Sale of Ruperts Land
| Belongs to the Metis | Belongs to the HBC/Britain/Canada |
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– they believed that if they cleared and farmed the land, they owned it – the Metis settled there first – they took time to attend their land – 80% of the population is Metis – The HBC relied on the locals and Metis for employment – The Metis Collected the furs And made the pemmican for trade – The HBC didn’t talk to the Metis before making deals to sell it.
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-The King of England gave them a charter, which meant they got trading monopoly over ruperts land. – HBC ruled the trade in Ruperts land because of the charter that was placed. – Employers of the HBC were considered owners of the land, after they had farmed or lived on it for three or more years. – Canada purchesed the land from the HBC – They had a good system That increased the amount of money coming in and the items that they are trading. |
1) The Metis did have the right to complain about the sail of Ruperts land. It was the Metis land to start with. They collected all the fur and made the pemmican for the HBC, meaning that they did most of the work. They also lived on this land so it was very unfair that the Europeans were able to take it without the consent of the Metis. 80% of the population were Metis which mean the other 20% had control over selling Ruperts land when the majority didn’t want to sell it. The HBC relied of the local Metis for employment, which the Metis were happy to help out with but when it was there turn to do something for the Metis they failed to even consider the opinions of the Metis. I think it was unfair for the Metis not to have control over the land just because of some charter that the King of England gave to the HBC. Overall the Metis were left out of a very important decision that they should have had a word in so I think they have the right to complain.
If I was in the Metis position I would feel very used. The Metis put a lot of work in to make the HBC happy and for the HBC to go behind the backs of the Metis I would feel very betrayed. I would do similar to what the Metis did and complain a lot about what had happened.
A modern day analogy to this would be = I bought a new shirt that was nice, I would only wear it on special occasions, but my friend loved it so she would borrow it every once and a while, as time went on she started wearing it more and more until one day it wasn’t to small for her so she decided to sell it to her neighbor without telling me. The next day I see her neighbour and find out what she has done and now I am very angry at her.
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