182-199 120820 11/1/04 2:57 PM Page 182 Chapter 13 The North-West Rebellion 1885 Riel on Trial It is the summer of 1885. The small courtroom The case against Riel is being heard by in Regina is jammed with reporters and curi- Judge Hugh Richardson and a jury of six ous spectators. Louis Riel is on trial. He is English-speaking men. The tiny courtroom is charged with treason for leading an armed sweltering in the heat of a prairie summer. For rebellion against the Queen and her Canadian days, Riel’s lawyers argue that he is insane government. If he is found guilty, the punish- and cannot tell right from wrong. Then it is ment could be death by hanging. Riel’s turn to speak. The photograph shows What has happened over the past 15 years Riel in the witness box telling his story. What to bring Louis Riel to this moment? This is the will he say in his own defence? Will the jury same Louis Riel who led the Red River decide he is innocent or guilty? All Canada is Resistance in 1869-70. This is the Riel who waiting to hear what the outcome of the trial was called the “Father of Manitoba.” He is will be! back in Canada. Reflecting/Predicting 1. Why do you think Louis Riel is back in Canada after fleeing to the United States following the Red River Resistance in 1870? 2. What do you think could have happened to bring Louis Riel to this trial? 3. Do you think he will be found guilty or innocent? 182 182-199 120820 11/1/04 2:57 PM Page 183 Chapter 13: The North-West Rebellion 1885 183 Riel Returns In 1884, Gabriel Dumont and three other Métis rode 1100 km from the What the Métis wanted: Saskatchewan River valley to • legal proof that they owned the small spaces of land Montana. Louis Riel was living in where they lived Montana with his family and teach- • a voice in their own government ing school. Dumont’s mission was to persuade Riel to return to What the Aboriginal peoples wanted: Canada and fight again for the • food and more money in exchange for the use of their Métis cause. Gabriel Dumont was land; many people were close to starvation with the a well-respected hunter and mili- buffalo almost wiped out tary leader. However, he was not the educated, fiery representative What the Settlers wanted: the Métis needed. • lower prices for farm machinery and for moving goods Dumont told Riel a very sad on the railroad story. After Manitoba joined • higher prices for their wheat Confederation, many Métis moved • a stronger voice for the North-West in Ottawa farther west into present-day Saskatchewan and Alberta. They were looking for wide open spaces and freedom to live in the traditional Métis way. Canadian government to provide a better deal Then Canadian surveyors suddenly appeared in for the citizens of the North-West. the North-West. They started to divide the land It was a risky move. Conditions had changed for settlement. The railway was coming since 1870. Now there was the North-West through. It would be only a matter of time Mounted Police to support the Canadian gov- before settlers would flood into their land. It ernment. There was also a railroad to bring was the same old problem for the Métis. troops from eastern Canada. Riel’s call to take up arms lost him the Background to Rebellion support of the settlers. They wanted to see When Riel first returned to the North-West, he changes come in a lawful way. Riel also lost the seemed to have no thought of an armed rebel- support of the Roman Catholic Church when he lion. He wanted to try peaceful ways first. Riel encouraged the use of arms. Only the French- dreamed of bringing the Aboriginal peoples, the speaking Métis and some Aboriginal people Métis, and the settlers together. They would continued to support him. speak to Ottawa with one voice. A petition to Among the Aboriginal peoples, only chiefs the government was drawn up. A petition is a Big Bear and Poundmaker and their followers formal request to an authority for rights, privi- joined Riel in the rebellion. They refused to leges, or other benefits. give up their way of life and move quietly onto Although the government promised to the reserves. They became increasingly desper- look into these problems, Ottawa took no real ate as food grew more scarce. Big Bear was action. By March 1885, Riel decided to wait no concerned for his people. The early successes longer. He planned to use the same methods of Riel and the Métis gave Poundmaker and Big that had been successful earlier in Manitoba. Bear hope. But what chance would Riel, the He would set up his own government and arm Métis, and the few Aboriginal people have his followers. Then he could pressure the against the Canadian government? 182-199 120820 11/1/04 2:57 PM Page 184 184 Unit 2: The Development of Western Canada The Rebellion Begins News Bulletin Bloodshed at Duck Lake Today, 17 26 March 1885 North-West Mounted Police officers set out from Fort Carlton to pick up food and ammunition stored at Duck Lake. About 5 km from Duck Lake, they found the road blocked by a group of Métis. minute battle. Four Métis and The Mounties were greatly one Aboriginal person were outnumbered. They returned and his followers. From the also killed. The North-West to Fort Carlton without a top of a ridge, the Métis Mounted Police abandoned fight. could see the Mounties as Superintendent Crozier they advanced along the trail. Fort Carlton and retreated to Prince Albert. A rebellion has decided to lead a force of 50 The Mounties were easy tar- begun in the North-West. police and 50 volunteers gets for the Métis. Ten back to Duck Lake to secure Mounties were killed and their supplies. On the way, eleven injured in the 40- they met Gabriel Dumont Frog Lake—2 April 1885 kets to them. Train carloads of flour and sides News of the Mountie defeat at Duck Lake of bacon, as well as extra tea and tobacco, swept across the prairies like wildfire. were distributed to these Aboriginal peoples. Encouraged by this Métis success, some The government hoped that this would keep Aboriginal people decided to strike. One group them neutral during the trouble on the prairies. broke into the Hudson’s Bay Company store in Battleford. They took needed supplies. Ottawa Sends Troops Big Bear’s son, Wandering Spirit, led a band Ottawa was alarmed at the news of the Mountie of Aboriginal people against the settlement at defeat at Duck Lake. The government decided to Frog Lake. The Indian agent (a government send troops immediately to put down the rebel- worker), two priests, and five others were lion. The problem was how to get the troops to killed. Then the band headed toward Fort Pitt. the West quickly. In March 1885, the CPR had not Big Bear, who was a friend of the Mounties, yet been completed. There were still 138 km of warned the police to retreat. “My young men track to be laid. are wild. I can no longer control them,” he William Van Horne was struggling to get the said. Other Aboriginal people under Chief last sections of track laid. He still needed more Poundmaker headed for Battleford. money to finish the job. He saw the uprising as But Chief Crowfoot and most of the a chance for the CPR to get another loan from Aboriginal groups on the prairies refused to the government. He promised to have the become involved in these battles. The govern- troops in Fort Qu’Appelle in ten days in return ment rushed extra supplies of food and blan- for another loan. Van Horne would use one 182-199 120820 11/1/04 2:57 PM Page 185 Chapter 13: The North-West Rebellion 1885 185 method or another to get the troops over those incompleted sections of track! General Middleton and the first forces left Toronto for the West. Ahead of them was a journey of approximately 2200 km. The troops rode in sleighs provided by the railroad com- pany in some places. On stretches of track between the gaps, they rode in open flatcars. The horses suffered even more than the sol- diers because there was no way of sheltering them from the wind and rain. One soldier, George Beauregard, recalled the misery of being packed onto flatcars sheltered only by a scrap of canvas: “There were 50 of us to a car, piled one on top of another, drenched by the rain which fell on our backs in torrents. For the first time, we really knew what misery was.” Eight days later, the first troops arrived in Winnipeg. An eyewitness said the troops looked as if they had already gone through a war. Many were frostbitten and half-blind with the glare of the snow. Van Horne had kept his promise. The troops were in Fort Qu’Appelle in nine days. The gov- ernment was happy and the CPR earned the loan to complete the railroad. Five thousand armed troops were now in the West. Added to these were 500 North-West Mounted Police and 50 surveyors. The survey- ors were especially helpful because they knew the country well. The railway west was not yet complete. This was the plan: Four times Middleton’s troops had to 1.