THE GENETIC BLUEPRINT

Most scholars in the past were content to think of Metis as only those offspring born of Indian-White marriage. However, in the light of modern research, it is safe to say that some intermarriage between other races and Indians occurred several thousand years before Columbus' voyage to the New World. Also, there is an oral tradition that the Celts made contact with North America around 800 B.C. as well as the persistent suspicions that the Nordic races made contact. Riel himself believed that North American Indians were descended from an early colony of Jews. In fact the Algonquin languages have been linked directly to Ogam (Celtirbian language of West Coast of Europe), the ancient tongue of the Druids. The debate among scholars now is whether the Druids got the language from the Algonquins or the Algonquins received it from the Celts. One thing seems certain and that is that there was a Metis gene pool in North America long before the discovery of the "New World".

In any case, the new Metis, that is, those who were descendant from the early French explorers and Indian women, were meeting in groups by the mid-1600's. From the very earliest writings historians referred to the Metis as: friendly, easy honest, free, independent, active, enduring, hospitable; the fact that Metis children from earliest times were inculcated with such qualities indicates a degree of civilization that would be hard put to find today.

Even though the early writers recognized these traits in the Metis people, still there was an assumption by these same writers that without continuous contact with the "white race", the half-breed would revert to kind. The fact is that these "children of the forest" originated, for the most part, from the voyageurs who were already mixed blood and their so called reversion was simply realistic adaptation to their environment. During the first hundred years of the fur trade, only higher officials of the trading companies were actually white, along with the occasional explorer. By the year 1700, the largest number of children born were of partners of previously mixed blood. The "hybrid" was breeding true.

A NATURAL CIVILIZATION

The second and third generation Metis began to develop a natural civilization; from the native heritage they learned and developed a natural relationship with their environment. They lived as natural consumers in a benign environment that teemed with the necessities of life. Fur trapping, buffalo hunting, fishing, maple sugaring, wild rice and root harvesting provided all a man and his nomadic community could want. From their European heritage they developed the economic and technological skills of their frontier fathers. So these were the Metis of the early westÛthe guides, explorers, middlemen between the Whites and Indians; the Metis were the "elite", the "pride of the prairies".

Perhaps the most exciting development that took place, certainly the one which was to have the most impact in later years, was the political development that occurred among the Metis. This was not an institutional process but rather it was based on the most fundamental democratic principles of a free people. It was a process of decision-making which involved all of those that the decisions were to affect. This was consent of the governed who accepted "authority only if and when they were prepared to do so". The closest that this process came to the white institutional model was in the organization of the buffalo hunt. Perhaps this is the reason that so much has been written by white scholars regarding the buffalo hunt as it was the one area that closely resembled white institutions of the day, i.e., the military, Northwest Mounted Police, Hudson's Bay, etc. The fact is that the Metis utilized a task force process in the selection of their leaders. The individual best suited for a particular job was democratically selected to assume authority for a limited time periodÛusually until the task for which he was selected to lead was accomplished. The basis for this type of democracy was from the Indian form and not an imitation of white concepts.

The Metis developed a social style that was uniquely their own; a proud, fun-loving, brash people, freely borrowing from their French, Irish, English, Indian and Scots backgrounds to provide them with the cultural fabric of a new and colourful culture. These were the Metis who caught the imagination of many early writers, with their genius for creating unique patterns and solutions for solving day-to-day needs. The Metis developed a new language as well, using obsolete French and incorporating that with a unique prairie vocabulary. The adoption of the handwoven multi-coloured sash of the "coureur de bois", the fiddling and jigging of the French and Irish, mixed with the haunting chants and songs of the Indian, produced the colourful style of the Metis that so enthralled writers even though their reports were often condescending. Much of the cultural activity of the early Metis took spontaneous forms necessitated by largely nomadic, but no less socially connected, groups of people.

The Metis, by the 1800's, had established a coherent and cohesive civilization that had a reciprocal relationship to the environment and a profitable arrangement with their White and Indian neighbours. They had built settlements and created a complex network of communication patterns sufficient for the successful interrelationship of their members. "They were an independent people, who asked no favours from either Indians or Europeans, but developed as men of dignity and earned respect."

Many historians who promoted the white view of history had obviously formed a false idea of the half-breed. They imagined them to be "a race little removed from barbarians in habit and appearance". But then there was a contradiction that these early writers were unable to resolve, that being that "in all respects they are like civilized men". This then was the basic flaw in white historical writing, the assumption that only individuals who read and write are representative of civilized man and that nonliterate societies are, or were, "primitive". The historic fact of the Metis contradicts the white view. The Metis for 200 years had lived in a society vastly superior, in terms of realistic survival and social growth, to the so-called "advance of civilization". In the West, for those first 200 years, they were the only group who were capable of developing a reasonable alternative to Indian or white life styles. Prior to 1800, the white population was confined to a few Hudson's Bay and Northwest Company outposts. The Metis "never considered themselves as humble hangers-on to the white population".

The external influences on Metis life included the Indians, particularly the Sioux; the Hudson's Bay Company; their rivals, the Northwest Company; the Church that was established at Pembina, and the Americans. The claim of white historians that the Metis society was static and non-competitive in the survival sense of the word is denied by even the most superficial examination of Metis relationship and adaptation to the major external influences on their lives.

ADAPTATION TO CHANGE

The Selkirk Colony is a case in point. Through machinations that would fit quite neatly into the boardroom of any modern day international corporation, Lord Selkirk, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Hudson's Bay Company, dealt himself 116,000 square miles of land to serve as a settlement for dispossessed Scots. The Hudson's Bay negotiated 10% of the deal as settlement land for retired employees. There is no record that other people in the area were ever consulted, despite the fact that much of the land in question had been occupied by Metis for several generations. Most historians agree that the Metis did not initially oppose the settlement. The opposition came only when their own rights and their participation in the decision-making process was denied. The Selkirk Settlement and the exclusion of the Metis from the decisions that would affect their lives became the model for all future conflict between Metis and the complex of governments and institutions that entered the area under the banner of "civilization".

If the Selkirk Settlement was to become the model of oppression then it may be said that Cuthbert Grant personified the response of the Metis to an outside threat. He organized a systematic defense of the area and effectively dealt with that outside threat. First, he rallied the Metis around the concept of a new nationÛthough Sealey and all other historians credit the Northwest Co. with the idea of"Metis Nationhood", the concept had been familiar to the Metis for 200 years. The tradition was part of the Metis heritage passed from their Indian forebears. The great confederacies of the Iroquois and Choctaw, the Sioux nation and others were models of nationhood long before the Northwest Co. tried to take credit and label Metis nationalism "as but a joke". The real issue, as far as the people who lived in the area were concerned, was the autocratic and arbitrary decision-making process that excluded the Metis. The new governor, Robert Semple, who was appointed in the fall of 1815, began making proclamations of all sorts and tried to introduce regulations that were unacceptable to the MetisÛthe control of the buffalo hunt, for instance, and the same of pemmican, both staples of the Metis livelihood. The resultant clashes between the settlers and the Metis were easily won by the Metis.

After the Battle of Seven Oaks, where Cuthbert Grant and a small band of Metis fought a force of Semple's men, killing Semple and 20 others, the Selkirk Settlers packed up their belongings and fled north. Cuthbert Grant was now in effective control of the whole of Rupert's Land. A treaty was signed with the Hudson's Bay Co., admitting that the Hudson's Bay Post was temporary and that "no appearance of a colony was to remain".

The Metis flag, displaying the symbol of infinity - a horizontal figure '8' - flew unchallenged for the time being.

The following year Lord Selkirk returned with a troop of mercenaries. Cuthbert Grant at first was prepared to stop Selkirk until he learned that Chief Peguis of the Saulteaux threatened to intercede with his warriors. Grant then decided to surrender to the authorities. He was charged with the murder of Governor Semple but was cleared in both the Upper and Lower Canada courts. He returned to the Red River to face a new challenge.

After the war of 1812 between the British and the Americans, the 49th parallel became the boundary line between the British North America and the United States. At best this was a meaningless boundary in the context and lifestyle of the Metis culture. However, a survey in 1823 determined that Pembina, the "capital" of Metis activity with its schools and church, was in fact in American territory. The Hudson's Bay insisted that the church and schools be moved to the Red River. Many of the Metis followed, particularly after Cuthbert Grant was given a tract of land for settlement and Grantown was established.

Two years prior to this the Hudson's Bay and the Northwest Co. had amalgamated, so in effect the Red River had become a "company town". This was particularly true after the Hudson's Bay had arranged to buy back the Selkirk territories in 1836. The land was then leased out on company terms. The collapse of the Northwest Co.'s trading posts meant that the Metis had to adjust considerably and in a short time. Their "response-ability" served them well, particularly with the growth of an American market that paid considerably more than the Bay.

It was the Metis who finally broke the Hudson's Bay monopoly over the fur trade. The company regulations said that furs taken in the territories of Rupert's Land must be traded to the Bay. However, in a territory as enormous as Rupert's Land and with so little of the frontier actually guarded, the Bay could not enforce their directives without the active support of the Metis themselves. As the demands from the company officials became more dictatorial, the Metis became less inclined to follow orders. When four Metis were charged and convicted of smuggling their own furs against company regulationsÛthis was too much. The Metis once more were excluded from the decision-making process and their rights were not being recognized. The Metis, five hundred strong, surrounded the court house with their rifles. The judge involved decided to release the men and the incident symbolized the breaking of the Bay's monopoly on trade and Louis Riel, Sr., was the recognized leader of the opposition.

All during this period the Metis had regular contact with the Indian tribes. With the Cree and Saulteaux there were long established social and family ties as well as a commercial trade link. With the Sioux, however, there was a running conflict in the early 1800's. Finally in 1844-45, the Metis signed a treaty with the Sioux and established a peaceful frontier which protected the settlements to the east. The Metis had established themselves as the wardens of the plains and prairie cavalry in every sense of the word.

If there was any factor which might indicate a lack of adaptability of the Metis to the forces around them, their relationship to the church is the only evident failing. "In our naivety, we regarded our priests as superior and invincible." The priests even took part in the buffalo hunt and by 1818 had built a church in Pembina which was later moved to the Red River in 1823. The Metis trusted the church to look out for their interests in relationship with the outside establishment. Although this habit of the Metis was occasionally fruitful, it eventually created a major weakness in the actions of the Metis between 1869 and 1885.

The 4uest for rights began as soon as the Metis recognized that forces were at work to undermine those rights. To the Metis the democratic process and the concept of the consent of the governed, as well as their reciprocal relationship to the land, were so natural that it was difficult for them to imagine any basis on which it could be 4uestioned. Although they had superior numbers, military skill and obvious tenancy, they were willing to draft a series of 4uestions to the legal gov~rning body of the area. This was the Gouncil of Assiniboia, appointed by the Hudson's Bay Co. The first document dealt most with rights of trapping and free trade of fur. It also showed a thorough understanding of the flimsy legal basis for land title and control of resources in the area. This startled the Hudson's Bay Co. and they immediately re4uested that martial law be declared. This was done and a regiment of troops occupied the area from 1846 to 1849. The Bay's reaction to the Metis initiatives certainly shows that they did not think they were dealing with a "primitive" people who had no understanding of their legal rights, as white historians have supposed.

The sum effect of all these changes, again contrary to the general attitude of Canadian historians, was a decline of Whites in the Red River area and a marked increase in the number of Metis between the years 1849 and 1856. Metis families increased by 200 and white families dropped by almost 100. In 1857, the Metis represented 6,000 of a population of 7,000. The error that Stanley made in his writing now becomes evident. He admits that "the Red River Settlement was thus a simple, elementary, static democracy in which the inhabitants had pretty well come to terms with their economic, physical and political environment". But, he claims, only as long as they were in successful isolation. In the next chapter we will explore how the so-called static Metis met the onrush of Stanley's "superior" civilization.

TABLE 1

Chart of Population Changes in Red River Settlement*

*Figures refer to number of families in area (Gladman 1858)
**Canadians in area are from Upper and Lower Canada, i.e., Ontario and Quebec.

TABLE 2

Chart of Population Ratio for Whites and Metis in Red River Settlements

*Combined French- and Anglo-Metis figures
NOTE: Howard lists 600 Indians for 1871 period.