The Last Refuge With the abundance of resources, the Cypress
Hills were a popular wintering location. The forested coulees offered
shelter and wood, deer and elk were plentiful and the furs and hides
obtained on the winter trap lines were valuable trading goods. Most
importantly, the Cypress Hills became the last Canadian refuge of the
dwindling bison herds, which often wintered nearby.
In the Cypress hills, a number of Métis hivernant camps were
established as early as 1860 and used annually for many years. Three of
the larger settlements were Head-of-the-Mountain, Four Mile and Chapel
Coulees. With the establishment of Fort Walsh in 1875, a village grew
nearby and a few Métis found jobs as guides, interpreters and freighters
for the North West Mounted Police. The end of the decade, however, saw
the final disappearance of the bison herds, and the end of a way of
life.1
The last of the First Nations living off reserve also found refuge
there, even after the buffalo were gone. The NWMP fed the starving
people as long as they could. Fort Walsh was finally shut down. As for
the Métis, they made their way to the southern part of their hunting
territory and kept moving, looking for a location where they could
survive.
Meanwhile, back in the Canadian plains, the buffalo had disappeared,
and the First Nations people were settling into life on reserves. Food
shortages had begun in the 1870s, and by the 1880s, hunting of other
game animals became difficult. Starvation stalked the land.
The Canadian government began to establish a presence in the
territory. Battleford was chosen as the first Capital. There was a
newspaper by 1878 and by 1882, Battleford was fully surveyed as a
townsite.
The community of Prince Alberta and area was also growing. It had
begun as a Presbyterian mission in 1866, manned by Rev. Nisbet, George
Flett and John McKay. By 1878, the population was 831 and four times
that by 1881. The population included a large number of English Métis.
Prince Albert was surveyed into river lots in 1878, but they had trouble
getting claims accepted through the Dominion Lands Office. By 1880, none
had been accepted yet.
Meanwhile, in the Métis communities along the Saskatchewan,
The passing of the laws relating to the buffalo hunt was the
last official act of the council of St. Laurent. Later that year
Dumont had his first confrontation with the Canadian government, an
event which marked the demise of the council of St. Laurent. A group
of supposedly "free" buffalo hunters, most of whom were hired and
outfitted by the Hudson's Bay Company, set out from the Batoche area
ahead of the date set for the beginning of the hunt. For this
violation, Gabriel and his men entered their camp and confiscated
goods equivalent to a fine imposed for the infraction. Eventually
the North West Mounted Police were called in to settle the
disagreement. However, inspector Crozier reported that the "free"
buffalo hunters had, in fact, [broken?] upon the customs of the land
and that, furthermore, the local Métis self-government was well
suited to the area and operated very efficiently.
Little more was made of the matter. Nevertheless the local
Métis government lost virtually all of its power with the arrival of
the NWMP.2
In 1877, the Third Initial [or Prime] Meridian was established, and
in 1878, [in the valley of the Saskatchewan] 71 river lots were
surveyed, conforming closely to Métis land use patterns. These river
lots were 220 yards wide and 2 miles long and faced the river. Later
government surveys imposed an artificial grid system based on townships
which ignored the Métis system and also hindered filing for title, as
the survey maps took 4 years to produce instead of one.3
As the buffalo dwindled, and the communities grew, the question of
land guarantees for the Métis of Saskatchewan became a priority. In
1878, they sent a petition to the government asking that the land
occupied by Métis people be surveyed and title granted to them. Rather
than address the concerns of the Métis, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald
chose to ignore them. Surveyors were sent out to survey the land, but
they divided it into square sections, rather than into the long, narrow
riverfront lots that were the Métis way. And until the federal
government ruled otherwise, every Métis living on the land was
considered a squatter, with no legal claim or protection.4
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The Last Refuge
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