What is the historical context of Louis Riel?

Answer 1

Time period: Late 1800's

Location: Red River Colony, Rupert's Land, North America. Today's Manitoba, in Western Canada.

Riel was born in 1844 in a part of North America that was in transition and had been for most of the century. A Governor and Council was administering the Red River Colony and since Lord Selkirk had set it up in 1811.

The Hudson Bay Company had made many concessions to settlers, aboriginals and Metis over those years. These concessions included giving up the Hudson Bay monopoly. This gave people in the area access to more sources of income but lowered Hudson Bay profits.

Race was very important context and there were many different classes of people. Those with money and power owned and operated the Hudson Bay Company and played major political roles in the colony. HBC, operated from Britain, employed English and French people in the area but also many Scottish and Irish people who they had long ago determined were more suited to working in Canada.

The Scottish and English had over the years married with the local Aboriginals just as the French in Eastern Canada had. At the time the Scottish/Aboriginals, Protestants, were often called Half-Breeds. Today both French/Aboriginals Catholics and the Scottish or English/Aboriginals Protestants are called Metis.

Those with the least power were the Aboriginals, they had the least representation in systems which affected them though in some areas they would have complete local power. They were mostly Protestants with some Catholics in the French areas.

The terms for many of the people and their roles vary but generally HBC workers would be employed at or out of the local trading Fort. They would often live in or very near the Fort. Settlers would have farmsteads and many even most were French from Canada. Their affect can be seen on the land as they farmed narrow strips of land that started at the rivers edge.

The Metis or half breeds might also farm but most would rely on hunting and trapping. Many Metis would not have a farmstead in which case they would have a cabin often more than one depending on their trapping and hunting area.

Everyone hunted and most farmers would trap as well. Trappers could sell furs to the HBC or to someone local, even to traders from the East even though the HBC fought as hard as they could against that.

Which group you were from decided many things including your position on various local and international matters. An Accountant from Britain, English Protestant is likely to agree with his English Protestant counterpart from Canada, less so with a local French Settler who was Catholic. A French Catholic Settler would be more likely to agree with a Catholic French Metis from Quebec, than a Protestant English Metis from northern Rupert's Land. These divisions would create some very clear political lines but sometimes local events would have different groups join forces regardless of religious or ethnic differences. That affect can be seen in today's Canada, a harsh environment can have people from very different walks working together.

The religious context is very important. Generally those with British connections were protestants. Those with French connections Catholics. At the time religion would determine which school you went to, your circle of friends, even which jobs you could do.

The aboriginal context included religion and tribal affiliations which could be very important. Not all tribes got along with all others and the 1800's saw a lot of movement for tribes. Often people from outside the area thought that Aboriginals could just leave any area and live in any another. It wasn't always that easy for them and by Riels time they were feeling many different pressures including restricted access to land they needed for food.

Language is another context that must be taken into consideration. This issue continues today but in the late 1800's it was a very high stakes game. A look at the Canadian Confederation documents show just how important language, religion, ethnicity and race were at the time.

Add in the major changes happening in political thinking in the new Canada, the United States, Britain and Europe and it was a very dynmaic time.

That was also true for the largest company in the area, the Hudson Bay Company. In Rupert's Land the HBC has dominated politically and economically since 1670 but that dominance was slipping. Hudson Bay profits were falling for many reasons. Settlers were just one of them. The HBC was under pressure politically and had already lost ground in many of it's traditional trading areas.

When Riel returned from spending more than a decade in Quebec, it was 1868 and many things were changing. The biggest change was the rumored sale of Rupert's Land to the new Confederation of Canada. The locals were not being considered or consulted and that included the Settlers, Metis, Half-Breeds and Indians.

There was considerable political upheaval and changes throughout North America. Canada had been recently Confederated in 1867, the USA was expanding and taking territory on all fronts after having fought a brutal civil war. Violent conflicts with Aboriginals were still common and everyone knew change was happening.

Into that complex mix of environmental change, politics, religion, ethnicity, race and power came a Canada who saw the land empty of people worthy of consultation, and ripe for exploitation. With the purchase of Rupert's Land Canada would be a colonizer and would demand the respect due a mother country.

That bit of context, and much more, sets the stage for a bloody history of conflict that would resonate in Western Canada for generations.