The Manitoba Metis decision and the uses of history

John A. Macdonald and Louis Riel are perhaps the only two figures in our history well-known to most Canadians. Although they never met, in 1870, they were the prime movers in bringing the West into Confederation. In the case of 'Manitoba Metis Federation Inc. v. Canada (A.G.)', decided by the Supreme Court of Canada on March 8, 2013, the Court dealt with ramifications of the encounter on the plains 140 years ago between Canada, extending westward, and Riel's people, the Metis. The Metis were a new nation, of mixed Aboriginal and European blood, which had arisen in the West, children of Indian women and French or Scottish traders. The Red River settlement, at The Forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers (now Winnipeg), was the largest community on the prairies with a population of about 12,000. Red River was a Metis settlement. There were approximately 10,000 Metis, 1,600 "whites" and 600 Indians. At Confederation, in 1867, Canada was a medium-sized country of four provinces lying along the St Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. To the west and to the north lay Rupert's Land and the NorthWestern Territory, respectively.3 In the fall of 1869, Canada moved to acquire this vast area without consulting or considering the interests of the people of the Red River settlement, and the Metis resisted. They turned back Canadian road builders and surveyors. In late 1869, Metis riflemen refused to allow Macdonald's newly-appointed Lieutenant Governor, sent from Ottawa to establish Canadian sovereignty, to enter the territory. Led by Louis Riel, the Metis formed their own Provisional Government and governed Red River until the following summer.