thumb|Cuthbert Grant

Cuthbert "James" Grant (1793 – July 15, 1854) was a Métis leader of the early 19th century who participated in the Pemmican War as an employee of the North West Company.

Life

Cuthbert Grant was born in about 1793 at Fort de la Rivière Tremblante, a North West Company trading post located near the present-day town of Togo, Saskatchewan, where his father was a manager. His father was Cuthbert Grant Sr., a North West Company partner, and his mother was Métis. In 1801, at the age of 8, he was sent to be educated, perhaps to Scotland, though this is uncertain. It is not known exactly when he returned to Western Canada, but in 1812, he entered the service of the North West Company at the age of 19. He then travelled with the spring brigade to the Pays d'en Haut, the "high country" of the northwest.

He was recognized as a leader of the Métis people, and became involved in the bitter struggle between the Nor'westers and the Hudson's Bay Company stemming from the Pemmican Proclamation, which forbade anyone from exporting pemmican from the Red River Colony. The capture and destruction of the North West Company's Fort Gibraltar in 1816, caused further anger at the HBC from the Nor'westers and the local Métis. This led to the bloody encounter known as the Battle of Seven Oaks, where Robert Semple and 21 colonists from the Red River Colony were killed.

Despite this, when the two rival companies merged in 1821 under the name the Hudson's Bay Company, the new governor, Sir George Simpson, requested Grant to head a Métis settlement of some 2,000 people situated some 16 miles west of the Red River Colony on the Assiniboine River. The settlement was to be known as Grantown for many years then was renamed St. François Xavier after the patron saint of the town.

In 1828, the Hudson's Bay Company placed him in charge of the defence of the Red River Colony. As “Warden of the Plains,” he received an annual salary of £200 and the duty of preventing illicit trade in furs. On 12 February 1835 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the Fourth District of Assiniboia and on 20 March 1839, one of the two Sheriffs of Assiniboia.He later became a sheriff and magistrate in the District of Assiniboia.

Legacy

Grant Avenue in Winnipeg and the Cuthbert Grant rose, developed by Agriculture Canada and introduced in 1967, are named in his honour.

During the 1960s, Canadian-born James Bond film producer Harry Saltzman attempted to make a feature film about Grant that would have been shot in Canada. Initially the biographical film was to have starred Sean Connery as Grant.

References

  • Memorable Manitobans: Cuthbert James Grant (1793-1854) Manitoba Historical Society Archives