Louis Riel, Justice, and Mtis Self-Identification: Literary Politics
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Robin White Goldsmiths College, University of London Thesis for the Degree of Ph.D., 2014 Louis Riel, Justice, and Métis Self-Identification: Literary Politics for Survival in the Evolution of Canadian Nationhood 1 I, Robin White, declare this thesis to be entirely my own original work. 2 Abstract of Thesis This thesis explores Métis identity in the context of the ambiguous nature of the Canadian national identity, and in particular, how the Louis Riel ‘Rebellions’ of 1869- 70 and 1885, continue to resonate in contemporary Métis literature. While it is the case that the Métis have self-identified within their own communities since the seventeenth century, it is also the case that the legal definition and recognition of the Métis were not realized until 1982. Indeed, the fine points of law in the Canadian Constitution are still in dispute, not least because the Métis were not included in the initial signing of treaties with the Dominion of Canada. For the purposes of this thesis, it is first necessary to engage in a thorough examination of historical accounts of the resistance of the Métis against expansionist encroachment of the Dominion of Canada in the Northwest in order to trace the source and evolution of contemporary Métis literature. I consider the ways in which the literary texts of Métis authors confront racial and cultural prejudice that are the direct result of Constitutional law, charters of rights, legislation in the judicial system, and the eleven Confederation numbered treaties, drafted before, during and after the Riel Resistances. The introductory and first chapters include contemporary Métis historical and legal academic analyses of the ‘Rebellions’ and an exploration of how the Government of Canada’s response in 1885 to the Métis uprising continues to inform its legal positions concerning Métis land rights and self-identification, while striving to maintain an international reputation as politically, and ethically, just. In the following chapters, this thesis analyses the literary texts of Maria Campbell, Beatrice Culleton Mosionier, and Gregory Scofield, all of who write of the complexities of defining Métis self-identification and maintaining sovereignty in light of the effects on their generations of Euro-Canadian historical accounts of the Riel ‘Rebellions’. 3 Acknowledgements In memory of my mother, Marguerite Irene White (née Erwin), whose love, kindness, laughter, and stories sustain and keep me. And in memory of my aunt, Lorraine ‘Lori’ Lenore Bruner (née White), whose spirit and strength continues to inspire. I would like to thank my supervisor, Padraig Kirwan, for his unwavering and sensitive support. I am grateful for his inspirational critical approach, generosity, good humour, and friendship. I am thankful to the supportive staff, both administrative and academic, at Goldsmiths, University of London, who helped to make my research a rewarding experience. Many thanks to Lucy Humphries, Sharon Holm, FRAJ (Fiona Werge, Andrea Tilouche, and June Lawrence), Rebecca Lynne, Diane Andrews, Paulina Palmer, Anne Jobin, and Simon Loxton whose support, friendship and laughter saw me through some testing moments. I am indebted to my family in Canada (and Lorraine in London), who made sure that I knew that they championed me. Thank you to my father, Percy; our many transatlantic phone calls always lifted my spirits. A special thank you to my sister Irene Davies who enthusiastically trawled Toronto and national newspapers for articles that might contribute to my thesis; above and beyond. I would also like to express appreciation to my brother-in-law, Ray Davies, who shared with me his findings about my family that he uncovered in various Canadian archives. I am also grateful to Gene Nadeau whose photos and care of MMM meadow in Baker Brook, New Brunswick cheered me no end. Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to my husband, Pat Brooks, and daughters Tilly and Kate, for their nourishing support, and love. 4 Table of Contents Abstract of Thesis 3 Acknowledgements 4 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER ONE: South of the 49th Parallel: Bryant’s Rendering of 22 U. S. / Canadian Nationalisms and Louis Riel’s ‘Rebellions’ Concealed History and Forgotten Generations 42 Métis Autobiographical, Academic Self-Representation: Howard 62 Adams and Prison of Grass Academic ‘High Priests’?: George Stanley and Thomas Flanagan 77 CHAPTER TWO: Literary Resistance: Maria Campbell’s Halfbreed 94 Surviving Government Policies 101 Post Riel Resistances: Surviving Institutional Racism 119 Survivance of Liberal Canadian Politics 131 Rule of Law and Political Duplicity 143 Belonging and Performance: “Dancing for a place in society.” 146 Returning to the Métis Sovereignty of Home Through Story: 154 Continuance CHAPTER THREE: Beatrice Culleton Mosionier’s In Search of 157 April Raintree: Métis Heritage and Canada’s Colonial Assimilation Policies Identity and Colonial Textual Discourse 176 Indian Squaw or Princess?: Dehumanizing by Myth 187 “What is the Proper Name for People Like You?”: Métis Mis- 202 Representation and Self-Representation Naturalization of Violence Against Canada’s Aboriginal Women 210 CHAPTER FOUR: Land, Language, Memory: Storytelling and 225 Defending Métis Blood Storying the Ancestors: Making Relations 241 “A Voice Cries Out” : The Dark Road Home 263 The People Who Own Themselves: “Pekewe”; Time to Come Home 278 CONCLUSION 291 Bibliography 293 5 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER The words Métis and mixedblood possess no social or scientific validation because blood mixture is not a measurement of consciousness, culture, or human experiences; but the word Métis is a source of notable and radical identification. Louis Riel, for example, one of the great leaders of the Métis, declared a new mixedblood nation in the last century. He was convicted of “high treason” and executed. Gerald Vizenor (Earthdivers, ix) Although the legal definition and recognition of the Métis was not realized until 1982, Métis self-identification was clear within the communities themselves since the seventeenth century. However, the fine points of law in the Canadian Constitution are still in dispute, not least because the Métis “did not, as a collective, take treaty” (Teillet, “Winds of Change”, 67). The debates surrounding Métis identity and how it is defined are best answered by the Métis people independently and autonomously. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended the dominance of the French in North America and by the early nineteenth century, the Métis were specific and separate from First Nations and other mixed blood people. Métis communities were established as early as 1600 on the east coast of Canada when French fur traders were being supplied by, mainly, the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet tribes. By 1768 a distinctive population of Métis developed in the far Northwest and British Columbia as the fur trade moved west. The representation and self-representation of the Métis Nation and people followed separate arcs; scholarly historical accounts from outside the Métis community were non-existent until France’s Marcel Giraud’s erudite Le Métis canadien: son role dans l’histoire des provinces de l’Ouest was published in 1945 (translated by George Woodcock and published in English as The Métis in the Canadian West in 1986). However, by 1909 (only twenty-four years after the second Métis Resistance in 1885) Métis who had been part of Riel’s community in the North West founded the Union 6 Nationale Métisse St.-Joseph de Manitoba. They did so, primarily, to gather oral testimonies of events that led up to the Resistances of 1869-70 and 1885, and to comment on their consequences. This was a considerable achievement given the demoralization of a forcibly dispersed community stripped of land and status. The Histoire de la Nation Métisse was published in 1936 and provoked considerable controversy as it was the first published Métis view of the Riel Resistances and was a resolute defence of Louis Riel and the Métis community. In official terms, the Canadian Department for Indian and Northern Affairs refers to the Constitution Act, 1982, s. 35 (2) in order to identify “aboriginal peoples of Canada” and recognizes three distinct groups: Indians, Inuit, and Métis peoples. (Aboriginal Rights) Yet it was not until 1982 – the year of the Constitution Act that amended the British North American Act of 1867 – that the Histoire de la Nation Métisse was translated into English by Elizabeth Maguet as Hold High Your Head, advancing the creation of a space for Métis voices to be heard amongst the dominant Euro-Canadian, English speaking populace of Canada.1 The complexities of self-identification for the Métis are hampered by a long history of governmental interference, which has created tensions between the Euro- Canadian, First Nations and Métis population. The etymological progression of the term ‘métis’ into what is now the controversial ‘Métis’, has been a linguistic, social and political development. The term métis, as used by Giraud in 1945, was commonly used by French speakers in reference to offspring of First Nations and Euro-Canadian parentage, but more particularly to the Cree and French-speaking descendants of the Red River Métis. The word ‘métis’ then came to signify any individual of mixed First 1 The Métis authors, Bruce Sealey and Antoine Lussier’s, published in English, The Métis: Canada’s Forgotten People – the first extensive explication of the Métis as a people – in 1975. 7 Nation and Euro-Canadian ancestry – who self-identifies as such, and did not identify as either First Nations or Euro-Canadian – across Canada and the northern border states of the United States. With the amendments to the Indian Act in 1876 the Métis of Manitoba lost Indian status and so were referred, usually detrimentally, as ‘mixed- bloods’, ‘breeds’, ‘halfbreeds,’ ‘michif’, ‘métis’, or ‘non-status Indian’. In 1885 at Batoche on the Saskatchewan River, Louis Riel, spokesman and defender of Métis rights, led his New Nation against the Dominion of Canada’s expansionism and suppression of Métis self-government.