The Métis people of the District of Saskatchewan under Louis Riel begin the North-West Rebellion against Canada.
The North-West Rebellion of 1885 (French: Rbellion du Nord-Ouest), also known as the North-West Resistance, was a rebellion by the Mtis people under Louis Riel and an associated uprising by First Nations Cree and Assiniboine of the District of Saskatchewan against the Canadian government. Many Mtis felt that Canada was not protecting their rights, their land, and their survival as a distinct people.
Riel had been invited to lead the movement of protest; he turned it into a military action with a heavily religious tone. That alienated Catholic clergy, whites, most Indigenous tribes, and some Mtis, but he had the allegiance of 200 armed Mtis, a smaller number of other Indigenous warriors, and at least one white man at Batoche in May 1885, who confronted 900 Canadian militia and some armed local residents. About 91 people would die in the fighting that occurred that spring before the rebellion's collapse.Despite some notable early victories at Duck Lake, Fish Creek, and Cut Knife, the rebellion was quashed when overwhelming government forces and a critical shortage of supplies brought about the Mtis' defeat in the four-day Battle of Batoche. The remaining Aboriginal allies scattered. Several chiefs were captured, and some served prison time. Eight men were hanged in Canada's largest mass hanging, for murders performed outside the military conflict.
Riel was captured, put on trial, and convicted of treason. Despite many pleas across Canada for clemency, he was hanged. Riel became a heroic martyr to Francophone Canada. That was one cause for the rise of ethnic tensions into a deep division, whose repercussions continue to be felt. The rebellion's suppression contributed to the present reality of the Prairie Provinces being controlled by English speakers, who allowed only a very limited francophone presence, and helped cause the alienation of French Canadians, who were embittered by the repression of their countrymen. The key role that the Canadian Pacific Railway played in transporting troops caused support by the Conservative government to increase, and Parliament authorized funds to complete the country's first transcontinental railway.
The Métis (; French: [metis]) refers to a group of Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture and are of mixed Indigenous and European (primarily French) ancestry which became a distinct group through ethnogenesis by the mid-18th century, during the fur trade era.In Canada, the Métis, with a population of 587,545 as of 2016, are one of three major groups of Indigenous peoples that were legally recognized in the Constitution Act of 1982, the other two groups being the First Nations and the Inuit.Smaller communities who self-identify as Métis exist in Canada and the United States, such as the Little Shell Tribe of Montana. The United States recognized the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians as being American Indian.
Alberta is the only Canadian province with a recognized Métis Nation land base: the eight Métis Nation Settlements, with a population of approximately 5,000 people on 1.25 million acres (5,100 km2).