The Early Northwest (History of the Prairie West Series)
Gregory Marchildon, ed.
University of Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 2008, ISBN 978-0-88977-207-6, 504 pp., $29.95 paper.

In The Early Northwest, editor Gregory P. Marchildon puts together a well-balanced collection of essays that cover the history of the northwestern plains with a focus on the Canadian provinces north of the 49th parallel, particularly Saskatchewan and Manitoba and what were once Rupert's Land and the Red River area. The book is divided into four sections: Early Aboriginal History, The Fur Trade, Rupert's Land and Red River, and Resistance and "Rebellion." We learn such startling facts as that the "new world" may not be as new as had been previously considered, and that environmental factors such as drought during the early eighteenth century may have influenced First Nations in their development of a nomadic way of life in pursuit of the buffalo even more significantly than did the white man's introduction of the horse and the gun. We learn that Thomas Scott, painted by his contemporaries from the east as a "patriot" and an "Orangeman" and maligned by Louis Riel and later sympathetic historians as an alcoholic ruffian, fits neither category and may be considered a "victim" of history and historians. Finally, we discover that perspectives on the Red River and the Riel Rebellions have shifted according to whether expansionist Canadian interests or regional sympathies are served in the telling.

In the first section, Early Aboriginal History, Olive Patricia Dickason's "A Historical Reconstruction of the Northwestern Prairies" approaches Aboriginal history from an archaeological perspective, noting the find of an infant skeleton in Taber, Alberta that is between 20,000 and 60,000 years old (15), pointing to the relative antiquity of the new world. Dickason draws attention to the waves of peoples predating the much documented but relatively recent migration from Siberia. Adopting quite another approach, James Daschuk in "An Examination of Common and Contested Ground" looks at weather changes on the prairies, pointing to a drought in the early eighteenth century that would seem to have forced previously agrarian Aboriginals to adopt a nomadic lifestyle in search of the buffalo.

In the section The Fur Trade, Arthur Ray's essay "The Northern Great Plains: Pantry of the Northwestern Fur Trade, 1774-1815" describes how the area around the Hudson Bay became the "pantry" for traders and trappers needing an alternative food source to meat. C.S. Mackinnon in "Some Logistics of Portage La Loche (Methys)" outlines the development of the portage system under the direction of George Simpson and his successors, and how these business entrepreneurs likely considered the health of their cargo over the health of the hired men who carried out the transportation under harsh conditions with, during one long interval, no drinking water. The epilogue of this essay, with its return to the locale of a major portage site, proves haunting indeed:

Things seem to have come full circle. It is nice to come across places, in a natural setting, essentially unchanged from another age. One can attempt to pace off the old halting places or "poses" such as "La Vieille" near Mile Five. The "old woman," the wind, was usually his enemy but here a welcome breeze cooled the sweat off the voyageur as he smoked his "pipe" and thought of distant Montreal. One gains insight into the transcontinental unity of the Canadian experience. (120)

As every good historian should, McKinnon takes the trouble to visit the physical setting and listen to the land--fortunately in this case, one that has been largely preserved.

From the economic and geographical approaches taken in The Fur Trade, the section Rupert's Land and Red River leads us into a social history of the settlements around the Red River following the depletion of the fur trade in that region, Lord Selkirk's projection of a colony from distant Scotland and the difficulties he encountered. In James Aniuk's "Forming Civilization at the Red River: 19th-Century Missionary Education of Metis and First Nation Children," we are introduced first to Anglican and then Roman Catholic missionaries, and the displacement of Aboriginal and Metis interests. In the final essay of this section, "Aboriginal Rights versus the Deeds of Surrender," Frank Tough presents the terms of the Hudson Bay Company transfer of Rupert's Land (of which the Red River formed a part) to greater Canada and how the rights of the Aboriginal and Metis population living in this area were blatantly overlooked. A letter from Lord Granville in Britain demonstrates how the First Nation and Metis interests were briefly considered and set aside as inconvenient to the business venture in hand:

[The First Nations and Metis] have been protected from some of the vices of civilization, they have been taught, to some appreciable extent, to respect the laws and rely on the justice of the white man, and they do not appear to have suffered from any causes of extinction beyond those which are inseparable from their habits and climate. I am sure that your Government will not forget the care which is due to those who must soon be exposed to new dangers, and in the course of settlement be dispossessed of the land which they are used to enjoy as their own, or be confined within unwontedly narrow limits. (289)

Clearly, the Colonial Secretary anticipates the problems that will arise from the land transfer but this foreknowledge does not prevent his negotiations as he delegates responsibility on this matter to the not impartial Canadian government.

Finally, in the essay "Conspiracy and Treason" of the section Resistance and 'Rebellion,' Doug Owram examines the Red River Resistance from an expansionist perspective. While John A. MacDonald in recent history has been largely caricatured as a callous politician (and drunkard) out to achieve his own ends, Owram aims to set the record straight by suggesting that MacDonald sought to repair past carelessnesses in dealings with the Metis of Red River and to find a compromise solution in which they would still rule themselves (305). As Rupert's Lands were ceded to Canada, MacDonald could not understand why the inhabitants of Red River would not prefer to be under the jurisdiction of the newly formed country of Canada with its superior facilities. Like his contemporaries in eastern Canada, he believed that the Metis had been manipulated by Riel and American interests that intended to subsume Canadian territory. Owram weighs the various facts and attempts to reach something closer to the truth of the situation. J.M. Bumsted's "Thomas Scott and the Daughter of Time" reveals how history, even in the effort to set the record straight, may inadvertently twist the truth. Bumsted notes that the account on Thomas Scott's character is divided according to which party describes him:

The principal impression to be gained from the testimony of Thomas Scott's anglophone colleagues is that he was a gentle, well-mannered and personable individual, although as we shall see, there was also a minority view that he could be outspoken. (330)

Louis Riel and his government, on the other hand, describe the young Scott as an impulsively violent and alcoholic man; in short, a "bad man who deserved to die." Bumsted points to a Thomas's careful savings of $103.50, his letters to a brother, his being confused with one Alfred Scott, a known alcoholic, and asks the reader to weigh the evidence. The article is fascinating, and we are left with the possibility of Scott's being what Bumsted describes as a victim of history and historians. Walter Hildebrandt's account of the Riel Rebellion is complemented by strategic maps of the various battles and photographs of General Middleton and Louis Riel's council. The British troops brought in to deal with the Metis at first underestimated their strength and tactics, but with the aid of the Gatling gun managed to subdue their opposition at Batoche. Ironically, Hildebrandt notes, the troops brought in from the east soon came to sympathize with their enemy's problems when they found themselves suffering the privations of the frontier. "Parks Canada and the 1885 Rebellion/Uprising/Resistance" documents changes to posters at museum sites, revealing how expansionist interests have given way to regional sympathies, and it becomes clear that the old adage that it is the victors who write history must be modified in the Canadian mosaic: here minorities are also heard and the truth is to be found between the shifting points of view. The article includes photographs of such famous First Nation leaders as Poundmaker and Big Bear, Riel and his general, Gabriel Dumont, and shows admiration for both parties.

This collection is well worth reading, both for its attempts to balance the record between sympathies and for its fresh approaches and unexpected perspectives.

Gillian Harding-Russell lives, reviews, edits, teaches and writes in Regina. Her latest collection of poetry is I forgot to tell you (Thistledown Press, 2007).

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