Give credit to Métis founders of Manitoba

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/02/2023 (1281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TODAY’S holiday is celebrated as Louis Riel Day, acknowledging the role this man played in the creation of the province.

It’s an appropriate date for this recognition, because it was mid-February 1870 when the elected representatives of the people of Red River finally reached agreement regarding their entry into Canada.

At that point, the political prisoners Louis Riel had imprisoned since early December could be released, among them the noted ancestor of the family I married into, William Hallett. I have been researching his life and have come to believe it is the people of Red River, a large majority of them Métis, who are the true founders of the province. I am therefore suggesting this day of recognition be renamed Métis Founders Day.

Without taking anything away from the role of Louis Riel, it seems appropriate to recognize that Manitoba as a province is largely a Métis creation. From the earliest times, when Métis hunters defended their right to trade in pemmican in 1816 at Seven Oaks, to the 1821-22 settlement of Hudson Bay Company employees and their Métis children at the infant Red River Settlement, to the demand for recognition of Indigenous land claims, it was the efforts of the Métis people that largely established the foundations of the province of Manitoba.

Riel’s radical act in October 1869 was to step on the surveyor’s chain and demand Canada acknowledge Métis rights prior to any transition to Canadian status, but he was not the first to raise such concerns.

Riel lit a match to issues that had been smouldering for decades. Two petitions had been taken to the Imperial government in London — one in 1846 and a second in 1857 — advocating a change in government and recognition of land claims. Both times the presenter to parliament was A.K. Isbister, a Métis scholar and activist.

It was this second petition that initiated official discussions about the status of Red River, eventually leading to the decision to amalgamate it with the young nation of Canada.

When news began filtering into Red River in 1868 about the coming transfer to Canada, four Métis men — William Hallett, Pascal Breland, William Dease and Joseph Genton — posted a notice in the Nor’Wester newspaper calling for a meeting of the Métis community to “consider the affairs of the settlement,” hoping that all “natives of the settlement” would attend.

Yet another petition initiated by James Ross and vocally supported by Hallett went to the British secretary of state for the colonies in 1862, demanding a change in government away from the yoke of the Hudson Bay Company.

So when Riel took up the cause for Métis rights for land and self-government, it found fertile ground in the Métis community because the people had been agitating in this vein for years.

When Riel and his forces took over Lower Fort Garry in early November 1869, Red River entered a state of turmoil for months, with Métis people involved on all sides.

Some struggled along with Riel to enforce their demands; some were opposed, owing to concerns about the influence the Americans had on Riel. Many were outraged at the thefts and violent threats being made by Riel, others were concerned it could all deteriorate into bloodshed.

It was Donald Smith (who was married to Isabella Hardisty, a Métis woman) who was finally able to bring about a resolution to the uprising. On Jan. 19 and 20, 1870, in the depths of a frigid winter, the people of Red River assembled outdoors to hear Smith’s commission from the Canadian government and his declaration that Canada intended to deal fairly with them.

After listening for hours on those two days, they decided they had enough confidence to proceed with negotiating their entry into the Canadian federation. Many Métis named in the histories of that time — Ross, Leveille, Grant, Hardisty, McKay, Monkman, Hallett, Bourke, Nolin, Lepine, Dease and others — have descendants living in Winnipeg today and I suspect they might be pleased to have their ancestors included in recognition of an achievement made in challenging times.

Hard feelings that arose during the uprising linger among Métis descendants today, over the losses of one kind or another that were felt by all families. Families still identify themselves as either being supporters of Riel or not.

Renaming the February holiday to honour the whole community rather than just one man seems like a more accurate and inclusive option. Let’s hear it for Métis Founders Day!

Audrhea Lande, a former Winnipeg teacher and principal, researches and writes stories from the early days of Manitoba.