The Red River Rebellion (), also known as the Red River Resistance, Red River uprising, or First Riel Rebellion, was the sequence of events that led up to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by Métis leader Louis Riel and his followers at the Red River Colony, in the early stages of establishing today's Canadian province of Manitoba. It had earlier been a territory called Rupert's Land and been under control of the Hudson's Bay Company before it was sold.

The event was the first crisis the new federal government faced after Canadian Confederation in 1867. The Government of Canada had bought Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1869 and appointed an English-speaking governor, William McDougall. He was opposed by the French-speaking mostly-Métis inhabitants of the settlement. Before the land was officially transferred to Canada, McDougall had sent out surveyors to plot the land according to the square township system used in the Dominion Land Survey. The Métis, led by Riel, prevented McDougall from entering the territory. McDougall declared that the Hudson's Bay Company was no longer in control of the territory and that Canada had asked for the transfer of sovereignty to be postponed. The Métis created a provisional government to which they invited an equal number of anglophone representatives. Riel negotiated directly with the Canadian government to establish Manitoba as a Canadian province.

Meanwhile, Riel's men arrested members of a pro-Canadian faction who resisted the provisional government. The arrested included an Orangeman, Thomas Scott. Riel's government tried Scott for insubordination, convicted him and then executed him. Canada and the Assiniboia provisional government soon negotiated an agreement. In 1870, the Parliament of Canada passed the Manitoba Act, 1870, allowing the Red River Colony to enter Confederation as the province of Manitoba. The act also incorporated some of Riel's demands, such as the provision of separate French schools for Métis children and the protection of Catholicism.

After reaching an agreement, Canada sent a military expedition to Manitoba to enforce federal authority. Now known as the Wolseley expedition, or the Red River Expedition, it consisted of Canadian militia and British regular soldiers, led by Colonel Garnet Wolseley. Outrage grew in Ontario over Scott's execution, and many there wanted Wolseley's expedition to arrest Riel for murder and to suppress what they considered to be rebellion. Further notice was given in 1763, when King George III dispossessed King Louis XV of nearly all his colonies of North America at the Treaty of Paris.

Historically, the population was mainly francophone Métis, who developed a mixed ethnicity descended of First Nations and French descent and a unique culture during the decades of the fur trade. In the 18th and the 19th centuries, they intermarried; established a tradition of men working as trappers, guides, and interpreters to fur traders; and developed farms. Métis women also were sometimes active in the trade, and among several influential families in Sault Ste. Marie in the early 19th century, the husbands were European. The Métis culture was based on the French language and Roman Catholic religion.

In the late 18th century, English and Scottish men entered the fur trade and also married into the Ojibwe people and other First Nations in this region. Their mixed-race descendants generally spoke English and were sometimes known as the "country born" (also as Anglo-Métis). The third group of settlers to the region was a small number of Presbyterian Scottish settlers. More anglophone Protestants began to settle there from Ontario in the 19th century.

The newer settlers were generally insensitive to Métis culture and hostile to Roman Catholicism, and many advocated Canadian expansionism. Meanwhile, many Americans migrated there, some of whom favouring annexation of the territory by the United States. Against the backdrop of religious, nationalistic, and ethnic tensions, political uncertainty was high. To forestall US expansionism and to bring law and order to the wild, the British and Canadian governments had been for some time negotiating the transfer of Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company to Canada. The British Rupert's Land Act 1868 authorized the transfer. On December 1, 1869, Canada purchased the territory.

In anticipation of the transfer, Public Works Minister William McDougall, who with George-Étienne Cartier had been instrumental in securing Rupert's Land for Canada, ordered a survey party to the Red River Colony. A Catholic bishop, Alexandre-Antonin Taché; the Anglican bishop of Rupert's Land, Robert Machray; and the HBC governor of Assiniboia, William Mactavish, all warned the federal government that such surveys would precipitate unrest.

Headed by Colonel John Stoughton Dennis, the survey party arrived at Fort Garry on August 20, 1869. The Métis were anxious about the survey since they did not possess clear title to their lands but held a tenuous right of occupancy. In addition, the lots had been laid out according to the French seigneurial colonial system, with long narrow lots fronting the river, rather than the square lots that were preferred by the English. The Métis considered the survey to be a forerunner of increased Canadian migration to the territory, which they perceived as a threat to their way of life. More specifically, they feared

a possible confiscation of their farmland by the Canadian government.

There were originally two resistance groups in Red River. One was led by Riel, and the other was led by a Métis named William Dease, who expressed Métis values in his opposition. For a long time they were locked in a power struggle on a symbolic level, both sides offering different perspectives on Métis unity. Riel finally defeated Dease for the leadership of the resistance and consolidated his support system within the French Métis community. He then felt strong enough to initiate the breach of October 1869.

Because the Hudson's Bay Company's Council of Assiniboia still had authority over the area, its representatives summoned Riel on October 25 to explain the actions of the committee. On the same day Riel led roughly 400 men recruited from fur-brigades recently returned to the settlement for the season to seize Fort Garry without bloodshed. That would come to be known as one of Riel's most brilliant moves, as control of the fort symbolized control of all access to the settlement and the Northwest.

Residents of the Red River Colony disagreed on how to negotiate with Canada. In particular, the French- and English-speaking inhabitants did not agree on how to proceed. In a conciliatory gesture, Riel on November 6 asked the anglophones to select delegates from each of their parishes to attend a convention with the Métis representatives. After little was accomplished at the first meeting, James Ross expressed displeasure at Riel's treatment of McDougall. Riel angrily denied that and stated that he had no intentions of invoking American interventions. Instead, throughout the entire resistance, he insisted that he and the Métis were loyal subjects of Queen Victoria.

On November 16, the Council of Assiniboia made a final attempt to assert its authority when Governor Mactavish issued a proclamation ordering the Métis to lay down their arms. Instead, on November 23, Riel proposed the formation of a provisional government to replace the Council of Assiniboia to enter into direct negotiations with Canada. The anglophone delegates requested an adjournment to discuss matters. They neither succeeded in rallying the English-speaking parishes behind that move nor originally approved of the "List of Rights," which was presented to the convention on December 1. Despite his Métis sympathies, Governor Mactavish did not do enough to end the conflict and was imprisoned by Riel shortly afterward.

Also on December 1, McDougall had proclaimed that the HBC was no longer in control of Rupert's Land and that he was the new lieutenant-governor. The proclamation was to later prove problematic, as it effectively ended the authority of the council but failed to establish Canadian authority. McDougall did not know that the transfer had been postponed once news of the unrest had reached Ottawa.

Around mid-December 1869, Riel presented the convention with a list of 14 rights as a condition of union. They included representation in Parliament, a bilingual legislature and chief justice, and recognition of certain land claims. The convention did not adopt the list at the time, but once the list of rights was generally known, most anglophones accepted the majority of the demands as reasonable.

Much of the settlement was moving toward the Métis point of view, but a passionately-pro-Canadian minority became more resistant. It was loosely organized as the Canadian Party and was led by Dr. John Christian Schultz and Charles Mair. Colonel Dennis and Major Charles Boulton also supported it. McDougall appointed Dennis to raise a militia to arrest the Métis, who were occupying Upper Fort Garry. The anglophone settlers largely ignored the call to arms, and Dennis withdrew to Lower Fort Garry. Schultz, however, was emboldened to fortify his house and his store and attracted around 50 recruits.

Riel took the threat seriously and ordered for Schultz's home to be surrounded. The resisters surrendered on December 7 and were imprisoned in Fort Garry.

On December 27, John Bruce resigned as president of the provisional government, and Riel was elected president. The same day, Donald Smith arrived in the settlement, followed shortly by de Salaberry, who joined Thibault, who had arrived on Christmas Day. They met with Riel on January 5, 1870, but reached no conclusions. The next day, Riel and Smith had another meeting. Smith then concluded that negotiation with the committee would be fruitless. He maneuvered to bypass it and to present the Canadian position at a public meeting.

Meetings were held on January 19 and January 20. With Riel acting as translator, Smith assured the large audiences of the Canadian government's goodwill, intention to grant representation, and willingness to extend concessions with respect to land claims. With the settlement now solidly behind him, Riel proposed the formation of a new convention of 40 representatives, divided evenly between French- and English-speaking settlers, to consider Smith's instructions, which was accepted. A committee of six outlined a more comprehensive list of rights, which the convention accepted on February 3. After meetings on February 7 in which the new list of rights were presented to Thibault, Salaberry, and Smith, Smith proposed for a delegation to be sent to Ottawa to engage in direct negotiations with Canada, a suggestion that was eagerly accepted by Riel.

Scott was executed by a firing squad on March 4, 1870. Historians have debated Riel's motivations for allowing the execution, as they have considered it his one great political blunder. His own justification was that he felt it necessary to demonstrate to the Canadians that the Métis must be taken seriously.

The government had to deal with several issues before peace could be made. Fortunately for the government, an agreement was reached. With the creation of Manitoba, the Canadian government would gain control over a new area and not have to worry about the Métis being upset, as they would also be gaining control over the land.

On May 12, 1870, the Métis had been given 200,000 hectares of land, which would make up the Province of Manitoba. That would allow for the Métis to hunt freely in their land and have some form of government with legitimate powers to run the province and protect Métis rights. Even though the government had created the Province of Manitoba for the Métis, it also allowed the government to have control over the province without being responsible for any events that occurred in it. Manitoba would be the first province created from the Northwest Territories.

Significantly, however, Ritchot could not secure a clarification of the governor-general's amnesty. Anger over Scott's execution was growing rapidly in Ontario, and any such guarantee was not politically expedient. The delegates returned to Manitoba with only a promise of a forthcoming amnesty.

The Wolseley expedition

thumb|right|The Red River Expedition at Kakabeka Falls, by [[Frances Anne Hopkins, 1877.]]

A military expedition had in any case been decided on as a means of exercising Canadian authority in the Red River settlement and dissuading the Minnesota expansionists. It embarked in May under Colonel Garnet Wolseley and made its way up the Great Lakes. Ontarians especially believed the Wolseley Expedition to be intended to suppress the rebellion, but the government described it as an "errand of peace." Knowing that he would be arrested and charged with criminal acts and believing that members of the Canadian militia in the expedition meant to lynch him, Riel and his followers fled hurriedly when the troops arrived unexpectedly at Fort Garry on August 24 during pouring rain. The arrival of the expedition at Fort Garry marked the effective end of the Red River Rebellion. The episode has been described as a resistance rather than a rebellion by some scholars as it was resisting against an expanding authority rather than rebelling against an established government.

Lisgar's viceregal successor, the Earl of Dufferin, prevented the execution of Ambroise-Dydime Lépine, who had sentenced Scott to death. Although Scott had been the son a tenant on Dufferin's estate in Northern Ireland, Dufferin heeded appeals from francophones in Quebec who were sympathetic to the Métis and reduced Lépine's sentence to two years in jail.

Following the suppression of the rebellion, soldiers of the 1st (Ontario) Battalion of Rifles, stationed at Upper Fort Garry, assaulted many Métis found around the fort, whether they had participated in the rebellion or not. John Bruce and Laurent Garneau, later a pioneer of Edmonton, left Red River in part due to this situation.

In 1875, Riel was formally exiled from Canada for five years. Under pressure from Quebec, the government of Sir John A. Macdonald took no more vigorous action. Riel was elected to the Canadian Parliament three times in exile but never took his seat. He returned to Canada in 1885 to lead the ill-fated North-West Rebellion. He was then tried and convicted for high treason and executed by hanging.

Frances Koncan's 2020 play Women of the Fur Trade was set in a fort in Red River and features three women discussing the events around them.

See also

  • Historiography of Louis Riel
  • List of incidents of civil unrest in Canada

References

Further reading

  • Knaplund, Paul (1934). "Gladstone on the Red River Rebellion, 1870". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 21 (1): 76–77
  • Stanley, George F. G. The birth of western Canada: A history of the Riel Rebellions (1936), a major scholarly study online
  • Winnipeg looking north from near Upper Fort Garry 1870 (showing Schult's Store and residence)
  • Canadian Confederation (The Orange Order)
  • [https://www.metismuseum.ca/media/document.php/149078.THE%20REIGN%20OF%20%09TERROR%20revised.pdf]