Metis Migration Following the North-West Resistance (North-West Rebellion)

The impact of this one event has been felt throughout the province of Saskatchewan ever since the Rebellion / Resistance. In an interview conducted for Parks Canada, Mark Calette explains the true impact that this had on the Metis community, when asked about the Metis connections to Fort Battleford, Fort Walsh, and Grasslands National Park --- "For me, it’s the connection with the Trottier family. I think it relates back to 1885, and obviously it would probably be prior to that too, but certainly, when my family left the Batoche and Round Prairie areas, and scooted to the US and had to seek asylum there until things got better … and then came back, using Highway 4 again as that connector route. That’s why you see the Trottier family scattered right from Val Marie, through Biggar, Cando, Meadow Lake, Glaslyn… It’s all along that highway, and all the way down. So, you’ll see the family remnants all the way, right from the American border, all the way up. Then we also have the connection with my great-grandfather being born in Maple Creek, so that’s our connection to the southwest, and to the US because I still have cousins in the northern US..." --- This dispersal of people also had great consequences for generations to come. Mark mentions the hardships of his father, and previous generations of his family after the Resistance " ---- "... Dad, and our Grandma, and our Kokum, they all did. In fact, if you want to use Highway 4 as kind of, the connector route, right from the American border down near Val Marie, right up, if you take Highway 4, right on up to past the Battlefords, and into Glaslyn, that was the route that they often travelled and live on. Dad speaks of stories of living on the road allowance and never living anywhere long enough to get an education …" As can be seen through these statements, the impact on Metis people was not insignificant, but can be viewed as one of the major catalysts for the economic, social, and political issues that the Metis community has faced in the 20th, and early 21st centuries.