IV.

The Métis

Another consequence of the fur trade in Rupert’s Land was intermarriage between indigenous peoples and Europeans. Indigenous people wanted to establish relations of trust with the newcomers, and from their perspective the best way to do that was to cultivate kinship ties with the fur traders through both marriage, adoption, and other relations. As a result, a large mixed indigenous-European population arose by the early 1800s. Many of these offspring assimilated into aboriginal communities, and a few others took their fathers’ European identities. Many eventually identified themselves as Métis, a people of mixed ancestry, forming a new sociocultural and political category that became particularly important in western Canada.

Métis made up nine-tenths of the territory’s largest colony, the Red River Settlement (which included the area of present-day Winnipeg). In 1869 the British government agreed to buy back Rupert’s Land from the HBC and turn it over to the new Canadian government, but the Métis resisted. They were fearful of their land rights because Canadians, particularly in Ontario, were eager to expand westward to secure lands for new settlers and agriculture. The Métis, led by Louis Riel, were incensed that Canada had not consulted with them about the sale of the territory. In what was known as the Red River Rebellion, the Métis forbade the entry into Red River of a new governor sent to take charge of the territory, and they set up a provisional government. After several troubled months, the Canadian government recognized the Red River area as a new province, Manitoba, which was admitted to the Canadian confederation in 1870. The rest of Rupert’s Land became the Northwest Territories; its southern districts later became the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta.