In the summer of 1884, the Metis sent delegates to Montana, US, Where Riel was expelled and had his job as a teacher. The Metis delegates complained to Riel about the livelihood of the Metis in Canada. Riel was motivated and strongly suggested to return and lead the Metis to make improvements on their current life conditions. Riel’s return designated an uprising rebellion between the Metis and the government. After Riel’s return, On 8 March 1885, The Metis issued a Metis Bill of Rights. Unlike the previous list of rights, the Metis Bill of rights addressed all the grievances that the Metis faced and suggested the basis of a new province in the Northwest. The government tolerated this …show more content…
rebellious letter. They blamed the government for not keeping up to their promises about The granted land, compensation per family and the promise of giving out farming tools and instructions. Furthermore, the bisons were facing extinction due to the excessive fur trade. The government had signaled a rebellion just like the American“Declaration of Independence” soon after Riel’s return.
The government sent out the North-West Mounted police to investigate how many Metis and Indians had the intentions to rise and take up arms against the government,the end results showed that only about 500 people were ready to rebel against the government.This is an evidence that most of the Metis did not intend to rebel at first, but with Louis Riel’s provocations, they eventually strayed to the dark side. The northwest government banned the sale of ammunitions, This would ensure the lack of weapons for the Metis’ rebellion. The government was well-armed with the call out of the Eastern and Manitoba militia and the North-West mounted police troops sent over by the Canada pacific railway. “Justice commands us to take up arms!”(Louis Riel) On march 19, Louis riel declared war on the government, by telling the Metis that the Canadian government was determined to make war on them. The Metis formed a provisional government in St.Laurent with the president Louis Riel and the military commander as Gabriel Dumont. They started out by seizing the parish church at Batoche and demanded the surrender of Fort Carlton of the
HBC. The first clash between the NWMP and Riel’s soldiers happened on March 26, at Duke Lake. A large group of Metis and Indian rebels met with the NWMP under Lief Crozier’s command. It began with an attempt of negotiation, it did not end well. Both sides opened fire, but the battle at Duke Lake ended under thirty minutes. Crozier and his troops retreated to Fort Carlton where they could evacuate back to Prince Albert. 12 police members were sacrificed, plus much more injured from both sides. Five Metis and Indian rebels were killed. Riel did not chase after the retreating force, because of too many injuries. After this short victory, more and more Indian tribes started to rebel against the government. Middleton led About 900 soldiers, Riel wanted all force to be concentrated on defending Batoche, while Dumont’s more popular anticipation was to do more offensive tactics.Dumont brought a big group of Metis and Indians to ambush the government’s force. (Fish Creek) Dumont had successfully stopped and delayed Middleton's further advance to Batoche. Middleton arrived at Batoche in May, they attempted to attack the carefully defended forts of the Metis. After a few tries, they had finally taken control of the area. After the Metis were defeated at Batoche, the NWMP continued to capture and arrest all Indian leaders who had participated in the rebellion. Some rebels were pardoned, others were imprisoned. Riel was also captured on May 15, Dumont was exiled to Montana, US.