The Numbered Treaties and the North-West Rebellion of 1885

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The Metis Rebellion of 1870 was only the first resistance Canada faced as regards western expansion. Fifteen years later a multi-faceted event, the North-West Rebellion, would result in Canada sending troops out to present day southern Saskatchewan to put down what was seen (at that time) as a combined effort by the Cree and Metis to rebel against the Dominion government.

This perception was wrong. The Metis were rebelling, but the Cree would wrongly linked with the actions of Louis Riel and others. Regardless, the causes of the rebellion show how the expansion of Canada was not without controversy, and not everyone benefited from it. 

By the 1870s the Canadian government was trying to expand its control over the region - mainly as a means of countering the possibility of American annexation of the north west. The North-West Mounted Police were created in 1873 with this goal in mind. The NWMP were also created as a means of preventing a large Indian war from breaking out in the west. The destruction of the vast buffalo herds had pushed many Native peoples of the Plains (Cree, Blackfoot, Peigan) to the verge of starvation. Large Indian wars were being fought in the American west, and Canada wanted to avoid a repeat of these events in Canada. 

It was also hoped that the NWMP would expel American whiskey traders who were having a devastating and deadly impact on the Aboriginal population. In 1872-73, for example, Cypress Hills Massacre occurred: a group of American traders attacked a band of Assiniboine, killed a score of men and raped five women because this group refused to trade with the traders. The government realized the explosive nature of the situation and the detrimental impact it would have on future settlement.

The Numbered Treaties

The government also began entering into treaty negotiations with Plains people between 1871 and 1877. This was done to prepare for settlement and insure that Plains tribes did not interfere in the progress of settlement. Plains tribes were already interfering with the Geological survey and the construction of a telegraph line in 1875, and treaties and some form of formal land cession was seen as a means of preventing future misunderstandings.

The government in Ottawa also realized that the American policy of simply sending settlers out often resulted in bloody wars, was costly financially, in terms of human life, and was a detriment to settlement. Liberal Prime Minister Mackenzie stated in 1877:

“The expenditure incurred by the Indian Treaties is undoubtedly large, but the Canadian policy is nevertheless the cheapest, ultimately, if we compared the results of those of other countries; and it is above all a humane, just and Christian policy.”

Why did the tribes, particularly the Cree, agree to treaties? Starvation was an important reason. The decline of the buffalo and the lack of sufficient small game meant that treaty terms promising training in how to farm and rations was enticing to the Cree. Some bands were influenced towards taking treaty by missionaries who had been among them for some time, and who they had come to trust (e.g.:  Methodist George McDougall, and Oblate Father Scollen). The missionaries believed it would encourage the adoption of an agricultural life style by Natives, and lead to both their survival and conversion.

However, both sides approached the treaties from a different perspective. Cultural misunderstanding, and in some instances the refusal of the government to live up to its treaty terms, would eventually cause problems in the west. However, the Cree of southern Saskatchewan signed Treaty 6 on August 23, 1876.

The Northwest Rebellion of 1885:

For a proper understanding three distinct elements have to be considered:

1.     The Cree

2.     The Metis communities of the Saskatchewan

3.     Louis Riel

The Cree

If any people in the North-west territories had reason to rebel it was the Cree. They watched the basis of their economy end in the 1870s. They watched in the 1880s as their new relationship with the Dominion government failed to provide them with the relief and assistance on which they had counted. They watched while the Government broke treaty promises and coerced them to settle on reserves chosen by the government

As already noted the disappearance of the buffalo was a major cause of Cree problems. While we see this an ecological disaster, for the Cree at this time it undermined their independence. It was a situation exacerbated by the American policy of driving 'troublesome' Natives south of the 49^th parallel north into Canada.

The US was fighting a number of battles in their west. The most spectacular was the defeat of General Custer and the 7^th Calvary against Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and their Sioux warriors at the Little Big Horn River in 1877. Afterwards, however, Sitting Bull and his followers fled to Canada to avoid further attacks. They realized that the Americans would send more soldiers after them.

This added to the strain on the buffalo already in Saskatchewan as more people chased a dwindling resource. The U.S. government, in the 1870s, also embarked on a policy of deliberately burning large sections of plains to prevent the southern herds from migrating north.

This  hardship was compounded by the Canadian government’s response. Many of the Cree moved into the Cypress Hills region to search for game which alarmed the Cdn. Government. It worried about a concentration of Natives - particularly when the Cree began to press for contiguous reserves (Chiefs Piapot, Little Pine and Big Bear asked for this).

In deliberate violation of the treaty Lieutenant Governor Dewdney refused them the reserves they requested. Dewdney denied them food aid as a weapon to drive them out of the Cypress Hills by closing the neighbouring NWMP post, Fort Walsh, which was the main supplier of food rations.

Even those bands that had settled on reserves were denied relief. The government thought that by giving out food the Cree would become lazy and dependent on this food and, as a result, cost a lot of money to maintain (e.g.:  Poundmaker in 1881 asked for food when his band’s crops failed but was not given as much as his people needed).

Over the next few years the Cree chiefs tried to unite the various tribes to force a revision of the treaties - even the Blackfoot who were traditional enemies of the Plains Cree. Chiefs used Thirst Dances as a means of uniting different groups through communal ritual observances.

Big Bear was the most outspoken of the assembled chiefs at these meetings. At one he stated:

“What they [the government] have promised me straightway I have not yet seen half of it.  We have all been deceived in the same way…They take our lands [and] they sell them…Then they clap their hand on their hips, and call themselves men.  They are not men.  They have no honesty…”

The chiefs wrote up a list of demands, and presented it to the local Indian Agent - but it was ignored by Indian Affairs in Ottawa.

The government tried to prevent Natives from attending these meetings. A policy of "no work no food" was adopted on the reserves by the Indian Agents (i.e.: if a person was not working on their farms they would not receive food aid). More NWMP were sent west to help patrol the reserves, and a pass system was put into place to monitor the movements of Native peoples.

The end result, however, was the older chiefs losing control of their young men and their warrior societies. The older chiefs realized that a war would not solve things as the Canadian government was too strong for the Cree or even an Indian confederacy to defeat in battle. However, the younger men, such as Big Bear's son Imasees, were unwilling to listen to this advice. Eventually Big Bear and the other Cree chiefs would lose control of their bands.

Metis

Ultimately it was the grievances of the Metis and Louis Riel that brought armed conflict to the Saskatchewan country in 1885. There were approximately 1500 Metis in the South Sask. Valley. They had the same concerns the Metis had in 1870 -- what would the imposition of Canadian rule mean to their way of life and the land that they owned and farmed? They also argued that they or their children had unresolved land claims in Manitoba

Ottawa was simply unresponsive - they had other and, to their minds, more important issues to contend with. The Minister responsible for the west at this time, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, was also getting old (was in his 70s), and had little sympathy for the Metis

The response of both the whites and the Metis to this inaction was to ask Louis Riel back to Canada to lead their movement - they wanted him to deal peacefully with the government as he had in Manitoba. The Riel who accepted the invitation was a different man than the one who lead the revolt in 1870. Riel was now convinced that he had a divine mission, like the King of Israel, David  to prepare the Earth for the second coming of Christ and the end of the world. He would do this by replacing the pope with the Ultramontane bishop of Montreal, and relocating the Holy See at St. Vital his home parish in Manitoba.

For the first few months back in Sask., Riel acted as was expected of him - organizing meetings, organizing legal protests etc. Gradually, during the winter of 1884-85, did he reveal his true purpose to the local Oblate priests. They became convinced he was heretical if not completely deranged.

It was clearly Riel who pushed things towards rebellion in 1885. The Dominion government had eventually agreed to set a commission to inquire into the Metis grievances in January 1885- chose commissioners after two months. This was too long for Riel who proclaimed, again, a provisional government of which he would be the prophet and Gabriel Dumont (a leading Saskatchewan Metis leader) the adjutant-general.

How the Cree Get Associated with the Rebellion

At  the same time, purely by coincidence, a series of actions were undertaken by the Cree. By March 1885,  power in Big Bear’s camp had shifted over to the young men in the Warrior Society. Cree irritation had been building towards the white men at Frog Lake where Big Bear’s band was established. That Spring, the Cree attacked the Hudson’s Bay Company storekeeper and the Indian Agent. Big Bear tried to restrain them, but by the end nine white men were dead. - did manage to spare one white man and two women. This event became known as the Frog Lake Massacre.

The impression at that time was that the Cree were acting in concert with the Metis for only shortly before the Frog Lake incident, the Metis attacked government officials at Duck Lake – although it was purely coincidental. The result was white settlers in the Battleford district fled to the local NWMP fort for protection. Shortly thereafter members of Poundmaker’s band came along and, finding abandoned homesteads, took food out of them because of their desperate need for food. This became, in the minds of the settlers,  “the siege” of the fort by Poundmaker and his band.

Canada’s response was to send 8,000 troops, militia and police to the area. The only fighting of any consequence was at Fish Creek, Batoche, and Cut Knife Hill. Batoche was the final stand for the Metis where, after three days of fighting, they finally surrendered. Riel did not fear being captured believing that, as God’s messenger, he would be protected. Dumont, who was far more practical, took off for the United States.

Military Actions involving the Cree

Troops set off  in search of Poundmaker first. Poundmaker’s men were attacked at Cut Knife Hill by Canadian soldiers and militia. The soldiers, however, soon found themselves on the defensive as Poundmaker’s warriors took up protected positions, and fired at the soldiers who were stationed on the top of small hills, silhouetted against the sun. The soldiers retreated, and Poundmaker restrained his men from pursuing the soldiers.

Big Bear spent much of May evading soldiers in the Frog Lake District. Big Bear had regained control of his men after the Frog Lake ‘Massacre.' Eventually, by July, both Big Bear and Poundmaker surrendered. None of the southern tribes, specifically the Blackfoot, took part in the conflict.

Nonetheless, Dewdney tried to portray the event as an Indian rebellion and use it to his advantage to enforce more stringent rules over the bands. Big Bear and Poundmaker were both imprisoned in a penitentiary in Winnipeg for three years. They released after one year, but died shortly thereafter. Forty-two other Indians were tried and convicted for various offenses. Some were publicly hung in front of a crowd of Native peoples who were assembled to witness the event (as a means of enforcing upon them what would happen if they ever 'rebelled' against the government again).

Riel’s Trial

Riel's trial has been the focus of historical research and debate even since it took place. Some historians say he should not have been charged with high treason because he was an American citizen at the time of his return to Canada. Others claim that he should have been granted a change of venue to Manitoba, instead of being tried in Regina where he wouldn’t receive, according to critics, a fair trial (the  jury that convicted him was comprised of 6 English speaking Protestants - no French Catholics). Finally some say he was insane, and should not have been found guilty because of that. 

In terms of the charge of treason, it was valid – by residing in a country you owe allegiance to the laws of that country and have to follow them. Riel was also not entitled to a change of venue under Territorial law. There was also legal precedent for conducting a capital trial before a territorial magistrate and a jury of six.

His mental health is more problematic. He was most likely insane – however, his lawyers’ opportunity to plead this was largely wiped out by Riel’s insistence to the court that he was sane. Riel believed he was the instrument of a great cause (God) that deserved its day in court. This pretty much sealed his fate when the jury found him guilty

Only the federal government could have commuted his sentence. There a movement in Quebec for this not necessarily because they sympathized with Riel, but more because of what Protestant, English extremists in Ontario were doing to vilify Riel in their newspapers. Many Anglophones were demanding Riel’s blood not because he was a Metis, or a traitor, but because he was French and Catholic

Those who wanted his execution commuted argued that he was insane, and should simply be put into an institution. Doctor’s who examined Riel, however, determined that he did understand the concepts of right and wrong. – he was not legally insane. The end result was that Riel was hanged. 

The Northwest Rebellion reveals another element of the National Policy. While this policy is often held up as an example of Canada 'becoming a nation' and seen as inherently good by many Canadians it is important to remember that one people's good fortune often happens at another people's expense. Canada's westward expansion led to rebellions on two separate occasions. The expansion of Canada certainly helped settle the country, and made it far larger and wealthier than it would have been without the west. This expansion did not come without a cost.