1. KEY KNOWLEDGE POINTS Part 1: The Northwest North West Mounted Police
Numbered Treaties
Indian Act
Residential Schools
Part 2: The Northwest Rebellion
Immediate Causes
Major Players and Battles
Trial of Riel/Effects

2. What was the situation in the Northwest in the 1870’s?
Part 1: The Northwest
What was the situation in the Northwest in the 1870’s?
What was the relationship between First Peoples/Metis and the Canadian Government in the Prairies?

3. What do you already know about the North West Mounted Police?

4. North West Mounted Police (NWMP)
Created in 1873 by Canadian Govt.
Their first mandate was to drive out the “whisky traders” (American fur traders) and regain control of the area
They are tasked with keeping the Northwest part of Canada

5. Cypress Hills Massacre
In the spring of 1873, a group of Assiniboin First Nations people were attacked by a party of Whisky traders in Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan
20 Assiniboin people were killed

6. NWMP Arrive in Cypress Hills
This event was a direct cause of the creation of the NWMP
However, things moved slowly without a railroad…
By the time the NWMP arrived there (a few months later), the whisky traders had fled back to the US
This reinforces the need for a railway!

7. Land Treaties with the First Nations People
The Canadian government wanted to use a railway to open up the prairies for European and Canadian settlement
HOWEVER,
This would be impossible until First Peoples/Metis land title was settled
In 1870, the government began negotiating treaties

8. QUOTES
Indian Commissioner Wemyss Simpson was sent to speak with the Cree and Anishinabe
What points of view are expressed in these quotations? Do you think this led to successful treaty negotiations?
“God intends this land to raise great crops for all his children, and the time has come when it is to be used for that purpose. White people will come here to cultivate it under any circumstances. No power on earth can prevent it.” Wemyss Simpson, 1871
“I have turned this matter of a treaty over in my mind and I cannot see anything in it to benefit my children. This is what frightens me. After I showed you what I meant to keep for a reserve, you continued to make it smaller and smaller… Let the Queen’s subjects go on my land if they choose. I give them liberty. Let them rob me.” Ay-ee-ta-pe-pe-tung, 1871

9. NUMBERED TREATIES
By the end of 1871, Treaties 1 and 2 were complete and the First Peoples had signed away their claim to their traditional homeland.
There were 7 treaties in the Prairies by the end of the 1870’s

10. Treaty No. 6 - 1876 CREE Food for signing the treaty
Read the ‘Zoom In’ Section on page 177.
Cree and Canadian Government at Fort Carleton
Govt. Represented by Alexander Morris
Cree represented by older chiefs Mistanasis and Ahtakakoop and younger chief Poundmaker
Older chiefs feeling forced to negotiate (promise of food) but Poundmaker is skeptical.
Govt. interpreters do not speak Cree so they appoint their own Metis interpreter, Peter Erasmus
What did each side gain from this treaty?
CREE
Food for signing the treaty
3 years of farming assistance (including tools, supplies and instruction)
CANADIAN GOVERNMENT
Land. A lot of it.

11. Treaty No. 7 - 1877 Eyewitness Account
Stoney Nation and Canadian Government in Alberta
Do you think that the language barrier was something that affected treaties between the government and the First Peoples?

12. Though the government had promised help in farming to the First Peoples in the Prairies, the Government did not keep their end of the deal. Here is what the government did do…
The ploughs that were supplied were poorly made and useless for prairie soil
The oxen that were supplied to pull the ploughs could not pull them
The seeds were sent too late in the year so that they were too late to be planted
Farmers were forbidden to use the steam-powered threshing machines required to grind the wheat into flour
A government official was quoted as saying that it was ‘unnatural’ for the First Nations people to use machines, even though it is impossible to grow and harvest without them
If the First Peoples were successful and had leftover wheat (surplus) after they fed themselves, they were not allowed to sell it.

13. THE INDIAN ACT In 1876, the government passed the Indian Act
This stated (among other things) that:
All First Nations People must live on reserve land
All First Nations children must attend residential schools
All traditional ways of life, such as choosing leaders and participating in ceremonies, were forbidden
This act destroyed the First People’s traditional way of life and the resulting poverty, isolation, and lack of rights and freedoms caused profound suffering

14. Thinking it Through
Use pages in your Thinking it Through textbook
View all documents on page 39
Choose 2 questions to answer on page 40 (#1-5)
Remember to include all of the following in each response
Content (answer the question)
Context (background knowledge)
Reference (quote or observation from documents to support above)

15. What do you already know about Residential Schools?

16. Residential Schools 1955 Propaganda Video CBC: The National
Residential schools were made mandatory by the Indian Act and caused a “national policy of cultural extinction.” (pg 267)
By 1931, there were 80 government sanctioned and supported residential schools
60% of schools were operated by Roman Catholic Church
Over First People and Metis children were forced to attend these schools.
Estimates = at least 48% of students were sexually abused
Estimates = 1 in 25 children attending residential schools died
In 2008, many unmarked graves were found around former schools.
After this discovery, the Canadian Government apologized and formed the “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” (TRC). To give anyone affected by residential schools a chance to share their experiences and create a historical record.

17. Documentary: We Were Children
Tells the story of 2 residential school survivors, Lyna and Glen.
Guiding Question: What evidence of cultural assimilation do you see?

18. Historical Minute about Chanie Wenjak
Residential Schools
Historical Minute about Chanie Wenjak

19. Peter Mansbridge Interview with Gord Downie
Residential Schools
Peter Mansbridge Interview with Gord Downie

20. Residential Schools
The Secret Path

21. Part 2: Northwest Rebellion
Why did it happen?
What happened?
What were the effects?

22. Immediate Causes of the Northwest Rebellion
We have already studied many issues between the First People’s/Metis and the Canadian Government leading up to this Rebellion, but here are some of the IMMEDIATE causes in the 1880’s.
CPH - Episode 10 (start at 44:13)
“The Land of Discontent”
3 things that set the stage for an Uprising
1. Poverty/Famine
2. Farming/Land
3. Political Factors
Find evidence to support each of the causes above.

23. The Metis Bill of Rights, 1884
The Metis asked for help and wrote down all of their complaints in the Bill of Rights
Written by Louis Riel and William Jackson (sympathetic European farmer)
Delivered to the Canadian Government
Riel wanted a peaceful solution, but when the petition is ignored he says “justice commands us to take up arms”

24. Conflict Begins – 3 Battles in 1885
1. Duck Lake
Started as negotiations… but quickly got violent
A VICTORY FOR THE METIS
Poundmaker and Big Bear (First Nations Chiefs) began to help the Metis
MacDonald saw this uprising as an opportunity to prove the importance of his Railroad
2. Fish Creek
Metis are led by Gabrielle Dumont
They are significantly outnumbered
They ambush the Canadian troops
ANOTHER METIS VICTORY
Prevent Canadian troops from moving to Batoche
3. Batoche
Canadian troops had new tactics and technologies
Metis outnumbered, but held their ground for 3 days
going to be defeated
CANADIAN TROOPS VICTORY
End of Northwest Rebellion
Riel and Dumont surrendered

25. Effects of the Northwest Rebellion
Poundmaker and Big Bear continued to struggle, but were eventually defeated as well
The Metis and First Peoples lose the Northwest Rebellion and were never delivered what had been promised to them in the Numbered Treaties
First People’s were confined to reserve land, at the mercy of the gov’t. Communities were isolated from each other and all ceremonies were banned.
To this day, First People’s and Metis struggle for respect from the Canadian Government.

26. Trial of Louis Riel
As a result of the Northwest Rebellion, Louis Riel was charged with HIGH treason
He was found guilty and executed.

27. Canada: A People’s History (Video Clip)
Episode 10 (start at 1:20:50 – 10 min)
“The Trial”
Why does Louis Riel say the Uprising
happened?
What are some of the ways that Riel’s
trial is unfair?
Describe William Jackson’s trial.