Home >> The Beginnings >> Political Life >> Manitoba Act and Scrip

The new Province of Manitoba was created by the Manitoba Act, which received Royal assent on 12 May 1870 and came into effect when proclaimed on 15 July 1870. It contained most of the rights demanded by the Métis, including:

• Responsible government
• Provincial status
• Bilingual institutions
• Denominational schools
• Guarantees of land titles
• Respect for Indian title

What they did not get was due to some skillful handling by the Prime Minister. He agreed to provincial status, but for an area about one hundred miles square. The rest of the huge territory would become the North West Territories administered from Ottawa. The federal government retained control of public lands and natural resources, which were provincial matters in the other provinces. He agreed to grant security of tenure within accustomed plots of land and reserved 1.4 million acres to be allotted to their unmarried children. But he would not let the land be granted in big blocks.
He also refused to grant an amnesty to those involved in the resistance by signing the appropriate papers.
 

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Metis Scrip