1. Chapter Five: Settling The West of Canada
Questions to consider: The Massacre of 36 Assiniboine men, women and children, by American “wolfers” in the North West Territories in 1873 was one of the reasons for the establishment of a government controlled police force in Canada. What are the benefits and drawbacks of an organized police force?
In the long run how well did the presence of the Mounties serve the indigenous people?

2. Cree Legend
“Long ago a Whiteman came from across the sea to our land. He spoke to our ancestor, who was sitting on a huge log. ‘Move over,’ said the Whiteman.
Our ancestor moved over a little and the Whiteman sat on the log. The Whiteman nudged him and again said ‘move over.’ The Indian moved over a little
Soon the Whiteman repeated ‘Move over’
This happened again and again until our ancestor was pushed off the log. Then the Whiteman said, ‘The log is now mine.’
Our ancestor took off his hat and respectfully asked ‘May I sit on part of the log?’
‘No,’ said the Whiteman ‘I am using all of the log. But the stump of the tree is nearby. Why don’t you sit on it?’
Since then the Indians have been sitting on the very small stump and hoping that the Whiteman would never want it.” –Recounted at Shamattawa, Manitoba.

3. Why the West needed Police
The North-West was a wild place. And for years many residents had complained about the illegal trade in whiskey, however there was no police force to do anything to uphold the law against selling alcohol.
Near what is now Lethbridge Alberta, there was a settlement nicknamed Fort Whoop-up.
The residents of Whoop-up were primarily American traders and smugglers.
They flew the American flag above the fort. Clearly something had to be done.
In 1874 Parliament decided to create the North-West Mounted Police.
Their duties were to prevent crime, keep peace, and apprehend criminals.
They would have horses and a string of posts from Manitoba to the Rocky Mountains

4. Early days of the North-West Mounted Police
The pay for these early recruits was only a $1 a day plus room and board, however young men from across eastern Canada (where recruiting began) were eager to join.
By the summer of 1874, 300 recruits went to Manitoba to be sworn in as the first North-West Mounted Police, eventually they would become the Royal Canadian Mounted Police known by most as simply Mounties.
They were supposed to patrol 6 million square km and thousands of people, with those 300 Mounties.
First they had to establish posts throughout the west.
Then they could start to deal with the liquor trade.

5. Mounties the liquor trade and the impact on the indigenous people
Whiskey traders were exchanging alcohol for furs with the indigenous people.
The indigenous people had no history with alcohol before contact with Europeans.
The traders would make a drink called “Whoop-up Bug Juice” this was a combination of alcohol coloured black with chewing tobacco, then mixed with red pepper and ginger.
The resulting “firewater” was then traded with the indigenous people for furs
The whiskey traders dealt with the indigenous people unscrupulously.
They might pay as little as 20 cups of “firewater” for a buffalo robe.
This made the whiskey traders a huge profit, and was very bad for the indigenous population.

6. Mounties and Whisky traders
The Mounties wanted to put an end to the whiskey trade.
They caught and fined the traders and destroyed their stock.
The Mounties were largely successful in shutting down the whiskey trade and establishing a level of law and order.
The Mounties worked to establish friendly relations with the indigenous people.
They told them that they were not interested in taking their land from them, but rather had come to drive out the whiskey traders.
They also told them that all people were to be treated as equals under the law.
Many of the indigenous chiefs grew to trust the Mounties.

7. Mounties and the Indigenous people of Canada
When Sitting Bull (the chief of the American Sioux) asked Crowfoot of the Blackfoot to join him in war with the US and the Mounties to reclaim their land from prospectors and settlers, many Blackfoot liked the idea
Crowfoot reminded them that the Mounties had driven out the whiskey traders and restored law and order to the land. He reminded them that the Mounties had put the wolfers who killed the indigenous people in jail.
Crowfoot turned Sitting Bull down, he told the Blackfoot that the Mounties were friends.

8. Mounties and the Indigenous people impact on the treaty process
In the US settlement on Indigenous land was often accompanied by violence.
This was not the case in Canada. There are few incidences of violence between the early prospectors and settlers and Canada’s Indigenous population.
Part of the reason for this is the relationship the Mounties were able to establish in the early days of their existence.
The treaty process in Canada may have been achieved without much violence, however it has resulted in questions of equity and ownership that echo through Canadian society until present times

9. The Need for Treaties
A treaty is a legal document for the purchase of or transfer of ownership of land or property.
As Canada expanded west they convinced the indigenous people to sign treaties and move on to land reserved for their use.
The indigenous people would have special rights on their reserved land no one else would be able to hunt, fish, or settle on these lands. These areas became known as “Reservations”.

10. The Treaty Process and the Indian Act
In 1876 the Government of Canada passed the Indian Act. This act governed (and is still used to govern) the indigenous population of Canada.
The purpose of the Indian Act was to force the indigenous people of Canada to adopt a European way of life and abandon their indigenous culture.
The act was used to outlaw traditional practices (like the potlatch)
The act was used to establish the Residential School System.
These “schools” were often more about making profit from their students than education and were designed to force indigenous children to adopt a European lifestyle.
Children in the residential schools were often horribly abused in a variety of ways. The schools have now been accused of perpetuating a “cultural genocide” on Canada’s indigenous population.

11. The Indigenous People and the Treaty Process
The Indigenous people of Canada faced a horrible choice. They knew what was happening to the indigenous peoples in the US who were fighting the colonialists.
The Bison (Buffalo) which had formed the basis of the lifestyle of the people of the plains were disappearing (they were being hunted to extinction, often left by the hundreds with only their tongues and hides removed) and without them their traditional lifestyle was not possible.
European settlers were being given free land to settle the west and the Nation Building Policy depended on filling up the parries with European farmers.
The Indigenous people did not want to move to reservations (often on poor land in isolated locations)
They did not want to be farmers, or give up their traditionally nomadic way of life.
However they had little choice.
They had been severely weakened by loss of life due to the diseases brought by Europeans.
800 members of the Blackfoot population died of small pox in 1870.
Facing the loss of their way of life, devastated by disease and fearful of a war with settlers or soldiers, the indigenous people of the plains felt that they had no real choice but to sign the treaties offered to them.

12. The Numbered Treaties
Eleven treaties were signed between the government and the indigenous people of the plains between 1871 and 1921.
These become known as the numbered treaties.
The numbered treaties gave the Canadian government control of over 2 million km2.
Treaty #8 covers the northeast corner of BC.
Treaty #8 is the only post-Confederation treaty signed in BC, with the exception of the Douglas treaties one of very few treaties signed in BC.
Most of BC was simply claimed by European settlers with no compensation to the indigenous people whatsoever.

13. Misunderstandings
The concept of land ownership as understood by Europeans was alien to the Indigenous people.
They did not think of land in terms of buying and selling forever.
They thought the treaties were meant to protect them and would result in the government allowing the use of the land, in return they believed the government would provide them with food, medicine, cloths and money to find a new way to live in this changed world.
Clearly that is not how the Europeans view the treaty process.
This cultural misunderstanding has repercussions that are still impacting the relationship between Canada’s indigenous population and the government and other people of Canada to this day.

14. The Reserves
The indigenous people were deeply unhappy with the reserve system.
They had no history of and many of them had little interest in farming and the reserve land was often poor farm land.
The indigenous people considered the treaties a series of “broken promises”. Indian Agents sent by the government to manage the reserves were often corrupt, cheated the indigenous people, or were cruel to them.
Often food supplies did not arrive, or if they did they were inadequate.
After a while some of the indigenous people became angry, and began to consider the path the indigenous people of the US had followed.

15. Poundmaker, Big Bear and the North West Rebellion
Poundmaker was the adopted son of Crowfoot. He became chief in 1878.
Poundmaker was deeply worried about the loss of the way of life his people enjoyed.
Big Bear was the chief of the plains Cree.
Big Bear was a renowned hunter of buffalo.
He was concerned about the loss of the buffalo and the amount of settlers coming to the west.
Big Bear disagreed with the terms of the treaties and believed they would lead to poverty for his people.
He and his followers did not want to live on reserves, or take money from the government.

16. Return of Riel
After Manitoba entered Confederation, many of the Metis moved west into what is now Alberta and Saskatchewan.
When Canadian surveyors showed up in the 1880’s they were not happy.
The surveyors started to divide the land up for settlement.
Macdonald’s nation building policy was in full effect and the railway was on its way.
The Metis called on Louis Riel
They sent Gabriel Dumont (a Metis hunter and leader) to the US (where Riel had fled after the first failed rebellion and the Thomas Scott Affair)
Dumont convinced Riel to return to Canada and fight for a nation the Metis could call home.

17. Riel Back in the North West
At first Riel tried to find peaceful resolutions to the problems faced by the Metis.
Riel wanted to unite the Metis and the indigenous people of Canada with the settlers and present a common voice to the government.
Riel had a petition created (a formal request to the government, or other authority requesting rights or other concessions)
The petition asked that the Metis have a voice in government and that they be granted ownership of the land that they lived on.
The petition asked that the people of the plains be provided with food to compensate them for the use of their land and the loss of the buffalo.
The petition protested the high price of farm machinery, the cost of freighting their goods by rail, and the low prices paid for wheat on behalf of the settlers. The settlers also asked for more representation in the government.
The Government did not respond to the petition.

18. Riel Responds
In March of 1885 (only months before the completion of the railway) having been ignored by the government Riel decided to take action.
He began the process of once again setting up an independent government and preparing to defend it by force.
When Riel decided to arm his followers and set up government, he lost the support of the settlers and the Catholic Church.
The Metis and a number of indigenous groups however continued to support his dream of a land where everyone could live the way they wished.

19. Deaths at Duck Lake
In March of 1885 in a battle between a group of Metis, Indigenous people and the Mounted Police 10 Mounties were killed and 11 injured.
The Mounties were forced to abandon Fort Carlton and retreated to Prince Albert.
When they heard of the Mounties defeat, other Riel supporters decided to take action.
The Hudson’s Bay Co in Battleford was raided and supplies for the rebel army were seized.
Big Bear’s son Wandering Spirit and his men attacked a settlement at Frog Lake. 2 priests, the Indian agent and five other people were killed.
Poundmaker began leading more Indigenous people toward Battleford.

20. Weaknesses in the Rebellion
Riel did not have the support of all of the indigenous people of the plains.
Chief Crowfoot and most of the indigenous people of the plains refused to join Poundmaker, Big Bear, Riel or his followers.
The government rushed fresh supplies of flour, bacon, tobacco, tea, and blankets to the indigenous communities that did not join the rebellion. (how nice of them)
The government now had a railway to ship troops to the west and a federal police force (who had just lost a number of men to these rebels)
Inside of 10 days the government had sent 5000 militia men, 500 Mounties and 50 government surveyors west.

21. General Fredrick Middleton, and the Government’s plan of Attack
The 5000 militia men that made up the bulk of the government forces were not soldiers, they were a army of civilians trained to defend the country in the event of an emergency.
Middleton called them “Sunday soldiers” he also mistrusted the Mounties. He wanted real British soldiers to fight in his army, he was after all a British general. Of course he was in Canada and regular British soldiers were hard to find.
The British general also seriously underestimated the abilities of the indigenous people.
General Middleton’s troops were supposed to move from Qu’ Appelle to Batoche (where Riel had his headquarters)
Another column of militia under Colonel Otter was to move North from Swift Current to rescue Battleford (Poundmaker had it surrounded)
A third military force under the leadership of General Strange, was going to leave from Calgary and find Big Bear.

22. The Battle of Fish Creek
General Middleton had 850 troops a large wagon train carrying supplies and a number of cannon. He did not move quickly.
At Fish Creek his army was ambushed in a shallow ravine by Gabriel Dumont and a group of Metis.
50 of Middleton’s militia were killed, while the Metis only lost four men.
The Battle of Fish Creek slowed Middleton’s progress by 2 weeks, which gave Dumont time to organize his forces to defend Batoche.

23. The Battle of Batoche The end of the Rebellion
Middleton attacked Batoche on May 9, 1885.
His attack began in disaster for the British general.
Middleton planned to use the steamboat Northcote (a supply ship for the Hudson’s Bay posts along the Saskatchewan River) as a gunboat.
The signal for the government attack to begin was supposed to be the Northcote’s whistle.
When the ship blew the whistle the troops aboard would open fire on Batoche and Middleton would attack from land.
Unfortunately for the Northcote the Metis had really good scouts and they discovered Middleton’s plan and set a trap for the Northcote.
The scouts stretched a steel wire across the river and when the ship hit it the smoke funnels were ripped down and the whistle was destroyed.

24. Battle of Batoche and the importance of having enough ammunition if you want to win a rebellion
Gabriel Dumont’s plan to defend Batoche almost worked.
The Metis held the town against the government forces for three days.
They dug pits and trenches around the village and fired at the troops.
Their position gave them a clear view of Middleton’s troops as they attacked the shore.
Unfortunately for the Metis they ran out of bullets
Ultimately they were shooting anything they could out of their guns including stones, nails and pieces of metal that fit.
On day four government troops stormed the pits where the Metis sharpshooters were hiding and they were forced to surrender.

25. Riel’s letter to Middleton and the escape of Dumont
Riel sent a letter to Middleton agreeing to surrender if Middleton let the Metis go.
On the outside of the envelope the letter was in Riel wrote “I do not like war”
Riel gave himself up on May 15, 1885.
The North-West Rebellion like the rebellion that bears Riel’s own name would not survive the loss of its leaders.
Gabriel Dumont was able to escape Middleton’s patrols and flee to the US.

26. The Battle of Cut Knife Hill and the end of Poundmaker’s role in the rebellion
While Middleton was preparing to attack Batoche, Colonel Otter went to help Battleford, which was surrounded by Poundmaker and his men.
Otter brought 500 soldiers, 200 wagons of supplies, 600 horses, 2 cannon and a Gatling gun.
Otter set the government troops up on an hill above Poundmaker’s camp intending to use the machine gun and cannon against them.
Poundmaker’s men just went into the forest and used snipers to pick off Otter’s troops, one at a time.
Bit by bit Otter’s troops were surrounded by the Cree, until Otter was forced to retreat.
However Poundmaker did not pursue his victory, or Otter’s troops.
When he learned of Riel’s defeat at Batoche Poundmaker surrendered to General Middleton on May 23, 1885.

27. Battle of Frenchman’s Butte and the end of Big Bear’s role in the rebellion
In the west General Strange met Big Bear at Frenchman’s Butte.
Big Bear’s men could not withstand the advantage that Strange’s heavy guns provided.
Big Bear and his followers began to withdraw from the battle.
Initially Big Bear is able to escape, however the soldiers followed him and by the end of June, Big Bear was out of ammunition and food. He surrendered on July 2, 1885, to the Mounties at Fort Carlton.
From beginning to end the North-West Rebellion lasted 100 days and end with Riel, Poundmaker and Big Bear as prisoners of the Canadian government.
All three were charged with treason.

28. The Trial of Poundmaker
The idea of high treason was completely alien to the indigenous people.
There were no words in the language of the Cree that came even close to the concept. The closest translators were able to get was charging Poundmaker with “throwing sticks at the Queen and trying to knock off her bonnet”
When he surrendered Poundmaker offered to shake hands with General Middleton. Middleton refused to shake his hand.
At the meeting the General sat on a chair with his interpreter and officers standing behind him, while Poundmaker and his men sat on the ground before them.
Poundmaker pointed out at his trial that he had not fired first at the Battle of Cut Knife Hill.
He pleaded that he had only been trying to improve the living conditions of his people
He said that he had acted to save lives when he held back his followers during Otter’s retreat at Cut Knife.
The jury found Poundmaker guilty and he was sentenced to 3 years in Stoney Mountain Penitentiary.

29. The Trial of Big Bear Big Bear was also charged with high treason.
He was charged with the deaths of the people of Frog Lake, and with the taking of prisoners.
At his trial witnesses said that Big Bear protested the killings at Frog Lake.
Witnesses also said that Big Bear personally protected the prisoners his followers captured.
Regardless of his attempts to protect the people of Frog Lake, Big Bear too was found guilty of treason and sentenced to 3 years in the Stoney Mountain Penitentiary.
Both Big Bear and Poundmaker were released after two years and returned to reservations, however both of them were dead within months of their release. Prisons during this period were notoriously harsh places and many people did not survive to enjoy freedom regardless of the lengths of their sentences.

30. Big Bear’s Speech at his trial
“I ruled my country for long. Now I am in chains and will be sent to prison…Now I am as dead to my people. Many of them are hiding in the woods… Can this court not send them a pardon? My own children may be starving and afraid to come out of hiding. I plead to you Chiefs of the white man’s law for pity and help for the people of my band.
The country belonged to me. I may not live to see it again… I am old and ugly but I have tried to do good… Because Big Bear has always been a friend to the whit man, you should now send a pardon to my people and give them help”
Altogether 44 indigenous people were convicted of a variety of crimes. Of the 44, 8 were hanged.
18 Metis were sent to prison for the role they played in the rebellion.

31. The Trial of Louis Riel Riel’s trial was held in Regina.
Many consider it the most important trial in Canadian history.
The jury was made up of six English-speaking Protestants.
As Riel was a French-speaking Catholic, many feared he would not receive a fair trial.
Riel’s lawyers encouraged him to plead insanity. They believed that if he were deemed insane it might save him from a death sentence.
Riel refused. He believed if he pleaded insanity it would undermine the goals of the Metis people.
The country was torn over the Riel trial.
In English dominated Ontario people saw Riel as a traitor who should be hanged.
They still believed Riel should be punished for the death of Thomas Scott and that he was a danger to the country, as they viewed him as being responsible for two rebellions.
In French dominated Quebec Riel was viewed as a hero. He had defended the rights of the French-speaking Metis.
However despite the debate raging in the rest of Canada, it only took the all English speaking jury an hour and twenty minutes, to find Riel guilty and sentence him to death.

32. The people’s response to the Riel verdict
Letters from every corner of the country poured into Macdonald’s Conservative government.
French-speaking Canadians demanded that Macdonald reverse the decision of the court.
English-speaking Canadians were equally determined to see Riel hang.
Macdonald knew if he did not carry out the sentence he would lose a great deal of support in Ontario and might lose the next election.
In the end Macdonald said “Riel shall hang, though every dog in Quebec shall bark”
On November 16, 1885 Riel was hanged in the Regina jail.
In French-speaking Canada; flags were flown at half-mast, store keepers put up black framed pictures of Riel, hundreds of students in Montreal marched shouting “Glory to Riel” and likenesses of John A. Macdonald were burned in the streets.
French-speaking Canadians blamed Riel’s death on PM Macdonald and said Riel had been murdered because he was French.