The content from the previous two lessons (Charlottetown Conference and Nova Scotia & Confederations) foundational and it needs to be checked to ensure students have consolidated this information.
What year did Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec create and join Confederation? (bonus for the precise date!)
In full sentences, provide at least one reason as to why Nova Scotia was cautious about joining Confederation?
What was one of the great benefits of joining Confederation (for any of the provinces)?
This video includes the necessary information about the Red River Resistance (also known as the Rebellion)
Terminology in the videos:
Catholicism (religion): Largely practised by Francophone Metis. Unfriendly toward Protestants.
Protestantism (religion): Largely practised by Anglophone Metis and by the federal government of Canada. Unfriendly toward Catholics.
Surveyors: Those who examine and map out the land in a given area for use by the general public.
This video provides additional background information for the activity below. Mild language warning.
You will role play as each of the characters below! Using some creativity and imagination, write or type out responses to the mediator's questions based on the character who is being asked. Submit your responses to your teacher.
Mediator
The mediator will control the discussion between these three historical figures. The mediator will ask the following questions and will also allow the conversation to flow naturally. The mediator will also ensure that the discussion remains on topic and does not devolve into verbal attacks. Ultimately their role is to guide the role players through educating the audience on the matter at hand.
Mr Riel, what is it you and the Metis of the Red River region want out of these negotiations?
Prime Minister MacDonald, why do you want to see the Red River region become part of federal Canada? Could this land become its own distinct area that’s not under the thumb of the federal government? Is this a possibility in your vision of Canada?
Mr the Ghost of Thomas Scott, where do you stand…float(?) in all of this? What do you think should become of the Metis and Louis Riel? As the leader of a provisional government that found you guilty through trial was it within his legal power to kill you?
Mr Riel, how would you describe yourself and the Metis as an oppositional force to the government? Are you rebels? A resistance?
The mediator will ask the above question to Thomas Scott and John A. MacDonald afterwards or if Riel has nothing to add.
Louis Riel
You are Louis Riel, a 26-year-old Francophone Metis person residing in the Red River Colony. Your peers consider you charismatic as they chose you to represent them not only to send away William MacDougall, but also to represent and lead them in the provisional government against the Government of Canada. This panel serves as a negotiation that is held in the public eye. You’ve agreed to negotiate with Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald over the status of the land that you and the Metis (Francophone and Anglophone alike) live on. You want to discuss how you and your people would like to be treated going forward. You have delusions of messianic (religious) grandeur.
PM Sir John A. MacDonald
You are Sir John A. MacDonald. You are the Prime Minister of Canada at this time, but you were born in Scotland. At the time of this panel discussion, you are 55 years old and you have been Prime Minister for almost 3 years. You want to see the Riel’s resistance end and the land he and his people inhabit fall under the fold of the federal government and become a province (Manitoba) under the proposed Manitoba Act (1870). You do not want for him to get away with the murder of Thomas Scott or allow Riel’s indictment and trial of Thomas Scott to be seen as legitimate by the rest of Canada and the Metis. You don’t want to come down too hard on the Metis people because the fur trade is still valuable to the new Canadian economy and you don’t want to cause upset amongst the Metis. You can’t immediately arrest Louis Riel and put him on trial and execute him either because he is still considered a leader to the Metis and that would only make him a martyr and make the Metis angry.
The Ghost of Thomas Scott
You are the ghost of Thomas Scott. Louis Riel killed you when you were 28. Riel did so after he captured you and brought you back to Fort Garry. You were given an unfair trial after being indicted on grounds of treason against the provisional government and then found guilty by Louis Riel. You were an Irish Protestant and member of the Orange Order, an anti-Catholic political party that supported the Canadian and British federal Governments. Members of the Orange Order fundamentally hated Catholics and French Canadians on account of their Catholicism and objections to the British and Canadian Governments; the Orange Order saw them as inferior. After your death, the Orange Order supported Sir John A. MacDonald’s decisions regarding the Metis and the land.