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The Manitoba Act (French: Loi sur le Manitoba),[1] is an act of the Parliament of Canada that is defined by the Constitution Act, 1982[2] as forming a part of the Constitution of Canada. The Manitoba Act created Canada's fifth province, Manitoba. The act, received the royal assent on May 12, 1870. The Act continued to enforce An Act for the Temporary Government of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territories when united with Canada[3] upon the absorption of the British territories of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory into Canada on July 15, 1870. The Manitoba act was created by Parliament in response to the Métis' concerns of the provisional government.The Manitoba Act was created with hopes to decrease tension between the Canadian Parliament and the Red River Métis. Many negotiations and uprising came with this Act. Some of which are still not settled today.

Background

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The Province of Manitoba was formerly the area settled by the people of the Red River colony.This area was originally a part of Rupert's Land. Rupert's Land was where the fur traders would do the majority of their hunting. Rupert's Land was controlled by the Hudson Bay Company.The Hudson Bay company was the largest fur trading company of its time. In the late 1860's the Hudson's Bay Company surrendered the land to the British Crown. This is known as the "Rupert's Land Act 1868". This caused severe controversy specifically in the area of Red River colony, now known as Manitoba. In the eyes of the British Crown and the Canadian government, the land was seen to be owned by the Hudson Bay Company. Even though Indigenous People and Métis people lived there. The Canadian government paid 300,000 pounds for Rupert's land. This is the largest land purchase to date for the Canadian government .[4]

Once the Canadian government claimed the land from the Hudson Bay Company they began to set up members of parliament. William McDougall was appointed to be the Lieutenant Governor of Rupert's Land and the North-West Territory in 1869.[5] In September of 1869 Lieutenant Governor William McDougall set out to Red River accompanied by many administrative officers.[5] The Métis were not consulted upon these government actions causing a great amount of uproar and distress. Once the Métis became aware of this new found government attempting to control their territory they created a provisional government of their own. Louis Riel became the leader for the Metis people. [6] Riel had good qualities for this role because he had educational experience from his time spent at school training to be a priest and Lawyer. Even though he never fished his schooling. His ability to speak both french and english was a huge advantage for him and the Métis people.[6] Many of the Metis people did not have the ability to understand all the legal action due to the lack of education and experience.

Rise of the Métis

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Louis Riel and his supporters created The Métis prepared for the arrival of William McDougall and his accompanied administrative officers. Once McDougall and his people arrived to the boarder of the Red River Colony at the 49th Parallel they encountered the armed party of the Métis who denied them entry into the the colony by creating a barrier[7]. McDougall did not give up his efforts here, he stayed in Pembina for approximately a months time attempting to control the area. The Métis actions separated the Canadian party due to their barriers, others they were able to capture and hold in jail. On December 16th McDougall gave up his efforts for the time being. The Canadian government created a new expedition in attempts to established sovereignty and establish a political solution. [5]

Red River Resistance started out as a nonviolent protest and uprising towards the Canadian government. Riel and his people had occupied Fort Gary. A group of Ontario settlers who were opposed to the Riel uprising set out to this Fort. This caused for 45 men to be incarcerated in the fort by Riel and his people.[8] While these men were incarcerated a major historical event occurred. A man by the name of Thomas Scott was in executed while being held captive at the fort on March 4th 1870.[9] This event is evaluated by many historians because it is argued greatly to why Thomas Scott was executed. The execution of Thomas Scott had great impact on how the Canadian government and its supports viewed the Métis.[9] People were so outraged that when Riel was to make appearances at Parliament he did not attend in fear of getting executed himself.[6]

Despite the execution the Canadian government was still working towards sovereignty. The Manitoba act, received the royal assent on May 12, 1870.

The Manitoba Act made the Red River Colony apart of Canada and created the province of Manitoba. Even with the Manitoba Act in place much work was to be done with the settling of land rights. Before land rights were settled Sir John A. MacDonald convinced the British to send a military expedition to Manitoba, led by Colonel Wolseley[10]. This was known as the Wolseley expedition.Thes Wolseley expedition caused for White settlers to pour into the province and begin settling the land. The Métis were kept waiting for their land grants. Many Métis fled to Saskatchewan, and Louis Riel fled to the United States.

Métis List of rights

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Métis have traditionally been known to come from the Red River Colony. [7] Metis are people who come from European and Indigenous backgrounds. In areas such of the Red River Colony many European trappers would marry and have children with Indiginous women .[7] Métis people have struggled with being identified. Métis people are known to be "self identified". They are not settlers and they are not fully Indigenous. They are often to be labeled "Mixed Blood". Métis are not identified under the Indian Act of Canada causing a great amount of controversy. Throughout the years the Métis definition have went through many changes.[7]`In the 1990's there was a separate definition for "Red River Métis". This term was created for individuals who's families Métis ancestry came from Red River.[7] The Red River Métis were very influential in the creation of the Manitoba Act. They had many rights and requests from the government that they wanted to be fulfilled in the act. The following is a list of the Red River Métis' demands for the Manitoba Act.

The Mètis leaders originally requested:

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  1. That the People of the new province has the right to elect their own Legislation.
  2. The Legislation has the right to pass their own territorial laws and they can reject the Executive vote, by a two-third vote.
  3. All Acts of the Canadian parliament must be
  4. All members of authority are to be elected by the people of Manitoba
  5. A "free homestead pre-emtion law".
  6. Land must be set aside for the building of schools, roads, bridges and other buildings.
  7. Improvement of transportation, including a railway that connects Winnipeg to other railways and money must be given to improve roads within five years.
  8. The Dominion must pay for the Territories military and municipal expensive for four years.
  9. The military must be built by people already living in the Territory
  10. Legislation and Public Documents must be published in both English and French
  11. The superior judge must be bilingual
  13. Manitoba must have full and fair representation of the Canadian Government.
  14. Privileges, customs and usages existing at the time of the transfer must be respected.[11]

What the Act Guaranteed

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In the Métis' favour the Manitoba Act guaranteed that the Métis would receive title for the land that they already farmed and in addition they would receive 1,400,000 acres (5,700 km2) of farmland for the use of their children.[10] This land was to be divided up through an application process. The Act also set aside land for the Métis, with each family receiving scrip, a certificate, saying they owned 96 hectares of land, amount to a total of about 560,000 hectares (5,600 km2). The number of applications that the government was going to receive was greatly under estimated. The 1.4 million acres of land was not enough for the number of applications

and the government gave money, the equivalent value of $1. per acre which was current land value at that time; for example the head of a household would receive $160. in lieu of a quarter section.

The act contained religious and language rights [10]. The act allowed them to have rights to have denominational schools. The act stated that laws had to be written an enforced in both French and English, and to use either English or French in the Legislature of Manitoba and any courts established by either Canada or the Province must use both languages. [10] These legislations with in the Act has led to political controversy. Controversies such as the Manitoba Schools Question in the nineteenth century, as denominational school rights were curtailed. Under the act, Manitoba could send four members to the House of Commons in Ottawa and two members to the Senate. [1]

An Act to amend and continue the Act 32-33 Victoria Chapter 2; on May 12th, 1870 covered but not limited to the fallowing topics[12]:

  1. The province of Manitoba is to be formed[12]
  2. Former provisions act shall be applied to Manitoba
  3. Manitoba is to have representation in the House of Commons and the Senate
  4. Qualification of voters and members of the House of Commons
  5. Lieutenant-Governor, Executive Council, Seat of Government.
  6. The process of the first election
  7. Duration of Legislation Assembly[12]
  8. Number of Legislation sessions per year
  9. Legislations of school curriculum
  10. The uses of English and French
  11. Provincial and National Debt
  12. Shared expenses
  13. Customs Duties and Laws
  14. Indian title
  15. Land Titles
  16. Land rights[12]

Controversy

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Since the Manitoba Act was put into action it has been adjusted and under review multiple times. Historian D.N. Sprague notes the land given to the Métis in the Manitoba Act of 1870 were later revised by government laws which took land away from the Métis [13]. In order to receive scrip for children living or deceased, proof of birth in Manitoba prior to 1871 was required, such as a baptismal or death certificate from the church or a letter from an employer such as the Hudson's Bay Company[13].The legislature also enacted English-only laws later found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada in the case Reference re Manitoba Language Rights (1985). The Manitoba Act, and Section 31 in particular, was also used in the 2013 Supreme Court Case Manitoba Métis Federation v. Canada and Manitoba [2].

  1. ^ a b originally entitled An Act to amend and continue the Act 32–33 Victoria, chapter 3; and to establish and provide for the Government of the Province of Manitoba, S.C. 1870, c. 3
  2. ^ a b Constitution Act, 1982, s. 52 and Schedule, Item 2.
  3. ^ An Act for the Temporary Government of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territories when united with Canada, S.C. 1869, c. 3
  4. ^ Galbraith, John S. (1949). "The Hudson's Bay Land Controversy, 1863-1869". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 36 (3): 457–478. doi:10.2307/1893017. JSTOR 1893017.
  5. ^ a b c Daugherty, Wayne (1983). "Treaty Research Report Treaty One and Treaty Two (1871)". Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.
  6. ^ a b c "Louis Riel". library.usask.ca. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  7. ^ a b c d e Sawchuk, Joe (2001). "Negotiating an Identity: Métis Political Organizations, the Canadian Government, and Competing Concepts of Aboriginality". The American Indian Quarterly. 25 (1): 73–92. doi:10.1353/aiq.2001.0012. ISSN 1534-1828. S2CID 155081003.
  8. ^ Gluek Jr., Alvin C. (2008-04-18). "The Riel Rebellion and Canadian‐American Relations". Canadian Historical Review. 36 (3): 199–221. doi:10.3138/chr-036-03-02. S2CID 159766952.
  9. ^ a b Bumsted, J.M (2000). "Why Shoot Thomas Scott?". University of Manitoba Press: 179–209.
  10. ^ a b c d Richtik, James M. (1975). "The Policy Framework for Settling the Canadian West 1870-1880". Agricultural History. 49 (4): 613–628. JSTOR 3741487.
  11. ^ Barkwell, Lawrence. "Metis Lists of Rights; The evolution of the list from the first to fourth iteration". SCRIBD.
  12. ^ a b c d Affairs, Government of Canada, Department of Justice, Constitutional. "Department of Justice - Final Report of the French Constitutional Drafting Committee". www.justice.gc.ca. Retrieved 2018-03-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ a b St-onge, Nicole J.M (1985). "The Dissolution of a Metis Community". Studies in Political Economy. 18: 149–172. doi:10.1080/19187033.1985.11675607.

Peer Review

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I think the article itself is in need of a few more citations (particularly in the first paragraph of the background section) to make the article more academic. More referencing and citations would verify the facts presented in the article as well as improve the overall quality. The external links worked, but maybe viewing some more academic and peer-reviewed sources would present more concrete information. For the most part the article seems to be concise and unbiased but opinion is shown with the following sentence about Riel being a "major influence on the Manitoba Act since it was based on his list of rights." Lastly I feel that more detail and depth can be added to this article. Nadine Viveiros (talk) 16:05, 13 February 2018 (UTC)

Hi Jayme, I think that the lead section could possibly be expanded to give a better overview of some of the subsections that will be included in the article and create a summary that will give readers a better understanding of the topic right away. I think the information that is already in the article needs more citations to support what is being said. From the outline it's hard to know, but I think it would be useful to discuss either in the background section or another about some of the important people who were involved with the Manitoba Act. Overall though I think that you have a good outline for the article and I look forward to reading it. -Rachel Orbell

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