4 - Sunday, September 15, 1985 - North Shore News

Rebellion shaped

ALTHOUGH | haven't seen any reference to it at
all so far, this year marks one of the most signifi-

cant anniversaries in Canada’s

It was on November 16,
1885, thut Louis Riel was
hanged in Regina.

That summer a century ago
saw not one but two major
events that were to reshape the
West, Not only was the civil
war on what was still called
the Great Lone Plain brought
to a bloody end, but the last
spike was driven into the
Canadian Pacific Railway.

The two events were related,
of course, The wily general-
manager of the Canadian
Pacific, William Van Horne,
used the occasion of Ricl's se-
cond uprising to win financial
backing from parliament for
his nearly bankrupt firm.

The moment Riel and his
Metis followers proclaimed
their “Provisional Govern-
ment of the Saskatchewan,’*
cutting down telegraph poles,
sacking government stores and
seizing hostages, Van Horne
saw his chance.

Although some 250 miles of
rail line remained unfinished
along the north shore of Lake
Superior, he vowed to Ottawa
that he could transport troops
to the prairies within 11 days.
It would be the first test of the
usefulness of the line.

Anybody who thinks of
Canada’s history as being dull
should contemplate that sum-
mer 100 years ago.

The Red River Rebellion
had been put down in 1869
and Riel had fled across the
border, leaving as a legacy the
newly-formed province of
Manitoba.

But the promises that had
been made to the Metis by Ot-
tawa were never kept — to this
day, French language rights
are still ignored, even though
the Manitoba Act came into
being as a direct result of an
uprising by 6,000 French-
speaking Metis.

While appearing to satisfy
most of the items in Riel’s List
of Rights, the act was mainly

pleasure.

wn

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history.

intended as an excuse to send
1,200 troops to Fort Garry to
take over in the name of the
newly-formed Dominion of
Canada.

From exile, Riel had watch-
ed helplessly as the promises
were broken. Four members
of the jury thai had executed
Thomas Scott, the man who
opposed Riel’s until-then

from which they dispensed in-
credible concoctions of rotgul
booze to the Indians. The
forts had to have iron bars
across even the chimney open-
ings to prevent their crazed
customers from breaking in
after tuey had run out of
items,. including wives and
daughters, to trade for more
hootch.,

Men called ‘‘wolfers’' like:
wise stalked the plains, baiting
dead buffalo with poison to
kill wolves. The poison

strictly

personal

by Bob Hunter

bloodless coup, were
murdered by Orangemen from
Ontario. Another Metis was
beaten and left for dead. Metis
lands were stolen and most of
the remaining halfbreeds were
forced to flee further west.
In the years following the
collapse of Riel’s first pro-
visional government, a brutal
anarchy overtook the prairies.
Whiskey traders from the
U.S., mostly hardened Civil
War vets, set up fortresses

OF THE YEAR

Photo by Stuart Davis

Super Valu

oe CANADIAN INDEPENDENT GROCER

incidentatly also killed the In-
dians’ dogs, which they used
as pack animals. This ted to
shoot-outs not only between
indians and wolfers, but bet-
ween the wolfers and the
whiskey traders, who sold
guns as well as fire water to
the Indians.

No sooner had Riel fled
when a smallpox plague hit the
prairies. Whole Indian

See Rebel
Pages 12

A

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Canada’s history | IFS) the pun

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