North-West RebellionGabriel Dumont The Return of RielBattle of Duck LakeBattle of BatocheExecution of Riel

The North-West Rebellion

• New settlers had arrived pushing the Metis out

• The Metis had gone to Saskatchewan as the buffalo were disappearing

• The Metis had no clear title to the land they settled and the surveyors had take land

• The Plains People were also suffering from starvation as were the Cree, Blackfoot and the Sioux

The Return of Louis Riel

• Other settlers were angry as well• Harvests were poor and the prices

for goods were low low• Most settlers had taken land along

the northern rail route• Railway was on southern route• By 1884 the North-West was ripe

for rebellion• “Only one man can help us now

Riel!”• Gabriel Dumont was sent to get

Riel

Riel is in Montana

• Gabriel Dumont legendary hunter and master sharpshooter led the Metis to find Riel

• Dumont was an expert horseman who spoke 6 different native languages as well as French and some English

• Dumont asked Riel to return

Lead his People to Freedom

• Louis Riel was now teaching in Montana it had been 15 years since the Red River Rebellion but the Metis still remembered

• Louis Riel was not the same person he had suffered a series of emotional breakdowns and had spent several years in asylums

• Louis Riel was convinced he was the “prophet of the grasslands”

• He had begun to call himself “David”

• Obsessed with establishing a Catholic state in N.A

Louis and John

• Return to Sask: Riel sent Macdonald a petition on behalf of the residents of the region asking for concessions

• Wanted an elected government and control of natural resources

• “Old Tomorrow” Macdonald delayed

• Riel and the Metis grew impatient• Louis Riel declared a provisional

government in the village of Batoche

• On March 19, 1885 the North-West Rebellion began

“Fire! In the name of the Father! In the name of the Son! In the name of the Holy Spirit! Fire!

• Dumont wanted violent protest• Duck Lake the North-West Mounted

Police and the Metis under the command of Gabriel Dumont clashed

• Dumont won the battle sending the Mounties into retreat 12 officers and men died

• Dumont wanted to pursue and kill them all but Riel would not let him

• “If you are going to give them the advantage like that, we cannot win!” Dumont complained

• By this time Riel’s religious delusions had resurfaced

Poundmaker• In effect they were 2 rebellions 1

of the Metis and the other Cree• Food shortages among the Cree

led Native leaders to pressure the government to honour treaty agreements

• 2 breakaway bands of Cree warriors along with some Sioux and Assiniboine joined rebellion

• Big Bear originally resisted the call to war. Felt peaceful protest best method.

• Poundmaker the adopted son of Crowfoot lead the revolt

Big Bear

• Big Bear’s warriors under Wandering Spirit attacked the settlement at Frog Lake and killed 9 settlers

• Poundmaker attacked Battleford, the settlers fled

• Big Bear wanted no part of the violence, but with his people starving he could not stop events

General Middleton• Riel dispatched General

Middleton to squash rebellion• Before the rebellion the railway

had been next to bankruptcy• With the outbreak of the rebellion

parliament gave the extra money and the troops moved westward

• Used CPR to move quickly to western remote territories and stop rebellion.

Batoche: Death Of A Rebellion

• Dumont and Middleton battle at Batoche

• Metis fought valiantly so rebels could escape

• Dumont and Riel became separated in the escape

• On May 15, 1885 Louis Riel the “prophet of the grasslands” surrendered to the Canadian Army

• 11 days later Poundermaker also surrendered

• Big Bear held out for another month and a half before he too surrendered

• Gabriel Dumont escaped to the United States were he joined “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show”as “the Hero of the Half-Breed Rebellion”

The Trial of the Century

• Poundermaker and Big Bear were sent to prison

• 8 Cree warriors including Wandering Spirit were sentenced to public hangings

• Riel refused to plead insanity• He was tried in Regina and found

guilty of treason• The jury recommended mercy,

Quebec warned that if Riel was executed it was “a declaration of war against Quebec”

• John A refused to intervene

Riel Must Die!• As John A. said “He will hang,

though every dog in Quebec barks in his favour.”

• John A. refused to pardon Louis Riel, Riel did lead an armed rebellion against the government that caused the death of more than 200 people

• At this time the penalty for such crimes was death

• John A. Macdonald had built his political career on an alliance between English and French-Canadians

“The Old Man, the Old Flag, and the Old Policy”

• Like John A. Macdonald Louis Riel has become all things to all people, “a prophet, a traitor, a madman, a hero”

• On November 7, 1885 Donald Smith drove home the last spike for the CPR

• On November 17, 1885 Louis Riel climbed the steps to the gallows

• In 1891 John A. Macdonald fought his last campaign and won

• On June 6, 1891 John A. Macdonald died

The End of Riel and MacdonaldWhat now for Canada?