North-West Rebellion

The North-West Rebellion (or North-West Resistance or the Saskatchewan Rebellion) of 1885 was a brief and unsuccessful attempt by the Métis people of Saskatchewan to establish their own sovereign nation independent of the Dominion of Canada.

Background

After the so-called Red River Rebellion of 1869-1870, many of the Metis moved from Manitoba to Saskatchewan, then part of the Northwest Territories, founding a settlement at Batoche on the South Saskatchewan River. However, as in Manitoba, settlers from Ontario began to arrive, and land began to be arranged in the square concession system of English Canada, rather than the seigneurial system of strips along a river that the Metis learned from their French-Canadian ancestors.

Related Topics:
Red River Rebellion - Manitoba - Northwest Territories - Batoche - Saskatchewan River - Ontario - Seigneurial system - French-Canadian

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In 1884 the Metis asked Louis Riel to return from the United States, where he had fled after the Red River Rebellion, to appeal to the government on their behalf. The government gave a vague response. In March of 1885, Riel, Gabriel Dumont, Honoré Jackson (also known as Will Jackson), and others set up a provisional government, believing that he could influence the federal government the same way he had in 1869. However, there was now a railway line across Canada, and the North West Mounted Police had been created. He lacked support from both the English settlers of the area and many of the non-Metis natives, and due to his belief that God had sent him back to Canada as a prophet, the Catholic Church no longer supported him either. The Catholic priest father Albert Lacombe obtained assurances from Crowfoot that his Blackfoot warriors would not participate.

Related Topics:
1884 - Louis Riel - United States - 1885 - Gabriel Dumont - Honoré Jackson - North West Mounted Police - God - Catholic Church - Father - Albert Lacombe - Crowfoot - Blackfoot

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