Integration & Mobility

Through a 1914 amendment to the Indian Act, First Nations people who wished to travel off-reserve for fairs or stampedes were required to obtain permission from the Indian agent. Throughout the years up to 1918, Department of Indian Affairs officials routinely refused to grant approval for off reserve events. Through the 1920s, officials were more lenient with granting these passes and fair organizers were less inclined to respect the instructions of the DIA.

In the aftermath of the North West/Riel Resistance the Rebellion Losses Commission was established to provide compensation to those who had suffered losses as a result of the armed conflict. The general opinion of the commission’s members was that “having contributed to their own losses, the Métis were not eligible for any compensation.” Many Metis were angered that those who implicated Metis individuals in the resistance were provided with compensation for their losses - this demonstrates the government's efforts to consolidate power by implementing various means of rewarding or punishing its allies and enemies.

Meeting at Fort Carlton including local Metis elders chaired by HBC representative Lawrence Clark with the purpose of selecting a site for a new Metis settlement. Eventually, an area centered on the St. Laurent de Grandin mission on the west bank of the South Saskatchewan River was selected.

An all-night ritual took place near the Red Pheasant reserve featuring 15 members of the Native American Church, 13 members of the Stony Reserve (Alberta) and Red Pheasant Band, and peyote. Non-Indigenous observers were also present.

In 1952, the ritual consumption of peyote related to the activities of the Native American Church was reported among members of the Cree band led by Louis Sunchild. Sunchild, an Alberta First Nation leader, was stopped at the Montana-Alberta border carrying peyote. RCMP took him into custody, and although he was released, the peyote was retained and the report and images of his peyote stash were circulated to Indian Agents across Western Canada.

Several factors combined to incite a spike in outmigration of Metis peoples between 1872-1874 from the Red River region. They include: delays and frustrations over the slow granting of Metis land promised in the Manitoba Act, poor crop returns in the early 1870s and high Metis mortality resulting from social determinants of health such as malnutrition and psychological stress. The factors which undermined agricultural success in Red River are outlined below in the "The Metis Nation: Buffalo Hunting vs. Agriculture in the Red River Settlement" entry under "relevant resources."

In the post First World War period the Metis population faced continued neglect. They were not included as a distinct people in the census, and neither the federal or provincial government wanted to take responsibility for the broken promises of the Riel or Red River Resistances as it related to Metis rights to land and livelihood (please see database entries on the scrip distribution process and speculation/government fraud).

Cree groups living in the Cypress Hills were told by Indian Affairs officials that they were not going to be issued rations until they left the region and moved onto reserves in the Qu'Appelle, Battleford, and Fort Pitt areas. This was part of the 'Sheer Compulsion' strategy. They were issued rations at Fort Walsh to fuel their journey to Prince Albert, and received more rations for the final portion of their journey. Big Bear and a group of followers remained at their camp about twenty miles from Fort Walsh into 1882, and were some of the last to accept the move out of the Cypress Hills.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the flood of homesteaders pushed Metis peoples in present-day Saskatchewan to the fringes of society. Their culture and way of life were not accepted, and as a result many Metis peoples in southern Saskatchewan were forced onto road allowances. In doing so, the ability of Metis families to establish community roots and their ability to obtain financial prosperity was severely restricted. As a result, these people often worked as seasonal or casual workers on farms, in towns or in the bush. This also greatly restricted educational opportunities, which, when combined with a lack of stability, perpetuated a cycle of poverty that was difficult to escape. (See Mark Calette Interview, and Emergence of Metis as Road Allowance People - Living Conditions).

In the aftermath of the North-West Resistance many Metis peoples migrated to different places across the North American West. Many headed to around Battleford and Prince Albert to work as freighters, trappers, and fishermen. Communities included Marcelin, Leask, Birch Hills, Kinistino, Onion Lake, Glaslyn and Meadow Lake. Additionally, many Metis moved to North Dakota and some even to southern Alberta to work as ranchers.