The History of the Metis

The History of the Metis

The Metis were partly french and partly indian. Their leader was called

Louis riel. Following the Union of the Hudson's Bay Company and the North

West Company in 1821, trading had been reorganized in order to reduce

expenses. Since there was no longer competition in the fur trade, it was

unnecessary to have two or more posts serving a single trading district.

For this reason, some posts had been closed and the number of brigades

reduced. This reorganization had led to some unemployment amoung Metis who

for years had been working in the fur trade. The Hudson Bay Company had

attempted to assist these these men by encouraging them to engage in

farming in what is now South Manitoba. A few families take to agriculture,

but most of the metis found it difficult. To them, the excitement and the

adventure of the buffalo hunt held more appeal than farming. Hundreds of

Metis were content to earn a living by hunting buffalo, making pemmican or

finding employment as freight drivers.

After a while Canada bought Rupertsland from Hudson Bay Company. When the

Metis heard this they were alarmed. They feared their religion,their

language, their lands and their old, free way of* life. They had known for

some time that Canada was busy constructing a colonists highway from Lake

Superior to the Red River. The situation became tense surveyors were sent

into the flow of settlers, and it was considered a wise move to have the

surveying well under way before settlement began in earnest. It was decided

to use a system or land survey similar to that used in the western part of

the United States. Townships were to be divided into thirty-six sections,

each containing one square mile or 640 acres. The sections were then to be

divided into, the quarter-section was thought to be enough land for each

family settling in the North West. (An interesting aspect of the survey

system was the plan of the setting asside two sections in each township for

the future support of education. The idea to sell these sections at a later

date and use the money for the construction of schools.) When th survey

began, friction occured in those areas where the french specking Metis had

settled along the river, occupying long narrow strips in the manner common

in New France. Attempts were made by the surveyors to avoid disturbing the

pattern, but in some cases the survey lines crossed the narrow holdings,