Manitoba is a province in western Canada that currently shares a border with the provinces of Ontario to the east, Saskatchewan to the west, and Nunavut to the north. The birth of Manitoba dates back to the early years of the Dominion of Canada. In an effort to expand westward, the Dominion of Canada acquired Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1868. However, as the new Canadian government tried to implement it expansion plans, it encountered resistance from the native Métis people living in Fort Garry, who saw the westward advance by the government as an infringement on their rights.

The Fort Garry defiance was principally led by Louis Riel, a prominent figure in the Métis tribe of western Canada. In addition to being a leader of his people dedicated to defending them against claims to their land made by eastern Canadians, he was also a trained lawyer. Riel applied his legal skills to further the Fort Garry resistance movement. This land dispute reached its climax with the establishment of a provisional government at Fort Garry and the prison break led by two Canadian loyalists, Charles Mair and John C. Shultz. Conditions simmered as skirmishes continued to break out between Métis people of Fort Garry and Canadians pursuing westward expansion without regard for the land rights of the indigenous people. (1)

In January 1869, the Canadian government sought to broker a settlement by inviting Louis Riel and delegates of the provincial government to Ottawa to discuss the dispute. In this meeting known as the “Convention of 40,” Riel submitted a “List of Rights.” This document expressed the desire of Riel and the people at Fort Garry to be governed as a province with representation in the Canadian government equal to that enjoyed by Ontario and Quebec. Among these rights included federal funding be distributed to the government of their new proposed province as well as the grant of the right to vote for all men (regardless of race) when they reached 21 years old. The Convention of 40 ultimately resulted in the signing in 1870 of the Manitoba Act, which created the new province of Manitoba within the Dominion of Canada. The Act granted representation to the people of Fort Garry, while also allowing Canada to further explore its newly acquired western lands. The Act also created two houses in the Manitoban legislature, an upper and lower, which was designed to protect the rights of the Métis people. (2)

Through Riel’s efforts, Manitoba became a powerful symbol and model for other native tribes seeking to achieve recognition by the Canadian government and formal recognition of their native rights. However, the noteworthy success achieved by the Métis in their own state of Manitoba was short lived. John A. Macdonald, the Canadian prime minister at that time, believed that the indigenous peoples of Manitoba were “incapable of the management of their own affairs.” (3) Macdonald approved mass anti-Riel propaganda throughout eastern Canada shortly after the passage of the Manitoba Act and authorized the use of military presence and force to push the Métis further west beyond the Red River. Riel was forced to flee due to threats of execution. Years later, Riel finally surrendered to the Canadian government, where he was put on trial for treason and executed on November 16, 1885. Today, however, Louis Riel is recognized as the founding father of Manitoba and one of the most influential figures in Métis history.

(1) Pannekoek, Fritz. 1976. "The Rev. Griffiths Owen Corbett and the Red River Civil War of 1869-70." Canadian Historical Review 57, no. 2: 145. America: History and Life with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed November 2, 2017).

(2) Grebstad, David. 2014. "A Tale of Two Houses: The Rise and Demise of the Legislative Council of Manitoba, 1871-1876." Manitoba History no. 75: 3. America: History and Life with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed November 2, 2017).

(3) Witgen, Michael. "EPILOGUE: Louis Riel, Native Founding Father." In An Infinity of Nations: How the Native New World Shaped Early North America, 360. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012.

Caption: Map of Manitoba. Published by authority of the provincial government, Winnipeg, June, 1891. Thos. Greenway, Minister of Agriculture and Immigration. Printed for the Manitoba Government by the Stovel Co., Winnipeg. [cartographic material]., 1891 Photo Credit: MIKAN no. 4144141, Archives Canada

In 1899, the Canadian government signed the eighth of a total of eleven treaties partnered with aboriginal tribes in western Canada. Known as the Numbered Treaties, these treaties allowed for the settlement of eastern Canada (as well as the collection and cultivation of the resources offered by the region). Treaty 8 applied to parts of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan (an area known as the Lesser Slave Lake) and covered lands as far north as the Northwest Territories.

In the 1890’s, rumors of gold strikes in the far west of Canada began to spread, sparking the interest of prospectors to travel to the distant region in search of their fortunes. This movement became known as the Klondike Gold Rush, which saw thousands of Canadians and Americans rushing to the Yukon-Alaska border in search of gold. Substantial amounts of gold were discovered along the Klondike River in the Yukon, driving almost all mining companies north through Canada in order to excavate the area. (8) With a huge increase in the number of Canadians traveling through western provinces, increased opportunities for contact with indigenous people arose. This increased contact with previously isolated indigenous people led to the signing of Treaty 8 in an effort to head off possible hostile confrontations between gold prospectors and indigenous tribes. Furthermore, while most prospectors opted to travel to Northwestern Canada, the Canadian government also chose to include in Treaty 8 the region settled by the Sekani tribe in McLeod Lake, British Columbia. While less popular to prospectors than the Klondike River valley, the Canadian government was aware of substantial mineral deposits in the region.

Some historians believe that Treaty 8 was also drawn up to protect the land and mineral rights of the Sekani in British Columbia, though others resist this theory. Historian Robert Irwin argues in a response to an article by Arthur J. Ray that the “[Sekani] cultural landscape was not a significant enough reason to extend the eastern boundary of the treaty.” (9) Furthermore, Irwin conversely argues that Canada greatly limited the borders of Treaty 8, which effectively reduced the amount of land reserves granted to the Sekani. The Treaty 8 Sekani boundary issue became a subject of controversy in years following the signing of the treaty. (10)

Ray responded to Irwin’s counter arguments, debunking most of his claims and points. Ray contends that the boundaries of Treaty 8 were mostly ambiguous, yet not nearly as small as Irwin suggested. While many topographical landscape features, such as the Liard River representing the Northernmost boundary, are assumed to be treaty borders, Treaty 8 never defined outright its designated territorial size. (11) However, Ray agrees with Irwin that the treaty's ambiguous boundaries precipitated controversy after the treaty's signing. Because the border was not officially determined, the Sekani tried to reassert their rights in the treaty, “after they had become disillusioned with the ongoing comprehensive claims and the modern treaty negotiation processes.” (12)

(8) Bockstoce, John R., and Felipe Fernandez-Armesto. "End of the Century." In Furs and Frontiers in the Far North: The Contest among Native and Foreign Nations for the Bering Strait Fur Trade, 355. Yale University Press, 2009.

(9) Irwin, Robert. 2000. "TREATY 8: An Anomaly Revisited." BC Studies no. 127: 85. America: History and Life with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed November 5, 2017).

(10) Irwin, Robert. 2000. "TREATY 8: An Anomaly Revisited." BC Studies no. 127: 87. America: History and Life with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed November 5, 2017).

(11) Ray, Arthur J. 2000. "TREATY 8 AND EXPERT WITNESSES: A Reply to Robert Irwin." BC Studies no. 127: 104. America: History and Life with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed November 24, 2017).

(12) Ray, Arthur J. 2000. "TREATY 8 AND EXPERT WITNESSES: A Reply to Robert Irwin." BC Studies no. 127: 103. America: History and Life with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed November 24, 2017).

Caption: Map of Dominion of Canada corrected to January 1887, to show lands covered by Indian Treaty No. 8, 1898 Photo Credit: MIKAN no. 2171999

The Mackenzie Valley is a long and extensive river valley in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The Mackenzie River originates where the Liard River merges with the Jean Marie River at the town of Fort Simpson. The river then flows northward running for 1080 miles until it empties into the Beaufort Sea, north of Yukon and the Northwest Territories. In the 1970’s the region was embroiled with controversy as large Canadian oil companies such as Imperial Oil and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group sought government approval to construct a large oil pipeline along the length of the Mackenzie Valley as far as Alberta to transport oil from deposits in the Mackenzie delta.

This proposal triggered widespread outcries from Canadian conservationists and environmentalists. The pipeline proposal surfaced at the same time the Greenpeace movement, a nonviolent environmentalist movement centered in Vancouver, was becoming a powerful presence in Canada. As this movement gained headway, the movement began to spread throughout the nation. (4) Greenpeace's involvement led to an increasing outcry against the gas pipeline due to the environmental damage it threatened to cause to the Mackenzie Valley, the Mackenzie River and surrounding territories.

Outspoken opponents of the pipeline also included indigenous tribes on whose land this massive undertaking would be constructed. The Mackenzie Valley runs through a region in Canada known as the Boreal Forest, which spans east to west across most of Canada. Before human settlement in the Mackenzie Valley, the area was home to many species of wildlife, including moose, beaver, ducks, and plentiful plant life. This wildlife became an important resource to many indigenous tribes, such as the Dene, who migrated to the region in the 1700’s and who used these natural resources for food as well as fur trading. They soon adopted the region as their own, setting up numerous towns along the Mackenzie Valley. (5)

Furthermore, extensive excavation and research done in the Mackenzie River Valley has led to discoveries of large amounts of dinosaur fossils in the region. In a study mapping the landscape of the river valley, author C. B. Crampton observed that the Mackenzie contained large deposits of rocks and minerals such as shale, limestone, and sandstone. These minerals were determined to most likely be from the Devonian and Cretaceous periods, and evidence that fossils from these periods could be scattered throughout the river valley. (6) Historian P. S. Warren also wrote about the fossils present along the Mackenzie River Valley in the late 1930’s, noting the vast discovery of species of the Albian and Turonian ages. (7) Due to the possibility of more fossil sites in the region, as well as previous discoveries made 40 years prior to the proposal for the pipeline, its construction became even more controversial. The discovery of any sort of prehistoric fossil would have resulted in an immediate government intervention and a halt being placed on the building of the pipeline, delaying the already controversial process further.

(4) Conkin, Paul K. "Passionate Environmentalism." In The State of the Earth: Environmental Challenges on the Road to 2100, 272. University Press of Kentucky, 2007.

(5) Sabin, Paul. 1995. "Voices from the hydrocarbon frontier: Canada's Mackenzie Valley pipeline inquiry (1974-1977)." Environmental History Review 19, no. 1: 23. America: History and Life with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed November 2, 2017).

(6) Crampton, C. B. "Landscape Mapping in the Mackenzie River Valley." Arctic 28, no. 4 (1975): 285.

(7) Warren, P. S. "Cretaceous Fossil Horizons in the Mackenzie River Valley." Journal of Paleontology 21, no. 2 (1947): 118.

Caption: Mackenzie River and entrance of Great Bear River from Great Bear Rock near Fort Norman, N.W.T., 1921 Photo Credit: MIKAN no. 3328270