181st Anniversary of the Birth of Louis Riel,
Leader of the Métis Resistance
October 22, 1844
Métis People’s Traditions of Resistance Under Louis Riel Are the Canadian and Quebec People’s Traditions of Resistance
Louis Riel’s address to the jury in Regina courtroom, July 1885.
The uprisings of the Métis in the struggle to affirm their rights and nationhood took place at a time when the Indigenous nations and the Quebec nation were also striving to affirm their nationhood. They rejected the colonial project that sought to subjugate them and reproduce the British state in North America by blocking the aspirations of the nations that comprised Canada.
It is also important to keep in mind that the period leading up to the British North America Act (BNA Act) of 1867 was also a time when, in 1865, the United States was emerging from a civil war and reverting to the policy formulated in 1823 by U.S. President James Monroe, that the Americas were no longer open to colonization by the European powers and that any European intervention in the affairs of the Americas would be perceived as a threat to U.S. security and peace. He said, “We should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety.”[1] The new U.S. President, General Ulysses Grant, who had led the Union troops of the North to victory over the Confederate troops of the South, had his sights set on British possessions in North America, namely what is now Canada.
Faced with this threat, the British colonial power responded by putting in place arrangements that eventually led to the imposition of the BNA Act of 1867 on the peoples of Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia to create what would become known as Canada. The promoters of this project, including Conservative George-Étienne Cartier, had even promised to hold a referendum on the subject. But having tested the method in New Brunswick and been told NO! they reneged on their promise.
As is the case today, the ruling elites of that time, represented by Prime Minister John A. MacDonald, needed a project that would be touted as one that could unify the nation: the construction of the trans-Canada railway by private interests largely subsidized by the new Canadian government. This railway would cross from east to west through the traditional territories of the Indigenous Peoples of Ontario, the Prairies, and the Pacific, as well as the territories occupied by the Métis people of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. What would later become CP Rail could also count on the Canadian government’s armed forces, namely the colonial army and the North-West Mounted Police, to crush any resistance to the occupation of the traditional lands of the Métis and Indigenous peoples of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Today, the Canadian state continues to deny the nationhood of the Métis, Indigenous Peoples, and the people of Quebec. The Carney government is facing threats from the U.S. administration, yet seeks to complete Canada’s economic and military integration into the U.S. by annexing Canadian territory into that of the U.S.
Faced with this existential crisis confronting Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s response is to put forward what he calls his nation-building project, embodied in Bill C-5 and other state arrangements that will allow what the government deems the “national interest” to override public interest. This project, presented as “diversifying trade,” boils down to intensifying the sell-out of mineral and energy resources, while establishing new energy, mineral corridors and port and rail infrastructure to facilitate the transportation of these resources to markets not only in the United States but also in Europe. This entire project is accompanied by the claim that Canada will be defended against foreign aggression by increasing military spending.
As in the days of the Métis’ resistance, the Canadian government is now facing resistance from Indigenous Peoples who refuse to allow the natural resources found on their hereditary and treaty lands to be plundered by large supranational private interests. It is a reminder that they are the traditional guardians and protectors of Mother Earth and that they must have a decisive say in how the land and water are used on a sustainable basis for the well-being of all.
In their struggle, Indigenous Peoples will find allies in the people of Canada and Quebec and in the Canadian working class, which has a long tradition of opposing preparations for war of aggression and conquest, as was the case during World War I and other military interventions by Canada on the side of the Anglo-American imperialists.
Notes
1. “Since James Monroe enunciated his doctrine in 1823, at a time the U.S. was referred to as the ’empire of reason,’ a task of the U.S. presidency has been to put forward empire-building aspirations. It has done this while maintaining a republican form of governance for its federal arrangement, rooted in the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, the Monroe Doctrine lay U.S. claim to the affairs of the western hemisphere against the European Holy Alliance and other powers’ desire to colonize or monopolize markets in the Americas, including the Caribbean. At the same time, the Doctrine raised the profile of the President in foreign affairs. In its initial incarnation, this covered its war against the Indigenous Peoples across the continent and for the colonial expansion of the slave power. […]
“In this regard, under President James Polk (1845-1849), the Monroe Doctrine provided the explicit rationale for the war against Mexico in 1845 and for colonizing the southwest and western parts of the continent under the messianic banner of ‘manifest destiny.'”
Excerpted from “200th Anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine U.S. Imperialist Presidential Doctrines to Take Over the World,” TML Monthly, November 2023
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