Portrait - Fabulous Western Canada: Capture the Excitement of the Great West! - page 10

1874, and they then set about establish-
ing four forts in southern Alberta, in-
cluding Fort Macleod and Fort Calgary.

Ottawa to negotiate. Finally, on July 15,
1870, the bilingual province of Manitoba
was created. Its territory was small not
much larger than present-day Belgium,
and except for some control over land
development and natural resources,
it had little of the power the other
provinces had. These circumstances
have continued to infl uence relations
between the federal government and
what are now the Prairie provinces of
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

AMERICAN IMPULSES

The fur trade being the principal activ-
ity of the Hudson's Bay Company, the
Company did all it could to discourage
colonization in the region, so that they
could pursue their activities unimpeded.
At the time, the United States had just
ended its civil war and was clearly in-
terested in conquering British North
America, present-day Canada. They had
purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867,
and in 1868, Minnesota drew up a reso-
lution favouring the annexation of the
Canadian prairies.

Some 15 years later, the Metis called
back their exiled leader to con-
front a similar situation, this time in
Saskatchewan. Ottawa was faring better
this time and sent troops to quash the
rebellion. Under of an old British law,
Riel was found guilty of treason and
hanged in 1885.

These vague American impulses were
enough to worry the leaders of the
fl edgling Canadian Confederation
(1867), who negotiated with Great
Britain and the Hudson's Bay Company
to acquire the Northwest Territories in
1868.

THE METIS

The annexation of the Northwest
Territories was done without so much
as consulting the people who had
settled there, for the most part French-
speaking Metis. These people resisted
and prevented the governor appointed
by Canada from taking power.

Their leader, Louis Riel, tried to ob-
tain a land title for his people, but the
Canadian government paid no atten-
tion. With his troops, Riel then declared
himself leader of Manitoba and forced

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Louis Riel. © Glenbow Archives; NA-2631-2