Chapter Two: Manitoba Becomes a Province

1. Chapter Two: Manitoba Becomes a Province By: Angelique, Hazel and Christine.

2. Introduction

3. Introduction • On October 11, 1869, Andre Nault was met a team of land surveyors. • That was near LaBarriere Park. • Andre tried to tell them that they weren’t allowed on the land. • But the surveyors didn’t speak French. • So Andre went to get help. Out of the 100 people who came back with Andre, only one knew how to speak English. His name was Louis Riel. Louis told them to leave and they left.

4. The Métis • They are people with a mix of European background and Aboriginal background. • They were looked down upon because their mothers were Aboriginals, and Aboriginals were looked down upon even more. • They lived in a group called the Red River Settlement.

5. The Red River Settlement • The Métis got mad and worried when they heard about the land surveyors. • They were worried because: • Their land may be taken away and given the people moving there • Their rights might not be permitted • Their cultures might not be permitted

6. Rupert’s Land • The United States of America wanted Rupert’s Land. • So did Canada. • So Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald took action. • Hudson’s Bay Company sold Rupert’s land to Canada.

7. MacDonald’s plan for the Métis • Macdonald’s plan was to take Rupert’s land for English speaking settlers from Canada. • But no one told the people who already lived there about the transfer.

8. Arrival of “The King”

9. “The King” • William McDougall was a father of confederation. • MacDonald chose him as the lieutenant governor of the Northwest Territories. • McDougall considered himself as the king of the Northwest. • McDougall had to begin his job in the Red River Settlement on December 1st, 1869.

10. The “King” in the Red River Settlement • The settlement was hard to reach. • McDougall and his men had to go through the U.S. to get to the Red River from Ontario. • In Minnesota, McDougall got a letter saying that there might be violence when they arrived at Red River. • People he met along the way told him to expect trouble. • Some Métis spies were following McDougall and watching his every move.

11. Meanwhile… • Louis Riel was organizing the Métis. He formed the Métis National Committee. • They would talk to McDougall and make sure that they kept their rights. They had lived along the red river for many years and had set up most of the communities there.

12. The King in Pembina • When McDougall arrived at Pembina, North Dakota on November 2nd, he met two representatives of the Métis. • They gave him a letter from Louis Riel. It said that McDougall would not be allowed into the settlement. • McDougall’s party was forced to stay overnight at Pembina.

13. The King is sent away • In the morning, they went to the nearest Hudson’s Bay post on the Canadian side. • 50 men met him at the post. The men sent McDougall’s party away.

14. People of the Red River • Many different people lived in the red rived. That includes: • The French speaking Métis • The country born Métis • Descendants of the Selkirk settlers • Land speculators • First nations peoples

15. The population of the Red River

16. The population of the Red Riverby religion • Total: 11 963 people

17. Map of the Red River Settlement

18. The Resistance

19. Resistance • After turning McDougall away, Riel took over Upper Fort Garry. • People said that a man named John Schultz had wanted to take over Upper Fort Garry. But Riel had beat him to it. • The resistance had begun.

20. The Proclamation • After that, the Métis made a proclamation. • They went through the settlement telling the people about their plans. • They asked both the Francophone and the Anglophone communities to form a council. • Every settlement council had to send someone to speak for that community. • Some supported MacDonald, but most supported Riel.

21. The Fake Transfer • On December 1st, 1869, McDougall came to the Settlement with a proclamation. • He proclaimed that Rupert’s Land already belonged to Canada. • But that was a fake document. And the Métis didn’t know that MacDonald had postponed the transfer of land.

22. Meanwhile... • One day, a surveyor named Colonel John Dennis called on all of the supporters of the Canadian Government to stop the Métis. • 400 men gathered at the Stone Fort (Another name for Lower Fort Garry) and created their headquarters there. • Most of the men were new to the prairies. They supported MacDonald. • They thought it would be a good idea to settle the land with English protestants from Ontario.

23. Meanwhile... • John Schultz turned his home into a fort for his force. • On December 7th, Riel and his men surrounded Schultz’s fort. • A storekeeper came to talk to both groups. The Storekeeper's name was A.G. Bannatyne. • Riel ordered the men on the other team to give up. Schultz’ group was imprisoned in Upper Fort Garry.

24. The Provisional Government • On December 8th, Riel said that his Provisional Government was going to take over. At that time, Upper Fort Garry had no official government. • McDougall soon then returned to Ottawa.

25. Riel was president of the Provisional Government. He set up a public meeting for January 19, 1870. • A man named Donald Smith, who worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company for a long time, was sent by MacDonald to speak on behalf of the Canadian Government. • Smith told the people about what Canada planned for them once they join Canada.

26. Then Riel called on the crowd to set up a council. • Half would be made up of Francophone people, the other half was made up of Anglophone people. In total, there were 40 people. • They (The council) would talk to the government in Ottawa.

27. Side Fact Time! • On November 2nd, 1869, Riel took over Upper Fort Garry and made it his base. Today, nothing remains but the front gate.

28. The Métis list of rights • The list below was written by the Métis Provisional Government. This document set out the terms of agreement with the Canadian government to become a new province.

29. The list of rights • The new province would be represented in parliament and the Senate • The provincial government would control all the public lands • French and English would both be permitted • An amnesty (the official release of someone for a crime or for a political offence against a government) would be granted for the provisional government

30. The list of rights • The lieutenant governor and the head of supreme court would be bilingual • A steam boat route would be set up between Superior and Fort Garry • The provincial government would take all of the province's taxes and use it on public works

31. The List Of Rights • There has to be separate English and French schools • That last one was only added later. It was copied from the Quebec school system. • This document was the basis of the Manitoba act, the act that formed Manitoba. But the amnesty wasn’t granted and the Manitobans didn’t gain control of the public lands.

32. Confrontation

33. Confrontation • Seven of the men who were arrested in December had escaped from prison in early January. • One of them was Thomas Scott, a very unpopular fool. • John Schultz escaped a few weeks later using a knife that his wife had smuggled to him in the pudding that she sent him. • The rest were let go in January.

34. What happened to Schultz • After the rest of the men were let go, they met up with other Anti-Riel forces. • They joined up with the other people against Riel and began ready to march to Riel's headquarters in Upper Fort Garry. • There, they planned to overthrow the Provisional Government.

35. They came from Portage la Prairie, Lower Fort Garry and Stone Fort, and from St. Norbert. • The Portage la Prairie group marched eastward to meet up with Schultz’s group. • On their way to Riel, they were met a wood cutter named Norbert Parisien. He was arrested because he was accused of being a spy.

36. Parisien • Parisien soon escaped, and with him he brought one of their guns. • Parisien was mentally challenged, so when a man rode on horseback up to him, Parisien shot the man and the man later died. Parisien thought that the man might be a man from the Portage la Prairie and Schultz group.

37. The man whom Parisien had shot knew that it was an accident. • He asked the nearby mob to spare him. They didn’t. They beat him up so much that Parisien died. • After hearing what happened, Riel called on the calm. • The some of the men in the mob were arrested. One of them was

38. Thomas Scott • In jail, Thomas Scott tried to overpower the guards with nasty insults about their race and Catholic Religion. Succeeding, Scott broke out of his cell. • Riel’s people wanted to make an example of Scott. Scot was charged with treason against the Provisional Government.

39. He Dies  • The six man jury voted four to two that Scott shall have death for his penalty. • On March 4th, 1870, a shooting squad killed Scott in front of the fort. • His last words were: “ This is horrible. This is cold blooded murder.”

40. Alexandre-Antonin Tache • He was the archbishop of St. Boniface and also a spiritual and political leader for the French-Catholic people of the Red River Settlement. • In the 1860s, he became worried about the people who were English speaking protestants moving in from Ontario. • He wanted to make sure that the original languages and cultures in the community would be respected. • At that time, Tache was travelling to Rome. On the way there, he passed by Ontario to speak to the federal government about his concerns.

41. More about Alexandre-Antonin Tache • In December 1869, Tache was asked to return from Rome by the Canadian government. • They wanted him to act as an emissary to the people of the red river. • The government told Tache that the demands of the Provisionary government would be met. He was also told that an amnesty would be granted to all who participated to in the Resistance.

42. Even More About Tache • Because Thomas Scott was killed, the amnesty was taken away. Louis Riel was prosecuted for murder of Scott. • Tache felt like he was lied to by the government. But still, he continued to fight for the amnesty.

43. A New Province

44. The New Province • MacDonald finally began to talk to the Red River about what he had in store for them. • Tache had been talking to the government, and that’s why the finally came to talk to the Red River. • The provisional government was invited to send a send people to Ottawa.

45. The Agreement • The two groups finally came to an agreement when three men, the first one a priest named father Joseph-Noel Ritchtot, the second, a judge named Judge john Black, and third, Alfred Henry Scott, went to Ontario. (Alfred Henry Scott is NOT related to Thomas Scott.) • At Ontario, they talked about the terms of entry into Confederation based on the Métis list of rights.

46. More About the Agreement • This is what they agreed about: • Both English and French would be the main languages • Religious rights would be protected • The Métis would receive title their lands and a land grant of about 570 000 for the future generations

47. The Manitoba Act • The Manitoba Act was passed on May 12th, 1870. in came into effect in July 15th, 1870. Manitoba was born. • At the same time, John Schultz and his Cohort, Charles Mair, were going through Ottawa, trying to influence hate for Riel by telling the people about the murder of Thomas Scott. Many people were furious about it. They demanded that there will be justice done.

48. Manitobah • In 1867, before there was such a thing as Manitoba, the town Portage la Prairie became the centre of the Republic of Manitoba. • A man named Thomas Spence was concerned because the area had no government. He wanted to make it into a recognized part of Canada.

49. More About Manitobah • In January 1868, a council came together to form the Republic of Manitoba. • Spence tried to raise money for the organization by taxing things. But only a few of the town’s businesses would pay, including the Hudson’s Bay Company. • But the republic soon collapsed. • Spence then moved on and became the editor of John Schultz’s Nor’wester newspaper and Louis Riel’s New Nation.

50. Manitoba? • Everybody please look at the blue letter ON PAGE 30. • Can I have a volunteer to read it. • This letter shows that the three men who talked to the Federal government had picked our name.