1] The Quebec Act of 1774, and the BNA act of 1867 each document the historical ability of Britain, as colonial authority, to accommodate two founding nations in the interest of confederation. Shortly after confederation of the eastern provinces, in 1869, the Metis Nation of Manitoba created a provisional government and attempted to negotiate directly with the new government of the confederation to establish their territories as a province under their leadership. In the end, their leader, Louis Riel was charged with treason – as the CanLit guide puts it, “Canada at the time was not willing to accommodate more than two founding nations.”For this blog assignment, I would like you to outline the reasons why colonial authorities could not conceive of accepting the Metis as a third founding nation. Use the CanLit guide and the summary of Coleman’s argument on the literary project of white civility to substantiate your observations. You might also find part of your answer in The Bush Garden. You should also take into consideration past discussions on ‘the civilizing mission’ of colonialism in Unit 2. Louis Riel also appears in Green Grass Running Water, and accordingly it is worthwhile to do a little outside research around Riel’s provisional government and its attempts to negotiate with the new Canadian government.
To answer the question why colonial authorities could not conceive of accepting the Métis as a third founding nation in the 1800s, it is important to look at the history of Metis that lead up to the Red River Rebellions. In 2002, The Métis National Council defined “Métis” as a person who self-identifies as Métis, is distinct from other Aboriginal peoples, is of historic Métis Nation Ancestry and who is accepted by the Métis Nation.” But, who were the Métis during the colonial period? Summarizing Shore’s definition of the British Métis and the French Metis, is the term is used to refer descendants of both Europeans and First Nations people that first emerged in the east (Quebec, eastern Ontario and the Great Lakes Region). During the early Fur Trade era, European men and First Nation women raised their families in small communities that served as depots for the fur trade. Because this community is isolated, they formed their own Métis culture. By 1870, the Métis had established their nation in and around the Red River Settlement. However, the Rebellion established in 1870s as the Confederation started establishing in the Northwest Territories. There were about 10,000 Métis settled in the area, but the government did not have representatives from the territory. As Shore says, “They did not consider the Métis as civilized enough to take part in the economic and political life of Manitoba”. This led to the up rises and petitioned Ottawa’s in the 1880s to claim their land and have representation.
In unit two we learnt the discrimination against the First Nations as the colonials took over. In Assignment 2.6, I explored at the settlers view as they came to the now Canada by looking at Susanna Moodie journey who practically assumed that the “land was empty” and did not acknowledge the existence of the Natives upon her arrival. Frye in The Bush Garden analyses Canadianism through literature and concluded that “Canadianism was specifically the cultural accompaniment of Confederation and the imperialistic mood that followed it. … To feel “Canadian” was to feel part of a no-man’s-land with huge rivers, lakes, and islands that very few Canadians had ever seen.” Coleman lay out similar notion “Because Britishness for the English Canadians represented the most advanced form of political and social life in the world, it was therefore assumed as the civil norm to which non-British Canadians should assimilate” (19). I am bringing out all these resources to establish the fact that the Canada was presumed as a land that doesn’t have occupants and even when the settlers integrated and breed with First Nations, their descendants were viewed as “uncivilized human beings”. It is apparent that the Métis would be inferior as they are the Europeans mixed with the First Nations. It is important to notice, however, that not all colonials integrated with the First Nations the same way. “The English Métis were assumed to be those people who were acculturated into British … their family life remained strictly British”. Whereas, the French Métis were the ones who created the Métis Nation and were educated locally, or some are left “uneducated”. Since the English had established dominance Battle of the Plains of Abraham (13 September 1759), the French had to surrender and give their lands. Which meant now, the French Métis – who are mix of the defeated French and the First Nation who were expected to assimilate, were expected to give control of their land.
The other reason why colonial authorities could not conceive of accepting the Métis as a third founding nation is simply because there was enough room for another nation. CanLit guide puts “the defeat of the second Riel Resistance in Saskatchewan made clear, Canada at the time was not willing to accommodate more than two founding nations.” With French and English fighting for dominance, Métis are people of their own culture and who did not align with the “Canadianism” the British are trying to build. The Metis presumed to be a “vanishing race” that was “doomed under the unstoppable wheels of progress” (29), and this coupled with the fact that “anxiety about distinguishing Canadian culture from that of the United States became a pervasive concern”, they did not see the point of giving Metis national independence.
Citations
Frye, Northrop. The Bush Garden; Essays on the Canadian Imagination. 2011 Toronto: Anansi. Print.
Shore, Fred. A multi series pamphlet designed to educate on racism and address some of the stereotypes of Aboriginal People. Winnipeg: Aboriginal Student Center.
Stanley, George F.G. “Louis Riel.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 22 Apr. 2013, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/louis-riel.
CanLit Guides. “Reading and Writing in Canada, A Classroom Guide to Nationalism.” Canadian Literature. Web. April 4th 2013.
CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, “The North West Rebellion:The uprising is short but its legacy continues today.”
Hi Wongelawit, thank you for your post! I remember learning about Louis Riel in high school but the details are very fuzzy. One point of interest upon learning about Métis history that I always found confusing was what was the difference between capital “M” Métis and lowercase “m” métis? What was the purpose of this distinction? As far as I could understand both groups were of Indigenous heritage. I found it described in this (albeit lengthy way through Canadian Geographic: “within non-Indigenous society, there are two competing ideas of what being Métis means. The first, when spelled with a lowercase “m” (métis), means individuals or people having mixed-race parents and ancestries, e.g., North American Indigenous and European/Euro-Canadian/Euro-American. It is a racial categorization. This is the oldest meaning of Métis and is based on the French verb métisser, to mix races or ethnicities. The related noun for the act of race-mixing is métissage. The second meaning of being Métis, and the one that is embraced by the Métis Nation, relates to a self-defining people with a distinct history in a specific region (Western Canada’s prairies) with some spillover into British Columbia, Ontario, North Dakota, Montana and Northwest Territories. In this case, the term Métis is spelled with an uppercase ‘M.’” Considering the Riel group relates to the capital “M” Métis group it is interesting to consider how they are not inherently inclusive. It leads me to wonder why Louis Riel did not broaden his scope to include all Indigenous people in the new nation of Canada? This leads me back to Coleman’s notions of “White Civility” and whether Riel knew that since he was partially of British decent that he would be able to utilize that side of his heritage to further Métis rights? I am of the belief that Canada was unwilling to accept the Métis as a third founding nation simply because they were not white enough. If they British and French are the definers of what constitutes as “civilized” they are able to choose to claim that those of mixed heritage are not civilized enough to be considered as a governing state. Clearly Riel was aware of this racist outlook. While the British and French could work together, they would do everything in their power to diminish the rights of non-white Indigenous people, and they were the ones writing the rules. This is the history the current and future Canadian Governments need to work to rectify.
(https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/identity/)