LOUIS RIEL

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At the time of his return to the Red River Settlement, Canada included only the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The territory known as Rupert's Land, which extended west from Ontario all the way to the Rocky Mountains, belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company. The Company appointed a governor and council to administer the Settlement situated at the junction of the Red and the Assiniboine Rivers. Fort Garry lay at the heart of the Settlement, referred to as the District of Assiniboia, and was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company.

During the 1850's, the Métis had succeeded in breaking the fur trade monopoly that the Company had held until then. The Company had been forced to concede a political role in governing the Settlement and certain property rights to the Métis. The years between 1850 and 1860 marked the end of the old way of life in the North-West. Before 1849, changes in the Settlement had occurred because of internal events, but after 1850 they would be the result of external factors, centred around Canadian and American politics.

 

  

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