settlers were generally insensitive to Métis culture and hostile toRoman Catholicism, and many advocated Canadian expansionism. Meanwhile, many Americans migrated there, some of whom favouring annexation of the territory by the United States. Against the backdrop of religious, nationalistic, and ethnic tensions, political uncertainty was high. To forestall US expansionism and to bring law and order to the wild, theBritish andCanadian governments had been for some time negotiating the transfer ofRupert's Land from theHudson's Bay Company to Canada. The BritishRupert's Land Act 1868 authorized the transfer.[4] On December 1, 1869, Canada purchased the territory.
In anticipation of the transfer, Public Works MinisterWilliam McDougall, who withGeorge-Étienne Cartier had been instrumental in securing Rupert's Land for Canada, ordered a survey party to the Red River Colony.[5] A Catholic bishop,Alexandre-Antonin Taché; theAnglican bishop of Rupert's Land,Robert Machray; and the HBC governor ofAssiniboia,William Mactavish, all warned the federal government that such surveys would precipitate unrest.
Headed byColonelJohn Stoughton Dennis, the survey party arrived atFort Garry on August 20, 1869. The Métis were anxious about the survey since they did not possess clear title to their lands but held a tenuousright of occupancy. In addition, the lots had been laid out according to the Frenchseigneurial colonial system, with long narrow lots fronting the river, rather than the square lots that were preferred by the English.[6] The Métis considered the survey to be a forerunner of increased Canadian migration to the territory, which they perceived as a threat to their way of life. More specifically, they feared a possible confiscation of their farmland by the Canadian government.[7] The Métis were also concerned that Canadian immigrants would not care for their culture and so the Métis wanted to ensure that they could preserve their religious and political rights. Their concerns were motivated in part by the Canadian government's behaviour, as the negotiations that took place had carried out as if the territory were uninhabited.[7]
The Canadian government appointed a notorious francophobe, McDougall, as the designate of theLieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories on September 28, 1869, in anticipation of a formal transfer to take effect on December 1. That increased tensions among the Métis, who, in July 1869, had become more suspicious after McDougall ordered a survey of the settlement. Emerging as a leader,Louis Riel, who had been formally educated in European-style schools, denounced the survey in a speech delivered in late August from the steps ofSt. Boniface Cathedral. His lifestyle was very different from those of buffalo-hunting Métis. When Riel returned to the West, it was apparent that MacDonald feared that theUnited States was negotiating with HBC for the transfer of Rupert's Land without consulting the Red River population and the Council of Assiniboia. On October 11, 1869, Riel and other Métis disrupted the survey's work. On October 16 the group organized the "Métis National Committee" to represent Métis interests. Riel was elected secretary,John Bruce as president, and two representatives were elected from each parish.[8][9]
There were originally two resistance groups in Red River. One was led by Riel, and the other was led by a Métis named William Dease, who expressed Métis values in his opposition. For a long time they were locked in a power struggle on a symbolic level, both sides offering different perspectives on Métis unity. Riel finally defeated Dease for the leadership of the resistance and consolidated his support system within the French Métis community. He then felt strong enough to initiate the breach of October 1869.[10]
Because the Hudson's Bay Company'sCouncil of Assiniboia still had authority over the area, its representatives summoned Riel on October 25 to explain the actions of the committee.[10] On October 30, McDougall had reached the border despite the written order from Riel, who declared that any attempt by McDougall to enter the Red River Colony would be blocked unless the Canadians had first negotiated terms with the Métis and with the general population of the settlement.
On November 2, under the command ofAmbroise-Dydime Lépine, the Métis turned back McDougall's party near the US border and forced it to retreat toPembina, Dakota Territory.[11] On the same day Riel led roughly 400 men recruited from fur-brigades recently returned to the settlement for the season to seizeFort Garry without bloodshed.[12] That would come to be known as one of Riel's most brilliant moves, as control of the fort symbolized control of all access to the settlement and the Northwest.
Residents of the Red River Colony disagreed on how to negotiate with Canada. In particular, the French- and English-speaking inhabitants did not agree on how to proceed. In a conciliatory gesture, Riel on November 6 asked the anglophones to select delegates from each of their parishes to attend a convention with the Métis representatives. After little was accomplished at the first meeting,James Ross expressed displeasure at Riel's treatment of McDougall. Riel angrily denied that and stated that he had no intentions of invoking American interventions. Instead, throughout the entire resistance, he insisted that he and the Métis were loyal subjects ofQueen Victoria.[13]
On November 16, the Council of Assiniboia made a final attempt to assert its authority when Governor Mactavish issued a proclamation ordering the Métis to lay down their arms. Instead, on November 23, Riel proposed the formation of aprovisional government to replace the Council of Assiniboia to enter into direct negotiations with Canada. The anglophone delegates requested an adjournment to discuss matters. They neither succeeded in rallying the English-speaking parishes behind that move nor originally approved of the "List of Rights," which was presented to the convention on December 1. Despite his Métis sympathies, Governor Mactavish did not do enough to end the conflict and was imprisoned by Riel shortly afterward.[14]
Also on December 1, McDougall had proclaimed that the HBC was no longer in control of Rupert's Land and that he was the newlieutenant-governor. The proclamation was to later prove problematic, as it effectively ended the authority of the council but failed to establish Canadian authority. McDougall did not know that the transfer had been postponed once news of the unrest had reached Ottawa.
Around mid-December 1869, Riel presented the convention with a list of 14 rights as a condition of union. They included representation in Parliament, abilingual legislature and chief justice, and recognition of certain land claims. The convention did not adopt the list at the time, but once the list of rights was generally known, most anglophones accepted the majority of the demands as reasonable.
Much of the settlement was moving toward the Métis point of view, but a passionately-pro-Canadian minority became more resistant. It was loosely organized as theCanadian Party and was led by Dr.John Christian Schultz andCharles Mair. Colonel Dennis andMajorCharles Boulton also supported it. McDougall appointed Dennis to raise a militia to arrest the Métis, who were occupyingUpper Fort Garry. The anglophone settlers largely ignored the call to arms, and Dennis withdrew toLower Fort Garry. Schultz, however, was emboldened to fortify his house and his store and attracted around 50 recruits.[15]
Riel took the threat seriously and ordered for Schultz's home to be surrounded. The resisters surrendered on December 7 and were imprisoned in Fort Garry.[14]
The unrest and the absence of a clear authority made the Métis National Committee declare a provisional government on December 8. Having received notification of the delay in the union until the British government of the HBC could guarantee a peaceful transfer, McDougall and Dennis departed for Ontario on December 18. Major Boulton fled toPortage la Prairie.
In Ottawa,Governor GeneralLord Lisgar had, at the behest of Prime MinisterJohn A. Macdonald, proclaimed anamnesty on December 6 for all in the Red River area who would lay down their arms. He dispatchedAbbéJean-Baptiste Thibault andCharles-René d'Irumberry de Salaberry on a mission of reconciliation but failed to give them the authority to negotiate on behalf of the government. Macdonald appointed the HBC representative,Donald Alexander Smith, as special commissioner with a greater authority to negotiate.[12][16]
On December 27, John Bruce resigned as president of the provisional government, and Riel was elected president. The same day, Donald Smith arrived in the settlement, followed shortly by de Salaberry, who joined Thibault, who had arrived on Christmas Day. They met with Riel on January 5, 1870, but reached no conclusions. The next day, Riel and Smith had another meeting. Smith then concluded that negotiation with the committee would be fruitless. He maneuvered to bypass it and to present the Canadian position at a public meeting.[17]
Meetings were held on January 19 and January 20. With Riel acting as translator, Smith assured the large audiences of the Canadian government's goodwill, intention to grant representation, and willingness to extend concessions with respect to land claims. With the settlement now solidly behind him, Riel proposed the formation of a new convention of 40 representatives, divided evenly between French- and English-speaking settlers, to consider Smith's instructions, which was accepted. A committee of six outlined a more comprehensive list of rights, which the convention accepted on February 3. After meetings on February 7 in which the new list of rights were presented to Thibault, Salaberry, and Smith, Smith proposed for a delegation to be sent to Ottawa to engage in direct negotiations with Canada, a suggestion that was eagerly accepted by Riel.[17]
Riel also proposed for the provisional government to be reformed to be more inclusive of both language groups. A constitution enshrining those goals was accepted by the convention on February 10. An elected assembly was established, consisting of 12 representatives from anglophone parishes and an equal number of representatives from francophone parishes.
Despite the progress on the political front and the inclusion of anglophones within the provisional government, the Canadian contingent was not yet silenced. On January 9, many prisoners escaped from the prison at Fort Garry, including Charles Mair, Thomas Scott and ten others. John Schultz escaped on January 23. By February 15, Riel had freed the remaining prisoners onparole to refrain from engaging in political agitation. Schultz, Mair, and Scott intended to continue to work to depose the Métis from power.[1]
Mair and Scott proceeded to the Canadian settlements surrounding Portage la Prairie, where they met Boulton, and Schultz sought recruits in the Canadian parishes downstream. On February 12, Boulton led a party from Portage la Prairie to rendezvous atKildonan with Schultz's men. They intended to overthrow the provisional government. Boulton had misgivings and turned the party back. Riel's forces detected the men, and on February 17, Boulton, Scott, and 46 other men were captured near Fort Garry. On hearing the news, Schultz and Mair fled to Ontario.
Riel demanded for an example to be made of Boulton. He was tried and sentenced to death for his interference with the provisional government. Intercessions on his behalf by Donald Smith and others resulted in his pardon but only after Riel had obtained assurances from Smith that he would persuade the English parishes to elect provisional representatives. However, the prisoner Thomas Scott, anOrangeman, interpreted Boulton's pardon as weakness on the part of the Métis, whom he regarded with open contempt. After he had repeatedly quarreled with his guards, they insisted for him to be tried for insubordination. At his trial, which was overseen byAmbroise-Dydime Lépine, he was found guilty of insulting the president, defying the authority of the provisional government, and fighting with his guards. He was sentenced to death although they were not then consideredcapital crimes. Smith and Boulton asked Riel to commute the sentence, but Smith reported that Riel responded to his pleas by saying, "I have done three good things since I have commenced; I have spared Boulton's life at your instance, I pardoned Gaddy, and now I shall shoot Scott."[18]
Scott was executed by a firing squad on March 4, 1870. Historians have debated Riel's motivations for allowing the execution, as they have considered it his one great political blunder. His own justification was that he felt it necessary to demonstrate to the Canadians that the Métis must be taken seriously.[1]
Upon receiving news of the unrest, Bishop Taché was recalled from Rome. He arrived back in the colony on March 8, and he conveyed to Riel his mistaken impression that the December amnesty would apply to both Riel andLépine. On March 15, he read to the elected assembly a telegram fromJoseph Howe indicating that the government found the demands in the list of rights to be "in the main satisfactory." After the preparation of a final list of rights, which included new demands such as a generalamnesty for all members of the provisional government and provisions for separate francophone schools, the delegates AbbéJoseph-Noël Ritchot, JudgeJohn Black andAlfred Henry Scott departed for Ottawa on March 23 and 24.[8]
Shortly afterward, Mair and Schultz arrived inToronto, Ontario. Assisted byGeorge Taylor Denison III, they immediately set about inflaming anti-Métis and anti-Catholic sentiment in the editorial pages of the Ontario press over the execution of Scott. However, Macdonald had decided before the provisional government was established, Canada must negotiate with the Métis. Although the delegates were arrested after their arrival inOttawa on April 11 on charges of abetting murder, they were quickly released. They soon entered into direct talks with Macdonald andGeorge-Étienne Cartier, and Ritchot emerged as an effective negotiator. An agreement enshrining many of the demands in the list of rights was soon reached. That formed the basis for theManitoba Act of May 12, 1870, which admittedManitoba to theCanadian Confederation on July 15.[19][20]
The government had to deal with several issues before peace could be made. Fortunately for the government, an agreement was reached. With the creation of Manitoba, the Canadian government would gain control over a new area and not have to worry about the Métis being upset, as they would also be gaining control over the land.
On May 12, 1870, the Métis had been given 200,000 hectares of land, which would make up the Province of Manitoba. That would allow for the Métis to hunt freely in their land and have some form of government with legitimate powers to run the province and protect Métis rights. Even though the government had created the Province of Manitoba for the Métis, it also allowed the government to have control over the province without being responsible for any events that occurred in it. Manitoba would be the first province created from the Northwest Territories.
Significantly, however, Ritchot could not secure a clarification of the governor-general's amnesty. Anger over Scott's execution was growing rapidly in Ontario, and any such guarantee was not politically expedient. The delegates returned to Manitoba with only a promise of a forthcoming amnesty.[7]
A military expedition had in any case been decided on as a means of exercising Canadian authority in the Red River settlement and dissuading the Minnesota expansionists. It embarked in May underColonelGarnet Wolseley and made its way up theGreat Lakes. Ontarians especially believed theWolseley Expedition to be intended to suppress the rebellion, but the government described it as an "errand of peace." Knowing that he would be arrested and charged with criminal acts and believing that members of theCanadian militia in the expedition meant tolynch him, Riel and his followers fled hurriedly when the troops arrived unexpectedly at Fort Garry on August 24 during pouring rain.[21] The arrival of the expedition at Fort Garry marked the effective end of the Red River Rebellion.[8]
The Red River crisis was described as arebellion only after sentiment grew in Ontario against the execution ofThomas Scott. The historian A. G. Morice suggests that the phraseRed River Rebellion owes its persistence toalliteration, a quality that made it attractive for publication in newspaper headlines.[22] The episode has been described as a resistance rather than a rebellion by some scholars as it was resisting against an expanding authority rather than rebelling against an established government.[23]
Lisgar's viceregal successor,the Earl of Dufferin, prevented the execution ofAmbroise-Dydime Lépine, who had sentenced Scott to death. Although Scott had been the son a tenant on Dufferin's estate inNorthern Ireland, Dufferin heeded appeals from francophones inQuebec who were sympathetic to the Métis and reduced Lépine's sentence to two years in jail.[24]
Following the suppression of the rebellion, soldiers of the 1st (Ontario) Battalion of Rifles, stationed at Upper Fort Garry, assaulted many Métis found around the fort, whether they had participated in the rebellion or not.John Bruce and Laurent Garneau, later a pioneer of Edmonton, left Red River in part due to this situation.[25][26]
In 1875, Riel was formallyexiled from Canada for five years. Under pressure from Quebec, the government of Sir John A. Macdonald took no more vigorous action. Riel was elected to theCanadian Parliament three times in exile but never took his seat. He returned to Canada in 1885 to lead the ill-fatedNorth-West Rebellion. He was then tried and convicted forhigh treason and executed by hanging.[8]
Canadian folk singer-writerJames Keelaghan wrote a song "Red River Rising" about the Red River Rebellion.[27][28]
Frances Koncan's 2020 playWomen of the Fur Trade was set in a fort in Red River and features three women discussing the events around them.[29]
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