Enriched History
Enriched History
The Forks National Historic Site
Red River Rebellion
This silent movie is about the Red River Rebellion and how Louis Riel was hung because he was fighting for the Metis rights. The RCMP did not like how they were fighting back so they hung their leader (Louis Riel) after the rebellion and other events and rebellions such as the battle of Batoche.
The 1869-70 uprising in the Red River colony (also known as the Red River Resistance) was triggered by the transfer of the vast territory Rupert's Land to a new nation of Canada. The colony of farmers and hunters, many of the Metis, occupied a corner of Rupert's Land and feared for their culture and land rights under Canadian control. The Metis mounted a rebellion and declared a provisional government to negotiate terms for entering Confederation. The uprising led to the creation of the province of Manitoba, and the emergence of Metis leaders Louis Riel-a hero to his people and many other individuals in Quebec, but an outlaw in the eyes of the Canadian government.
Hudson Bay Company Departs:
The Red River Colony was founded in 1812 by Scottish settlers at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers (what is now referred to as downtown Winnipeg). After 1836 the colony was administered by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and populated mainly by francophone and anglophone Metis people. Most were descendants of French and English voyagers and coureurs de bois who had come west in the fur trade and settled down with Aboriginal wives.
The Red River inhabitants were continually in conflict with the HBC, particularly over trading privileges. By the 1850's, the company's rule was under attack from Britain, Canada, and the United States, and by the 1860's it had agreed to surrender its monopoly over to Rupert's land and the Northwest, including the Red River settlement. During the lengthy negotiations to transfer sovereignty to Canada, Protestant settlers from the East moved into the colony, and their obtrusive, aggressive ways led to Roman Catholic Metis to fear preservation of their religion, land, rights, and culture. Neither the British nor the Canadian governments- with no appreciation of the Metis people- made any serious efforts to try and reduce fears, negotiating the transfer of Rupert's land as if no population existed there.
Louis Riel Rises Up:
Metis' concerns were highly irritated by the Canadian's government to re-survey the settlements river-lot forms usually long, narrow lots fronting local rivers, which had been organized based on the seigneur system of New France, in contrast to the square lots preferred by the English. Many Metis did not have a right to a title to own their own land, and even though Ottawa had relayed the message that their occupancy and land rights were to be respected, it was soon obvious that keeping the promise was not in the interest of the government. In conclusion, the Metis soon came to fear the complete loss of their farms.Unfortunately, once again, their fears heightened due to the territory's first lieutenant-governor William McDougall ( also a well-known Canadian expansionist) who continued to fuel tensions and elevate fears, and the possibility of full English Canadian domination over the country.
In early November 1869, Louis Riel rose up and took on the role of a Metis spokesman, and became the leader of a group of Red River militants who's role was to prevent McDougall and the land-survey party from entering the colony. Riel allied the support amongst the francophone and anglophone Metis communities, aware that his people must work with more reticent, less organized anglophones to satisfy their grievances.
During the time, all the HBC officials remained neutral, Metis opposition caused the Canadian government to decline the opportunity to recognize and assume control of the territory on December 1, 1869, as had been presumed by the Metis. This then led to inspiring the rebels residing in Upper Fort Gary in the territory that they had seized-which was also where the main HBC trading post at the forks of the Red and Assiniboine was located-and had planned to hold it until the Canadian government had agreed to their terms to negotiate.
Representatives of the rebel colonists were called to an elected convention, which in December announced a provisional government, soon to be lead by Louis Riel. In January Louis Riel gained the support and trust of most of the anglophone community in a second convention, which agreed to form a representative provisional government to discuss terms of entry into Confederation.
Execution Of Thomas Scott:
The events that led up to the execution of Thomas Scott were all led up to due to armed conflicts that persisted over the winter, while Louis Riel who had appeared to be in control had made a gargantuan error by allowing the court-martialing and the execution of the prisoner (Thomas Scott) who was a part of the English speaking Ontarians who had opposed the rebel government. Throughout the disturbance, Scott and some fellow Ontarians had been captured and imprisoned at Upper Fort Garry.
Scott's subsequent death by firing squad, despite outside petition from fellow Ontarians to Riel not to fulfill the request of the execution, inflamed passions among Protestants in Ontario. Although the Canadian authorities were still agreeing to fulfill the request of negotiating with Riel, they were not hesitant when it came to refusing to grant an unconditional amnesty to him and the other rebel leaders.
Birth Of Manitoba:
The provisional government organized the territory of Assiniboia in March 1870 and enacted a law code in April. although the Canadian government acknowledged the "rights" of the people in the Red River in negotiations that took place I. Ottawa that spring, the victory was limited.
