Ragout de Boulettes - As long as I can remember these "Boulettes" were a tradition reserved for our extended family gatherings on New Year's Day. The recipe (courtesy of Mrs. Claire Lumena Rock--nee Bremner) is as follows:

Ragout de Boulettes
3/4 cup finely chopped onions
1 tbsp. fat (frying fat or oil)
1 pound minced Pork
1 pound minced Beef
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Pinch of Cinnamon
Pinch of Nutmeg
Small Pinch of ground Cloves
6 cups of stock (pork bones stock)
3/4 cup browned flour

Saute onion in fat for five minutes. Mix with pork, beef and all of the other ingredients. Shape into balls about 1/2 inch in diameter. Drop into boiling stock and simmer for 1-1/2 hours. Gradually add the browned flour, stirring until the mixture is smooth and thickened. Serves 6 to 8 people.

To make the browned flour, spread a thin layer of flour in a heavy pan and place over heat or in a oven (heated to 350 -400 F.). Stir occasionally until the flour takes on an even tanned colour.

Red River Coat - According to The Metis: Two Worlds Meet (36 excellent and informative Study Prints and Teachers' Guide, Developed by Sherry Farrell-Racette, Calvin Racette and Joanne Pelletier, Regina: The Curriculum Unit, Gabriel Dumont Institute, n.d., Clothing: 2.3: Red River Coat), "The Indian and Metis women of the Red River Settlement were inspired by the floral silk embroidery of the Grey nuns. They soon incorporated these floral designs into the traditional porcupine quillwork. In this artform, fine quills were dyed with natural and later commercial pigments, folded in a flat 'braid' and stitched with sinew. The elegant, stylized quillwork predated floral beadwork by some twenty years and has survived into the 20th century.... By 1800, the long, painted hide coats of the Northern Ojibwe aand Cree had re-emerged in Red River with a distinctive new flavour. The new Red River style of hide coat worn by the Metis of the area featured a European cut, epaulets and lavish decoration. The traditional Cree and Ojibwe geometric designs were gradually replaced by highly stylized floral patterns. Frequently, geometric and floral designs were used on the same coat. Three techniques were used in decorating Red River coats: quillwork, natural paints and beadwork. Red River coats were very striking and the Metis men who wore them made a favourable impression, as recorded in numerous journals kept by explorers and travellers of the day."

Red River Carts - Red River Carts were built entirely of wood and were, for the Metis people, the nineteenth century equivalent of today's family car. In fact, the Red River Cart is the mode of transportation most frequently associated with the Metis people. So much so, that the Cree name for the Metis was wagon-men or half-wagon, half-man. The ear-drum-splitting squeals of their ungreased wheels resounded across the northwestern plains for decades as Metis hunters, Indians, freighters and early settlers traversed the Saskatchewan and Alberta districts along deeply rutted trails. Pulled by oxen or Indian ponies, Red River Carts were never speed-merchants but they were dependable and easily maintained. It was never necessary to stockpile spare parts as any breakdown could be effected with materials at hand, shaganappi, wood, sinew, even bone. The Red River Cart remains as an outstanding symbol of the self-reliance, ingenuity and skill of the Metis people of the northwestern plains. The first accounted sighting of a Bois Brule Red River Cart was in 1704. In 1830, Red River Cart Brigades were established as a commercial means of transporting freight.

According to Constance Sissons Kerr (John Kerr. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1946, Chapter X), "Oh, those carts! Rough, hand-fashioned from racks to shafts, not a nail used their construction! They weren't things of beauty, but they did the business for which they were intended. If a felloe cracked, a piece of green or well soaked buffalo-hide was bound around it, and held fast with shaganappi. When allowed to dry, this was as good as an iron rim until it wore out with long use. The upper part of the cart was not boxed in, but was made of spars with rounded ends, over which buffalo-hides were stretched to keep off the rain. Some of the carts had strong grey cotton covers, laid upon hoops, fastened to this rack; and these vehicles were used chiefly by women and children. About eight hundred pounds constituted a load. Our journey from Winnipeg as far as the South Saskatchewan took approximately a month. Counting Sundays, when we didn't travel, and delays of one kind or another, we averaged about eighteen miles a day from the Red to the Saskatchewan.... As the wheels' hubs had no bushing, and the axles were seldom greased, the screeching of a long train of carts can be better imagined than described. The chorus performed by several ox-carts creeping into camp after nightfall was certainly not 'music in the sinner's ear,' especially if you happened to be one of those sinners who appreciated melody! On a still night, the discord, like no other sound on earth, carried easily for a mile or more according to the size of the train."

John Maclean ("A Tribute To The Red River Cart." Alberta History, Volume 31, Number 1, 1983, pp. 33-37) described the Red River Cart as follows, "The Red River cart! Mention its name and you are transported to a period in the history of the world as important as any other age. The particular locality may not have as many heroes and stirring events recorded on the printed page, yet it has its own heroic age, its tragedies and comedies which were of greater consequences to some persons than the wars of the Roses, and the great deeds of the heroes of Greece and Rome. The old cart is a denizen of the prairie; other countries may claim the like but it is alone in construction and historical associations. The Red River cart is unique in name and influence.... It was a simple cart of wood, its shafts and wheels hewn with the axe... from the timber in the forest, and the inelegant box fashioned into shape with saw and draw-knife; a primitive wagon, made to endure without any pretensions of beauty. No tough sinews of iron fresh from the shrill anvil and glowing forge fretted the frame as nerves and muscles, and no painful smith bound with hoops of iron the hesitating wheel. The bolts and nails were of nature's growth, fashioned by the amateur wheelwright from the hardest wood, the green hide of the buffalo bound the wheels, invincible tires of shaganappi."

Red River Jig Music - The Metis' most famous dance music is called the "Red River jig." This energetic, lively music includes elements of Native dancing as well as the jigs and reels of the French and the Scottish. In days of yore, this music was generally provided by a fiddle (an instrument inherited from both their Scottish and French ancestors), a large tin pan and a collection of spoons. In the St. Louis-Batoche area, social evenings would reverberate with the sounds of violins, accordions, mouth organs or harmonicas, drums, guitars, Jew's Harps or bombardons in addition to the spoons, plates, bowls, and--during the days of the buffalo hunt--even the spinal bones of the buffalo as accompaniment.

According to Diane Payment, who herself is quoting from conversations with Mrs. Justine (Caron) St. Germaine, Batoche, 1981 and with Mrs. Alexandrine (Fleury) Nicolas, Duck Lake, 1981 and 1982 (The Free People--Otipemisiwak: Batoche, Saskatchewan 1870-1930. Ottawa: Environment Canada Parks, Studies in Archaeology, Architecture and History, 1990, pg. 54), "They danced reels, jigs, step dances, cotillons, quadrilles (square dances), chatises and even minuets, especially the older people. These dances were called 'two-step,' 'seven-step,' chatise, 'drops of brandy' (danse du crochet), 'reel o'cats,' 'eight-hand reel' (reel a huit), 'handkerchief dance' (danse aux mouchoirs), 'pair of fours' and 'rabbit dance' (danse du lievre), the last one accompanied by little cries. There was almost always a 'caller' [my grandfather, Jean Bremner of Domremy, was once a fine, much-sought-after, local caller] who indicated the figures the dancers were to execute."

Today, this lively, entertaining music lives on through the capable fiddle-playing of Metis musicians such as Hap Boyer (Rabbit Stew Jig. Cana Song Records, Recorded at Centennial Recording (10033 Thatcher Ave., North Battleford, Sask., Audio Cassette/14 songs, 1983.). For tapes or more information on Hap Boyer and his band, write to Hap Boyer, Box 1534, Battleford, Sask., S0M 0E0. Moreover, on the dance-side of the Metis music, dance troupes such as the Creeland Dancers, from Duck Lake, Saskatchewan, keep the jigs, reels, step-dances and quadrilles alive and vibrant. For further information on the Creeland Dancers, contact Ken Seesequasis at 467-4417 or write Creeland Dancers, Box 214, Duck Lake, Sask. S0K 1J0.

Red River Metis - The "classic" Metis culture emerged early in the nineteenth century on the plains of the North-West with its nucleus being the Red River Settlement, particularly near the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. There they established themselves as buffalo hunters and provisioners for the North West Company, serving as an essential link in the long trade chain from Montreal to the remote fur-trade posts of the North-West Territories. The four decades from 1820 to 1860 are perhaps the most critical to full flowering of Metis consciousness and ethnicity. Geographic and social isolation, together with a common lifestyle and cultural accoutrements, promoted a collective consciousness and group identity, but it was the years of bitter confrontation between the two big fur trade companies that forged the concept of a "Nation Metisse" in the North-West. The Red River Resistance of 1869-70 and the North-West Resistance of 1885 also embodied actions that have become powerful symbols of continued ethnic consciousness. Even today, continued confrontations with and distrust of provincial and federal governments cause the disparate Metis Nation to coalesce and close-ranks against and be ever-suspicious of the overarching powers-that-be. For more information see D.N. Sprague and R.P. Frye, The Genealogy of the First Metis Nation: The Development and Dispersal of the Red River Settlement 1820-1900. Winnipeg: Pemmican Publications, 1983.

Red River Resistance (or Rebellion) - The Red River Resistance (or Rebellion) of 1869-70 was an uprising of the Metis led by Louis Riel. The Red River Resistance (or Rebellion) was precipitated by Canada's annexation of Rupert's Land following its purchase from the Hudson' Bay Company in 1868. The Rupert's Land Act stipulated that Canada was to take possession of all lands and territories within Rupert's Land on December 1, 1869. The Metis objected to being transferred to Canadian jurisdiction without so much as a cursory or a courteous consultation from the overarching powers--the Canadian Government, the Hudson's Bay Company, and the British Government. The Metis feared, and rightly so, that annexation to Canada would hasten an onslaught of waves of white settlers who would destroy the Metis way of life. Led by Louis Riel, the Metis people (who comprised 80% of the Red River Settlement population) formed the National Committee of the Metis, obstructed the Canadian Governor-designate's (William McDougall) entry into the territory in question, seized the Hudson's Bay Company post at Lower Fort Garry, jailed a number of Canadian rabble-rousers who had been railing for annexation by Canada, established a Provisional Government of the North-West Territories and, began negotiating provincial status for Manitoba. In an unfortunate show of force, Riel ordered the execution of one of the Canadian agitators/prisoners, a Mr. Thomas Scott. Prime Minister John A. Macdonald suspended the transfer of Rupert's Land--from the Hudson's Bay Company to Canada--upon hearing of the unrest. Macdonald then asked Britain to intervene and send a military expedition to the Red River. The British Government assented to Macdonald's request providing that he open negotiations with the Metis population of the Red River Settlement. Discussions--really nothing more than stalling tactics--proceeded while the military expedition was being readied and launched. These discussions, however, formed the basis of the Manitoba Act.

According to William Francis Butler, an English soldier and traveller who met Louis Riel and who visited the Red River Settlement at the time of the uprising (The Great Lone Land: A Tale of Travel and Adventure in the North-West of America. Toronto: The Musson Book Company Limited, 1924, pg. 37-40), "It has doubtless occurred to any body who had followed me through this brief sketch of the causes which led to the assumption of this attitude on the part of the French half-breeds--it has occurred to them, I say, to ask who then was to blame for the mismanagement of the transfer: was it the Hudson's Bay Company who surrendered for 3,000,000 pounds their territorial rights? Was it the Imperial Government who accepted that surrender? Or was it the Dominion Government to whom the country was in turn transferred by the Imperial authorities? I answer that the blame of having bungled the whole business belongs collectively to all the great and puissant bodies. Any ordinary, matter-of-fact, sensible man would have managed the whole affair in a few hours; but so many high and potent powers had to consult together, to pen despatches, to speechify, and to lay down the law about it, that the whole affair became hopelessly muddled. Of course, ignorance and carelessness were, as they always are, at the bottom of it all. Nothing would have been easier than to have sent a commissioner from England to Red River, while the negotiations for a transfer were pending, who would have ascertained the feelings and wishes of the people of the country relative to the transfer, and would have guaranteed them the exercise of their rights and liberties under any and every new arrangement that might be entered into. Now, it is no excuse for any Government to plead ignorance upon any matter pertaining to the people it governs, or expects to govern, for a Government has no right to be ignorant on any such matter, and its ignorance must be its condemnation; yet this is the plea put forward by the Dominion Government of Canada, and yet the Dominion Government and the Imperial Government had ample opportunity of arriving at a correct knowledge of the state of affairs in Red River, if they had only taken the trouble to do so. Nay, more, it is an undoubted fact that warning had been given to the Dominion Government of the state of feeling amongst the half-breeds, and the phrase, 'they are only eaters of pemmican,' so cutting to the Metis, was then first originated by a distinguished Canadian politician."

Red River Settlement (also known as the Selkirk Settlement) - (Show Red River Settlement 1870 Map) The Red River Settlement in Manitoba is located at the junction of the Red River and the Assiniboine Rivers, on the site of present-day Winnipeg. It was on a large tract of land granted to Lord Selkirk--by the Hudson's Bay Company--in 1812 which was known alternately as the Selkirk Settlement and the Red River Settlement or Colony. Although the original Selkirk settlers were Scottish, by the time the province of Manitoba had been created in 1870, the Metis accounted for 80% of the 10,000 people living at the Red River Settlement.

According to H.M. Robinson (The Great Fur Land: Or Sketches of Life in the Hudson's Bay Territory. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, Ltd., 1879, pg. 135), "In the year 1811 the Earl of Selkirk purchased of the Hudsons' Bay Company the ownership of a vast tract of land, including, as a small part of the whole, the ground occupied by a colony known, until its recent purchase by the Dominion Government, as Red River Settlement, near the foot of Lake Winnipeg, in British North America. On this territory Earl Selkirk had formed the utopian idea of settling a populous colony, of which he should be feudal lord. A compulsory exodus of the inhabitants of the mountainous regions of the county of Sutherland, Scotland, taking place about that time, to make way for the sterner realities of the system of land management which prevails on great estates in this prosaic nineteenth century, an opportunity of easily obtaining the desired colonists for the occupation of his new purchase was thus presented. The first installment of colonists reached the bay coast in the autumn of 1811, advanced inland in the following spring, and, at the confluence of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, about forty miles from the foot of Lake Winnipeg, found themselves--metaphorically speaking--at home. They were in the centre of the American Continent, fifteen or sixteen hundred miles in direct distance from the nearest city of residence of civilized man in America, and separated from the country whence they came by an impassable barrier. Unfortunately, for the successful founding of an agricultural colony, such as Lord Selkirk had planned, the rival French Canadian fur-companies, contending for the possession of the territory with the Hudson's Bay Company, chose to regard the new-comers as invaders, whose presence was detrimental to their interests; and the Indians also objected to the cultivation of their hunting-grounds." See the Selkirk Settlement entry.

Red River Style of Log Construction - According to The Metis: Two Worlds Meet (36 excellent and informative Study Prints and Teachers' Guide, Developed by Sherry Farrell-Racette, Calvin Racette, and Joanne Pelletier, Regina: Gabriel Dumont Institute, n.d., Homes and Lifestyles: 1.1: Log Dwelling, Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan), "The Red River style of log construction was one of the original methods used in Canada. The logs were left rounded, with nothced ends. This differed from other styles in which the logs were squared, with the corners dove-tailed. The Red River style of log construction has spread across North America and is currently enjoying new popularity. Log dwellings varied greatly in both size and finish. Those used in camps [see the Petite Ville, Four Mile Coulee and Chimney Coulee entries] tended to be less carefully finished than those of the permanent settlements. Log homes were frequently built in a circle, with a large building in the centre for meetings and dances. Red River log construction is yet another Metis contribution to the development of Canada."

Riel, Louis (The Elder--1817-1864) - The father of the famous Metis patriot, Louis Riel Sr. was born in 1817 at Ille-a-la-Crosse, a fur trade post in present-day northwestern Saskatchewan. His father was a white, French Canadian employed by the Hudson's Bay Company as a trapper-trader. Riel Sr.'s mother was Metis; half-French and half-Montagnais. Louis Riel Sr., for a short time, studied for the priesthood in Berthier, Quebec, but the call of the Northwest was too strong and he made his way back to the country of his birth in 1843. Riel Sr. displayed fine leadership skills, and along with his education and intelligence he flourished as an entrepreneur. He built a flour mill on a tributary of the Red River near St. Boniface and was known as "the miller of the Seine." He married a woman named Julie Lajimodiere and eventually became the spokesman and chief of the Red River Metis. Louis Riel Sr. and Julie Lajimodiere had eleven children, of which nine survived. Louis Riel Jr. was the oldest of the nine surviving children.

Riel, Louis David (1844-1885) - Was perhaps the greatest Metis Nation patriot. According to William Kilbourn (The Making of the Nation: A Century of Challenge Toronto: The Canadian Centennial Publishing Co., Ltd., 1965, pg. 27), "The 'prophet on horseback,' as his American biographer calls him, remains to most of his countrymen an uncomfortable conundrum. He is hero, statesman, martyr, madman, rebel, traitor, visionary and genius rolled into one. A Catholic mystic, he defied his church. A revolutionary, he eschewed battle. A member of parliament, he could not take his seat. Had he been as militant as his great general, Gabriel Dumont, he might have carved a unique semi-private nation out of the heart of North America. For, though he was only one-eighth Montagnais, Louis "David" Riel made himself spiritual and political leader of the great buffalo-hunting nation of mixed bloods, or Metis. At the very least he deserved to be remembered as the Father of Manitoba; at the most as the Saviour of the West (from U.S. occupation). Ironically, his main legacy has been to the continuing and unresolved agony of the dual nation which, in his own agonized yet oddly courageous way, he helped to construct."

THE LIFELINE OF LOUIS RIEL

22 October 1844: Born at the Red River Settlement near St. Boniface.
1851: Attended the Grey Sisters School.
1854: Transferred to the Christian Brothers School.
1858: Sent by Bishop Tache to the College de Montreal, receives his baccalaureate degree and is admitted to the Saint Sulpice Seminary in Montreal.
February, 1864: Louis Riel Sr. dies. Louis Riel Jr., now head of his family is troubled about his vocation for the priesthood. Three years short of ordination, he withdraws from the Seminary, in March 1865, and is articled as a law student.
July, 1868: Returned home to the Red River Settlement.
October, 1869: Elected Secretary of the National Committee of the Metis of Red River.
November, 1869: Fort Garry seized by Riel and his followers.
10 December 1869: Elected President of the Provisional Government of the Red River Settlement. Riel is instrumental in negotiating Manitoba's entry into Confederation.
4 March 1870: Riel approved court martial sentence leading up to the execution of Thomas Scott.
24 August 1870: Fort Garry captured by Colonel Wolseley.
1871: Reward of $5000, for the capture of Riel, is offered by the Orange Lodges of Ontario.
24 February 1872: Voluntary exile in St. Paul, Minnesota.
February, 1874: Elected M.P. for Provencher, Manitoba.
April, 1874: Expelled from membership of the House of Commons.
September, 1874: Re-elected M.P. for Provencher. Signed members' register in Ottawa. Expelled from the House of Commons by a voice vote.
February, 1875: Banished for five years from her Majesty's Dominions.
6 March 1876: Admitted to the Hospital of St. Jean de Dieu at Longue Pointe, P.Q., under the name of Louis R. David.
19 May 1877: Transferred to Beauport Asylum and discharged as cured on January 23, 1878. Returned to the West and settled in Montana Territory, where he taught school in Sun River.
1881: Contracted common law marriage with Marguerite Monet dit Bellehumeur. Religious ceremony took place on March 6, 1882.
16 March 1883: Granted U.S. Citizenship in Montana, where he had been serving as a Deputy Marshal.
May 1883: Employed as a school teacher at St. Peter's Mission.
June 1884: Following a visit by an official Metis delegation, Riel returned to lead the Metis in the Saskatchewan Valley.
19 March 1885: New Provisional Government formed by Riel at Batoche.
26 March 1885: The North West Rebellion begins with the battle at Duck Lake.
9-12 May 1885: Battle of Batoche. Metis routed by Canadian army.
15 May 1885: Riel surrendered, as agreed, to General Middleton.
29 July-1 August 1885: Riel tried for High Treason, in Regina, found guilty and sentenced to death.
9 September 1885: Appeal to Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench failed.
24 October 1885: Appeal to Privy Council in London failed.
16 November 1885: Executed in Regina. After considerable delay, Riel's body was sent back to the Red River by train, where it lay in state for three days at the Riel family home in St. Vital. Then followed a four-mile procession, during which the body was borne to the St. Boniface Cathedral, where a Requiem High Mass was celebrated by Bishop Tache. Riel was buried just outside the front door of the cathedral. His grave was marked by a simple stone column bearing one word: RIEL. Further tragedy was heaped upon Louis Riel's family. Their third child, born prematurely while Riel was in prison, died. Marguerite, was deeply affected by the loss of her husband and child. In fact, she never really recovered her physical health after the resistance at Batoche. She died at the age of twenty-five, six months after Louis Riel was hanged. Many years later, Edwin Brooks, one of the jurors at Louis Riel's trial, said in an interview: "We [the jury] tried Louis Riel for treason but he was hanged for the murder of Thomas Scott." (Peter Charlebois, The Life of Louis Riel, Toronto: New Canada Publications, 1978, pg. 227.)
10 March 1992: The ultimate irony occurs; more than a century after the federal cabinet had ordered Louis Riel's execution for the crime of treason, Constitutional Affairs Minister Joe Clark and the Government of Canada proclaimed Louis Riel a founder of the Province of Manitoba and, in essence, a Father of Confederation. For more information, see S-P Services, "Ottawa Now Prepared To Honour Louis Riel," Saskatoon StarPhoenix, March 10, 1992).

Riel, Marguerite - See the Women of 1885 entry.

Road Allowance People - A derogatory term applied to the drifting, homeless, disenfranchised Metis who were forced to squat on "road allowances" or Crown land on either side of road lines and roads. As recently as the 1950s Metis people were forced to live in makeshift encampments around urban centres in western Canada. The Metis are Canada's Palestinians, without so much as a Gaza Strip to call their own.

Ross, Alexander - According to Dr. George Bryce ("Alexander Ross: Sketch of an Old-Time Westerner." The Canadian Magazine, June, 1917, pp. 163-169), "As Canadians speak of Joseph Howe, William Lyon Mackenzie, John Beverley Robinson, or Sir Henry Joly, old-timers of Red River Settlement refer to Alexander Ross. His house, known as 'Colony Gardens,' dates back to 1825. It was situated where what to-day is a miniature breathing spot, named Victoria Park, in the heart of Winnipeg, overlooking Red River. Ross was a stalwart Highlander who came from his native country to Lower Canada in 1804 at the age of twenty-two. First, he became a village dominie, and then went by the time of the war of 1812 to Upper Canada. He accumulated 'one hundred dollars in cash and a bush farm of 300 acres'.... But Ross found difficulties of a greater kind. He was worried after the Union in 1821 of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Nor'West Company by the thought that as Governor Simpson has belonged to the H.B.C. a Nor'Wester [such as Ross had been since 1814] would not be persona grata to the new Governor.... It was thus quite natural that, with the permission of the Governor, Ross, leaving his wife and children in Okanagan made his journey of some two thousand miles to meet the Great Mogul of the Fur Trade, Governor Simpson, on his annual visit of those days, coming all the way from Montreal to either Fort Garry or Norway House. Ross has left an account of his interview with the Governor, whom he found very polite. Ross made the request that 'he might be allowed to come to Red River, where he could have the means of giving his children a Christian education, the best portion,' he said, 'that I could give them. Grant me a spot of land on the Red River that I can call my own and I shall be thankful.' The Governor, we are told consented and ordered the chief accountant of the Company to draw a deed for 100 acres free of all expense.... Perhaps his most useful and important work is 'The Red River Settlement.' The preface is dated 1852, in 1856. This book has been of much service to the historian. It, no doubt, has some defects, for Ross could say, referring to the record of proceedings, as Virgil makes his hero state, 'Of which things I have been a great part.' A prominent resident in Winnipeg, and one who occupied a high place in Red River and Manitoba history afterwards, always maintained that in many respects Ross was prejudiced. An upright, religious and adaptable Highlander, with shrewd, rather persistent temper, with keen eye to personal advantage, there was no one who influenced the better life of Red River Settlement from 1825 to 1852 than did Alexander Ross of 'Colony Gardens' in the Selkirk colony. To-day there are some nineteen descendants of Sheriff Alexander Ross who are fighting the battles of the Empire."

Rugaroo - The Rugaroo surfaces in Metis legends as a cross between the shape-shifter of the Indian cultures and the loup-garou of the French Canadian tradition. Spooky tales of the Rugaroo have long terrified (but delightfully so) Metis children and kept them close to home-base after dark, particularly in unfriendly environs.

Rupert's Land - On May 2, 1670, King Charles II of England granted a charter giving all lands--as a token of affection for a cousin and a member of the HBC, Prince Rupert--drained by rivers flowing into Hudson Bay to "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson's Bay," commonly known as the Hudson's Bay Company. In other words, Rupert's Land was the drainage basin of Hudson Bay and Hudson Straits. It extended from Labrador to the Rocky Mountains and from the northern watershed of the St. Lawrence River to the southern watershed of the Arctic Ocean. With Rupert's Land, the English now had a direct water route to the rich fur regions of the Canadian Shield. This gave them a decided geographic advantage in the fur trade. With one stroke of the quill, the King granted over one million square miles of territory, the rights of sole trade and commerce, the mineral resources of this territory and the control of law and order, peace and war, over all existing and future inhabitants to "The Governor and Company Adventurers Trading into Hudson's Bay." Shortly thereafter, fur-trading posts were established at the mouths of the Hayes, Albany, Moose, Nelson and Severn Rivers.