Local Governance

The arrival of the expedition under Colonel Garnet Wolseley in 1870 signalled a transition in the lives Indigenous peoples in Manitoba. The expedition included Ontario volunteers and Canadian settlers hoping to avenge the death of Thomas Scott. They acted in defiance of the rule of law. Winnipeg descended into mob rule in 1871 and 1872. The French Metis population was threatened continuously at the Land Office near Fort Garry, and French Metis entering Winnipeg were in jeopardy of being harmed.

Written by Chief Joseph Dreaver of Mistawasis, this report surveyed 67 bands in Saskatchewan and called for band control and administration of land. In response, L.L Brown suggested that there was a necessity for bands to accept Euro-Canadian land divisions if they wished to integrate into Canadian society.

Several members of the Ochapowace band, including Chief Ochapowace, met and drafted a list of resolutions dealing with the administration of their band at the council level. They criticized farming practices, complaining that they were unable to harvest their crops before winter and get them to market, requesting a ‘complete threshing outfit,’ increased access to one of the band’s tractors, improved roads in and out of the reserve, and relief for one destitute member of the band. They also protested the replacement of Chief Ochapowace. In a second correspondence from the Ochapowace band, several members alleged that they had been mistreated at the Broadview Hospital, and as such, expressed a preference to be hospitalized at the Whitewood Community Hospital.

The Special Joint Parliamentary Committee on Indian Affairs was appointed in order to examine the post-war experiences of Aboriginal people across the country. Particular focuses of the committee were treaty rights, band membership, taxation, enfranchisement, encroachments on Indigenous land, schools, and the social and economic advancement of Indians. The committee met with various groups representing Aboriginal people in Saskatchewan, including the Protective Association for Indians and their Treaties and the Saskatchewan Indian Association. These delegates recommended to the committee that all education, welfare, and social initiatives should be run by Aboriginal people and be non-denominational.

Following the resolutions that had been put forward the year before at the League of Indians in Western Canada’s first conference at Saddle Lake, the resolutions passed in 1932 were more specific. The group requested that all teachers at boarding and industrial schools be fully qualified, all farm instructors removed from Alberta and Saskatchewan, section 45 of the Indian Act (concerning permits) be abolished, and various amendments to the Indian Act since 1876 be abolished.

Headed by Chief Joe Taylor, the work of F.O Loft which had begun with the League of Indians of Canada, was continued with a meeting at Green Lake where the League of Indians in Western Canada was formed. At subsequent conferences on the Saddle Lake Reserve in Alberta in 1931 and 1932, the group drafted resolutions pertaining to establishment of on-reserve schools, increased food rations for the elderly, no further land surrenders, and the preservation of hunting, trapping, and fishing rights, along with various social programs that were needed. The 1933 conference also included a statement focusing on religious freedoms, particularly the Sun Dance.

Mohawk activist Fred Loft met with members of the Thunderchild band to discuss consciousness-raising, organization and political mobilization of Aboriginal people across the country to protest the pass system and the oppression of Indigenous ceremonial practices. Loft was the head of the League of Indians of Canada.

Piapot, Pasqua and Muscowpetung joined together to create a united political body to fight against the land surrenders that were being forced as part of the Soldier Settlement Act.

Nine delegates from Treaty 4 nations visited Ottawa and held meetings with Frank Pedley and Frank Oliver over eight days. The delegation protested the lack of fulfilment of treaty promises, particularly where agriculture, education, and medical care were concerned. Residents of the Ochapowace reserve argued that white settlers were permitted to cut down tress and hay without the consent of the band members, whereas the band members had to obtain a permit from the Indian agent to cut down trees and hay. The concerns of the group were largely dismissed by federal officials. Ottawa agreed only to improve education.

The town of Île-à-la-Crosse was founded as a trading post by English trader Thomas Frobisher in 1776. It is the second oldest settlement in Saskatchewan, after Cumberland House. It was considered one of the most important fur trading posts of the North West, and is also a birth place of the Metis as many marital/co-habiting partnerships between French traders and Indigenous women began here. However, the majority of Metis residents in the Ile-a-la-Crosse community are descended from French-Canadian and Scottish ancestors/Metis of the Red River Settlement. Located on the Upper Churchill River, it was originally established in response to the increasing demand for meat produced on the Plains to sustain the increasing number of non-Indigenous traders who were moving into the beaver-rich country of the Athabasca. Spaulding (see "relevant resources" section below) notes that these non-Indigenous traders thoroughly exploited the fur, fish and game resources in the region, eventually leaving the Metis without a livelihood. Preceding this resource exhaustion, fur trade combat at this particular post existed between competing establishments such as the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Trading Company. Spaulding also details attempts at assimilation and conversion made by Catholic missionaries in the village, as well as notable transitions of jurisdiction in 1870 and 1930. Another important date is the 1944 election of the CCF within the provincial government. This change in power resulted in the expansion and imposition of colonial bureaucratic policy to Northern Saskatchewan. Although the CCF government briefly engaged in consultation with Metis peoples in the area, this was quickly superseded by an assumption that these citizens would be best served by assimilationist government policies which "bring the Metis into closer alignment with the larger society".