University of SaskatchewanHARVEST
  • Login
  • Submit Your Work
  • About
    • About HARVEST
    • Guidelines
    • Browse
      • All of HARVEST
      • Communities & Collections
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
      • This Collection
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
    • My Account
      • Login
      JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
      View Item 
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item

      The Metis cultural brokers and the western numbered treaties, 1869-1877

      Thumbnail
      View/Open
      Stevenson_allyson_2004.pdf (9.653Mb)
      Date
      2004-08
      Author
      Stevenson, Allyson Donna
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Masters
      Metadata
      Show full item record
      Abstract
      Throughout the history of the North West, Metis people frequently used their knowledge of European, Indian, and Metis culture to mediate Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal social, diplomatic, and economic encounters. Though acknowledged in Metis historiography, this aspect of Metis identity has not been the focus of scholarly analysis, which has primarily centred on Louis Riel, Metis resistance, and ethnogenesis. By closely examining the primary documents, it is evident that the Metis interpreters present at Treaties 1 through 7 were more than merely translators. Prior to negotiations these Metis had interacted with First Nations in a variety of ways, whether in the fur trade or in missionary endeavours. Metis people were well versed in Aboriginal language and cultural traditions, skills they had employed successfully in Rupert's Land prior to 1870. In drawing upon this amicable relationship between Metis and First Nations, Canadian officials in the North West recognized the positive effect of personal diplomacy on securing First Nations signatures to the treaty documents. In this thesis many examples will demonstrate that the actions of Metis people were critical in preventing violence between groups, thereby enabling the treaty process to begin. These Metis individuals moved within a middle ground of context that developed in the era prior to the 1870's, thus indicating a measure of continuity between the pre- and post transition period in the Canadian West.
      Degree
      Master of Arts (M.A.)
      Department
      History
      Program
      History
      Supervisor
      Miller, James R.
      Copyright Date
      August 2004
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-07102007-132751
      Subject
      Metis interpreters
      Canada - North West - Treaty negotiations
      Canada - First Nations - Numbered treaties
      Collections
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      University of Saskatchewan

      University Library

      © University of Saskatchewan
      Contact Us | Disclaimer | Privacy