Loyal Till Death: Indians and the North-West Rebellion

Michael Payne is head of the research and publications program, Historic
Sites and Archives Service, Alberta Community Development, and the
co-author of A Narrative History of Fort Dunvegan.

Most general histories of the Canadian West still suggest that many
Plains Cree and other Indian bands supported Louis Riel and the Métis
in the 1885 Rebellion. Few still believe, as George Stanley did 60 years
ago, that this was a battle between civilized and primitive cultures,
but the idea that Indians—driven by broken treaty promises and
incredible hardship—were allies of the Métis remains strong. The
authors show that the broken promises and starvation were real enough,
but that, with few exceptions, Plains Indians still sought redress of
their grievances in 1885 through legal and diplomatic means, not
warfare.

This book is not reassuring reading for anyone who believes that
Canada’s treatment of First Nations was benign or compassionate or
that any problems reflect misunderstandings or policy misjudgments. The
authors argue that the Macdonald government and Indian Affairs
Department officials knew there was no widespread Indian rebellion in
1885, but made a cynical and calculated choice to use the events to
bring treaty Indians to heel. There is a polemic edge to this study, and
some readers may find that the constant emphasis on the loyalty and
restraint of Indians and their leaders reflects negatively on the Métis
and those Indians who did side with Riel. The sharp distinctions drawn
throughout between Métis and Indian may have been more apparent than
real at a time when identities were quite fluid. Arguably many
“Métis,” as now defined, were reluctant participants or did not
side with Riel in 1885 either.

That said, this is a significant book that will spark ongoing debate
for both its revisionist content and its methodology. The authors have
based their argument on conventional written documentary sources, but
they have also made a concerted effort to collect oral documentation
from Elders within First Nations communities. Historians have been
discussing integrating aboriginal accounts of events like those of 1885
with the formal archival record for decades, but this has been more
often recommended than actually tried. The authors are not unique in
consulting Elders, but their book is unusual, and therefore
thought-provoking, as much for what it says as for how it is said.