the métis move west
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The Métis Move West. The Manitoba Act The Scrip The Northwest Mounted Police. The Manitoba Act S eemed to Protect Métis Rights. English and French would both be official languages both Protestant and Catholic schools - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The Métis Move WestThe Manitoba ActThe ScripThe Northwest Mounted Police
The Manitoba Act Seemed to Protect Métis Rights
English and French would both be official languages
both Protestant and Catholic schools
566, 580 hectares (1,400,050 acres)of farmland for the “children of the Métis”
the rights to their existing lands were protected.
Manitoba Under the Control of Ottawa• End of the Provisional
Government and Métis representation
• Macdonald sent troops to “Keep the Peace”
- Troops were Militia from Ontario and members of the Orange Order
- Militia want to avenge Thomas Scott
- Métis assaulted and murdered- no Militia man was ever
punished
Métis Still Optimistic about Manitoba• Métis assumed that
the government would protect them and their rights
- Confirm that they Métis owned the land they occupied
- Able to select land for their children once Manitoba was surveyed
The Manitoba Scrip To gain title to the land
reserved for them, the Métis in Manitoba were required to have scrip
- Each family granted a scrip- a piece of paper similar to money
2 Kinds of Scrip- Money scrip could be converted
to cash- Land scrip could be sold or
exchanged fro a homesteader’s land grant or sold
- $160 and $240 based on value of farmland
Problems with Scrip• Métis were
cheated out of their scrip by land speculators
•Most Métis:- did not understand that
paper documents actually proved land ownership.
- could not read or write.- had oral traditions…not
written.
More ProblemsScrip not issued until late 1875 - slow land surveys
Adult Métis got $160, Children $240- Children’s land hard to farm- Open Prairie land 6km away from the river Land distributed by lottery- no control over where land grant was located
Government Wants Métis LandThe provincial
government clearly supported the speculators and pressured the Métis to sell their scrip
- Militia intimidate Métis - White land speculators con
Métis to sell Scrip cheap- passed a law forcing Métis
to sell scrip if white person wanted the land
- prison terms to those who resisted
Métis Move West Frustrated Métis
sell their land titles (scrip)
- Too many problems- Bison decreasing•Métis sold scrip
cheap 30- 40$- Far less than actual worth
By mid 1970s many Métis left Manitoba, some settled in present day Saskatchewan
1873 the Canadian government created the NWMP
• To enforced the law and established a Canadian presence in the wild Northwest
- paramilitary force - positive relations with
Aboriginals
•Specifically created to combat:
- The American threat- The Whiskey trade
Cypress Hills Massacre 1873•American wolfers
attacked a group of Nakoda camping in Cypress Hills
- Killed 20 because they thought the Nakoda stole horses
Reaction - People feared the West- prompted the NWMP to step
up their efforts to clear the prairies of American traders
The Great March•An effort to establish order in the lawless prairies
- Winnipeg to Fort Whoop-Up- 300 NWMP- Their job was to suppress
the whisky trade and bring law and order to the west
- to protect the First Nations
Arrived at Fort Whoop-Up• First Nations groups
were starving• American traders had
fled• The First Nations, for
a time, welcomed the protective presence of the NWMP
• Continued to patrol the North-West Territories for the next 30 years