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The Red River Rebellion or Red River Resistance are names given to the events surrounding the actions of a provisional government established by Métis leader Louis Riel in 1869 at the Red River Settlement in what is now the Canadian province of Manitoba.

The Rebellion was the first crisis the new government faced following Canadian Confederation in 1867. The Canadian government 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. McDougall sent out surveyors before the land was officially transferred to Canada to have them plot the land according to the square township system used in Ontario. 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 and invited an equal number of anglophone representatives. Riel undertook to negotiate directly with the Canadian government to establish Assiniboia as a province.

Meanwhile, Riel's men had arrested members of a pro-Canadian faction that had resisted the provisional government, including an Orangeman named Thomas Scott. Riel had Scott put on trial and executed by firing squad for offences usually considered non-capital. Canada and the provisional government soon negotiated an agreement. In 1870, the legislature passed the Manitoba Act, allowing the Red River settlement to enter Confederation as the province of Manitoba. The Act also incorporated some of Riel's demands, such as separate French schools for Métis children and protection of Catholicism.

After the agreement was made, Canada sent a military expedition to Manitoba to enforce federal authority. Now known as the Wolseley Expedition (or Red River Expedition), it consisted Canadian Militia and British regular soldiers led by Colonel Garnet Wolseley. As the expedition headed west, outrage grew in Ontario over Scott's execution. Many Ontarians demanded that Wolseley's expedition be used to arrest Riel and suppress what they considered to be rebellion. Riel fled before the expedition reached Fort Garry, and the arrival of troops marked the end of the Rebellion.

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Riel emerges as a leader

The Métis became more fearful when the Canadian government appointed the notoriously anti-French McDougall as the Lieutenant Governor-designate on September 28, 1869, in anticipation of a formal transfer to take effect on December 1. Emerging as a Métis leader, the educated Louis Riel denounced the survey in a speech delivered in late August from the steps of Saint-Boniface Cathedral. On October 11, 1869, the work of the survey was disrupted by a group of Métis including Riel. On October 16 this group organised itself as the "Métis National Committee" to represent Métis interests. It had Riel as secretary, John Bruce as president, and two representatives from each parish.

The Hudson's Bay Company's Council of Assiniboia still asserted authority over the area, and its representatives summoned Riel on October 25 to explain the actions of the Committee. Riel declared that any attempt by McDougall to enter would be blocked unless the Canadians first negotiated terms with the Métis and with the general population of the settlement.

On November 2, under the command of Ambroise-Dydime Lépine, Métis turned back McDougall's party near the American border and forced them to retreat to Pembina, North Dakota. The number of Riel's followers had grown rapidly, and on that same day a group of about 400 Métis followers led by Riel seized Fort Garry without bloodshed.

Considerable differences remained at the Red River Settlement over how to negotiate with Canada; in particular, no consensus had been reached between the French- and English-speaking inhabitants. In a conciliatory gesture, Riel on November 6 asked the anglophones to select delegates from each of their parishes to attend a convention alongside the Métis representatives. The first such meeting resulted in few accomplishments, and some of the anglophone delegates expressed displeasure at Riel's treatment of McDougall.

On November 16, the Council of Assiniboia made a final attempt to assert its authority when Governor Mactavish issued a proclamation demanding that the Métis lay down their arms. The Métis had no reason to believe that the council would safeguard their interests. On November 23 Riel proposed the formation of a provisional government to enter into direct negotiations with Canada, but the anglophone delegates requested adjournment to discuss matters.

On December 1, McDougall proclaimed that the Hudson's Bay Company was no longer in control of Rupert's Land, and that he was the new lieutenant-governor. This proclamation was to later prove problematic, as it effectively ended the authority of the Council, while failing to establish Canadian authority — unbeknownst to McDougall, the transfer had been postponed once news of the unrest reached Ottawa. Near the middle of December 1869, Riel presented to the convention a list of fourteen rights that were demanded as a condition of union. The demands included representation in parliament, a bilingual legislature, a bilingual chief justice, and recognition of certain land claims. While the convention did not then adopt the list, the majority of anglophones accepted most of the demands as reasonable once the contents became generally known.

While much of the settlement was moving toward the Métis point of view, a passionately pro-Canadian minority was becoming more resistant. It was loosely organised as the Canadian Party and led by Dr. John Christian Schultz and Charles Mair. Colonel Dennis and Major Charles Boulton also supported it.

McDougall appointed Dennis to raise a contingent of armed men to arrest the Métis' occupying Upper Fort Garry. The anglophone settlers largely ignored this call to arms, and Dennis withdrew to Lower Fort Garry. Schultz, however, was emboldened to fortify his house and store, and attracted approximately fifty recruits.

Riel took the threat seriously and ordered Schultz's home surrounded. Quite outnumbered, the Canadians surrendered on December 7 and were imprisoned in Fort Garry. Given the unrest and absence of a clear authority, the Métis National Committee declared a provisional government on December 8. Having received notification of the delay in transfer, McDougall and Dennis departed for Ontario on December 18. Major Boulton fled to Portage la Prairie.

Provisional government

Meanwhile in Ottawa, the Governor General Lord Lisgar had, at Macdonald's behest, proclaimed an amnesty on December 6 for all in Red River who would lay down their arms. He dispatched the Abbé Jean-Baptiste Thibault and Charles-René d’Irumberry de Salaberry on a mission of reconciliation, but failed to give them authority to negotiate on behalf of the Government. Macdonald also appointed Hudson's Bay representative Donald Alexander Smith as special commissioner with greater authority to negotiate.

On December 27, John Bruce resigned as president of the provisional government, and Riel was elected president. On the same day Donald Smith arrived in the settlement, followed shortly by de Salaberry, joining Thibault, who had arrived on Christmas day. An inconclusive meeting occurred on January 5, 1870 between Riel, de Salaberry, and Thibault, followed by another between Riel and Smith the following day. At this time Smith concluded that negotiation with the committee would be fruitless. He maneuvered to bypass them and 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 forty representatives, split evenly between French and English settlers, to consider Smith's instructions. This was accepted. Upon their recommendation, a committee of six outlined a more comprehensive list of rights, which the convention accepted on February 3. Following meetings on February 7 wherein the new list of rights were presented to Thibault, de Salaberry, and Smith, Smith proposed that a delegation be sent to Ottawa to engage in direct negotiations with Canada, a suggestion eagerly accepted by Riel. At this time Riel also proposed that the provisional government should be reformed so as to be more inclusive of both language groups. A constitution enshrining these goals was accepted by the convention on February 10, leading to the establishment of an elected assembly consisting of twelve representatives from anglophone parishes and 12 representatives from francophone parishes.

Canadian resistance and the execution of Scott

Despite the apparent progress on the political front and the inclusion of Anglophones within the provisional government, the Canadian contingent was not yet silenced, for on January 9 there was a mass escape from the prison at Fort Garry. Charles Mair, Thomas Scott, and ten others escaped. This was followed on January 23 by the escape of John Schultz. In any case, Riel had by February 15 freed the remaining prisoners after obtaining assurances that they would refrain from engaging in political agitation. However, Schultz, Mair, and Scott had every intention of fomenting civil war, if necessary, to depose the Métis from power.

An artist's depiction of the execution of Scott

Mair and Thomas proceeded to the Canadian settlements surrounding Portage la Prairie, where they met Boulton, while Schultz sought recruits in the Canadian parishes downstream. On February 12, Boulton led a party from Portage la Prairie that intended to rendezvous at Kildonan with Schultz's men for the express purpose of then overthrowing the provisional government. Boulton however had misgivings, and turned the party back. However, they were detected by Riel's forces, and on February 17 48 men including Boulton and Thomas Scott were apprehended near Fort Garry. On hearing this news, Schultz and Mair fled to Ontario.

Now acutely aware of the seriousness of the threat posed by this element, Riel demanded that an example be made of Boulton. He was tried and sentenced to death for his interference with the provisional government. Intercessions on his behalf by Donald Smith and others resulted in his pardon, but only after Riel obtained assurances from Smith that he would persuade the English parishes to elect provisional representatives. However, the prisoner Thomas Scott, an Orangeman, interpreted Boulton's pardon as weakness on the part of the Métis, whom he regarded with open contempt. After repeatedly quarrelling with his guards, they insisted that he be tried for insubordination. At his trial, which was overseen by Ambroise-Dydime Lépine, he was found guilty of insulting the president, defying the authority of the provisional government, and fighting with his guards. He was sentenced to death despite the fact that these were not considered capital crimes at the time. Donald Smith and Major Boulton were among those who asked Riel to commute the sentence, but Donald Smith reported that Riel responded to his pleas by saying

"I have done three good things since I have commenced; I have spared Boulton's life at your instance, I pardoned Gaddy, and now I shall shoot Scott."

Riel may also have been told by Scott's jailers that they would kill Scott if the committee did not. Scott was executed by a firing squad on March 4, 1870. Riel's motivations for allowing the execution, described as his one great political blunder, have been the cause of much speculation. His own justification was that he felt it necessary to demonstrate to the Canadians that the Métis must be taken seriously.

Creation of Manitoba

Upon receiving news of the unrest, Bishop Taché was recalled from Rome. He arrived back in the colony on March 8, whereupon he conveyed to Riel his mistaken impression that the December amnesty would apply to both Riel and Lépine. On March 15 he read to the elected assembly a telegram from Joseph Howe indicating that the government found the demands in the list of rights to be "in the main satisfactory". Following the preparation of a final list of rights that included new demands such as a general amnesty for all members of the provisional government and provisions for separate francophone schools, delegates Abbé Joseph-Noël Ritchot, Judge John Black and Alfred Henry Scott departed for Ottawa on March 23 and 24.

Shortly after this, Mair and Schultz arrived in Toronto, Ontario, and with the assistance of George Taylor Denison III immediately set about inflaming anti-Métis and anti-Catholic sentiment over the execution of Scott in the editorial pages of the Ontario press. Nevertheless, Macdonald had decided before the provisional government was established that Canada must negotiate with the Métis. Although the delegates were arrested following their arrival in Ottawa on April 11 on charges of abetting murder, they were quickly released. They soon entered into direct talks with Macdonald and Cartier, wherein Ritchot emerged as an effective negotiator; an agreement enshrining many of the demands in the list of rights was soon reached. This formed the basis for the Manitoba Act of May 12, 1870, which admitted Manitoba into the Canadian confederation on July 15. 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

As a means of exercising Canadian authority in the settlement and dissuading the Minnesota expansionists, a Canadian military expedition under Colonel Garnet Wolseley was dispatched to the Red River. Ontarians especially looked on the purpose of the Wolseley Expedition as the suppression of rebellion, although the government described it as an "errand of peace". Learning that Canadian militia elements in the expedition meant to lynch him, Riel fled as the expedition approached the Red River on August 24. The arrival of the expedition marked the effective end of the Red River Rebellion.

Legacy

The Red River resistance was only described as a rebellion after sentiment grew in Ontario against the execution of Thomas Scott. Historian A.G. Morice suggests that the phrase "Red River Rebellion" owes its persistence to alliteration, a quality that made it attractive for publication in newspaper headlines (Critical History of The Red River Insurrection (1935)). The word "resistance", though decidedly less dramatic, retains the alliterative character of the earlier phrase and is generally preferred by the majority of contemporary academic historians, as it more accurately describes the particulars of the political situation at the time.

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 while in exile, but never took his seat. He returned to Canada in 1885 to lead the North-West Rebellion or North-West Resistance.

References

Boulton, Charles A. (1886) Reminiscences of the North-West Rebellions. Toronto. Online text
Siggins, Maggie (1994). Riel: a life of revolution. HarperCollins, Toronto. ISBN 0-00-215792-6.
Stanley, George F.G. (1963). Louis Riel. McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Toronto. ISBN 0-07-092961-0.
Stanley, George F.G. (1989) Toil & Trouble: Military Expeditions to Red River. ISBN 1-55002-059-5

External links

Biography of Riel from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

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 After the agreement was made, Canada sent a [[military]] expedition to Manitoba to enforce federal authority. Now known as the [[Wolseley Expedition]] (or Red River Expedition), it consisted Canadian [[Colonial Militia in Canada|Militia]] and British regular soldiers led by Colonel [[Garnet Wolseley]].  As the expedition headed west, outrage grew in Ontario over Scott's execution.  Many Ontarians demanded that Wolseley's expedition be used to arrest Riel and suppress what they considered to be rebellion.  Riel fled before the expedition reached Fort Garry, and the arrival of troops marked the end of the Rebellion.
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-== Background ==
-During the late 1860s the [[Red River Colony|Red River Settlement]] was experiencing rapid change. The population had been historically composed mainly of [[Francophone]] ([[Michif]]-speaking) Métis, along with a minority of English-speaking mixed-bloods known as the "country born" ([[Anglo-Métis]]), and a small number of [[Presbyterian]] Scottish settlers.  A rapid influx of [[Anglophone]] [[Protestant]]s from [[Ontario]] had begun to enter the settlement.  These new settlers were largely insensitive to Métis culture and hostile to [[Roman Catholicism]], and many were advocates of Canadian expansionism.  At the same time, many Americans arrived who favoured  annexation by the United States.
-[[Image:UpperFortGarryEarly1870s.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Fort Garry circa 1872]]
-Against this backdrop of religious, nationalistic, and racial tensions, there existed significant political uncertainty.  To forestall American expansionism, the [[Government of the United Kingdom|British]] and [[Government of Canada|Canadian governments]] had been for some time negotiating the transfer of [[Rupert's Land]] from the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] to Canada. This resulted in the [[Rupert's Land Act 1868]] authorizing the transfer.  On December 1, 1869 Canada purchased the territory.  However, the terms under which political authority would be transferred remained unresolved.
-In anticipation of the transfer, the minister of public works, [[William McDougall (politician)|William McDougall]], who along with [[George-Étienne Cartier]] had been instrumental in securing Rupert's Land for Canada, ordered a survey party to the Red River Settlement. This was undertaken despite warnings to the [[John A. Macdonald]] government from Roman Catholic [[Alexandre Taché|Bishop Taché]], the [[Anglican]] bishop of Rupert's land [[Robert Machray]], and the HBC governor of [[Assiniboia]] [[William Mactavish]], that any such survey would precipitate unrest. In the event, the survey party, headed by [[Colonel]] [[John Stoughton Dennis]] arrived at [[Fort Garry]] on August 20, 1869. This aroused significant anxiety among the Métis, as many did not possess clear title to their lands.  The lots were laid out according to the [[Seigneurial system of New France|Seigneurial system]] with long, narrow lots fronting the river, rather than the square lots preferred by the English. The survey was an obvious harbinger of a coming wave of Canadian migration, and the Métis correctly perceived it as a threat to their way of life &mdash; they feared they could lose their farms.  That fear was a symbol for the larger fear of losing their language, feeling pressure against the Roman Catholic religion, and facing increasing marginalisation and [[discrimination]] in what had been their home territory.
 == Riel emerges as a leader ==