CPR Telegraph Ledger - The North-West Resistance

The North-West Resistance  

The origins of the Resistance of 1885 began with Riel conducting a peaceful agitation in the Batoche district. He drafted a petition which he urged all dissatisfied persons, including Métis and non - Métis to sign. While the government acknowledged the petition, the Métis were wary that nothing would be done. Batoche Métis proposed taking up arms on March 5, followed by Riel proposing the creation of a provisional government on March 8. The Métis also drafted a 10-point Revolutionary Bill of Rights. When they learned that the government was sending soldiers, the Métis named Louis Riel as the president of a provisional government, Gabriel Dumont the military commander, and seized Batoche’s parish church. Different First Nations groups, including Cree from the Batoche area and Dakota from a reserve near present-day Saskatoon also fought alongside the Métis. A separate event known as the Cree uprisings (though it also included Assiniboine peoples) occurred alongside the Métis Resistance of 1885 and is also represented in the telegraph ledger. Both events have come to be referred to as the “North-West Resistance”.