Métis Identity & Context
Who are the Métis, and what is their cultural background?
A distinct cultural group with mixed First Nations and European ancestry.
What triggered the Red River Resistance in 1869?
Answer: Canada’s attempt to take land without Métis consent; arrival of surveyors.
What were key demands in the Métis List of Rights?
Answer:
Province of Assiniboia
Male voting rights
English/French official languages
Public Catholic & Protestant school funding
Land rights and amnesty
What was the Manitoba Act, and why was it a compromise?
Answer: Law creating Manitoba as a bilingual province; balanced competing interests.
Why did many Métis leave Red River after the Resistance?
Answer: Tensions with settlers, broken promises, government force, and loss of land.
Why did Canada’s westward expansion cause conflict?
Answer: Canada didn’t consult western residents; Métis feared losing land and rights.
How did surveyors and McDougall threaten Métis land?
Answer: Ignored existing land claims; McDougall tried to enter before legal transfer.
Why was Louis Riel chosen as leader?
Answer: Métis heritage, strong education, bilingual, and unifying presence.
What did stakeholders want from the new province?
Answer:
Métis: Land & gov’t rights
Canadiens: Cultural protection
First Nations: Land recognition (ignored)
Ontario settlers: English identity
Canadian gov’t: Peaceful integration
What push and pull factors led to new Métis communities?
Answer:
Push: Discrimination, land loss, buffalo decline
Pull: Buffalo herds, trade/farming, new land hopes
Why was fertile land important to Red River settlers?
Answer: Essential for farming and new livelihoods; attracted settlers to the area.
Why did the Métis seize Fort Garry, and what followed?
Answer: It was a strategic trading post; they used it to form a government and issue demands.
How did various groups view the Resistance?
Answer:
Métis: Defending rights
HBC: Protecting property
Ontarians: Criminal behavior
Canadiens: Cultural defense
Canadian gov’t: Assert control
What is scrip and how did it harm Métis stability?
Answer: Paper for land exchange—confusing, poorly managed, caused land loss and instability.
What role did the CPR play in suppressing the uprising?
Answer: Moved troops quickly to crush Métis resistance; expanded government control.
What was Rupert’s Land, and how did Canada acquire it?
Answer: Land owned by Hudson’s Bay Company, sold to Canada in 1869 for £300,000.
Why did the Métis form a provisional government?
Answer: To represent themselves and negotiate fairly with Canada.
Who was Thomas Scott, and what was the controversy?
Answer: An Ontario settler executed by the Métis, causing outrage in English Canada.
How did the Act benefit different groups?
Answer:
Métis: Land & cultural protections
Francophones: Language & religious rights
Anglophones: Access to land & expansion
What caused the 1885 uprising?
Answer: Ignored petitions, land speculators, buffalo extinction, food shortages, and Riel’s return.
How did different groups view western expansion?
Métis: Felt ignored, demanded land rights.
Canadiens: Feared loss of bilingual/cultural promises.
Anglophones: Saw opportunity for farming and railroad expansion.
What is counter-assimilation, and how did the Métis show it?
Answer: Resisting cultural erasure—by stopping surveyors, creating a Bill of Rights, and seizing Fort Garry.
How did English and French Canadians react to Scott’s death?
Answer:
Ontarians: Outraged, wanted Riel punished.
Canadiens: Supported Riel as a cultural defender.
How did the Act meet and fail Métis needs?
Met Needs: Elected gov’t, land promise, cultural protections
Fell Short: Scrip confusion, unclear land claims, broken promises
How did Métis frustrations lead to conflict?
Answer: Land unrecognized, ignored demands, buffalo gone—left with no choice but to resist.