{"id":7908,"date":"2018-12-22T21:04:13","date_gmt":"2018-12-23T02:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toupin.org\/?page_id=7908"},"modified":"2019-01-13T11:37:47","modified_gmt":"2019-01-13T16:37:47","slug":"settlement-in-the-prairies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/?page_id=7908","title":{"rendered":"Settlement on the Prairies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Settlement on the Canadian Prairies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the arrival of Europeans, the First\nNations peoples lived on the Canadian prairies for some 8,000-10,000 years: the\nBlackfoot (Siksika), the Blood, the Peigan, the Gros Ventre, the Plains Cree,\nthe Assiniboine, the Sioux (Dakota), and the Sarcee, among others. Specifically,\nin the area now known as Saskatchewan, the indigenous peoples included the\nNiitsitapi, Atsina, Sarcee, Cree, Saulteaux, Assiniboine (Dakota), Lakota and\nSioux. As a result, our reference to the pioneer settlers on the prairies\nacknowledges that long before the Europeans, the indigenous peoples of the\nprairies had flourishing civilizations and cultures, that subsequently were subject\nto a cultural genocide in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The M\u00e9tis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the arrival of European explorers, trappers, traders and early settlers, a new people emerged, the M\u00e9tis, the result largely of the children of French-Canadian men and indigenous women, who had a distinct way of life incorporating both indigenous and French-Canadian cultures, including speaking their own language, Michif, in the 1700s. This occurred in both what became Quebec-Ontario, as well as the territories to the west.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our ancestor Jean-Baptiste Toupin first\nmarried and had children with an indigenous (Algonquian) woman, Elisabeth\nNitawakwa (also listed as Elisabeth Trompes or Trempe(s), or as Therese. She\nwas the daughter of the Algonquin chief, Nita8gk8a, or Nitawakwa), in 1792 in\nwhat is now Quebec, prior to marrying and having children with Marie-Louise\nPerrault (a descendant of Nicolas Perrot) following Elisabeth\u2019s death in 1796.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Western M\u00e9tis were mainly established in\nthe red River Valley of what is now Manitoba, and moved west into what is now\nSaskatchewan and Alberta. They played a vital role in the success of the fur\ntrade and were valuable employees of the fur trade companies: the North-West\nCompany, and event the Hudson Bay Company. \nThey were often skilled as buffalo hunters, traders and interpreters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1812, many Europeans, especially Scottish\nfarmers, moved into the Red River Valley, already occupied by the M\u00e9tis. In\naddition, the trading routes of the two main companies in the fur trade were in\nconflict. This led to conflict over land use and ownership, and the fur trade\nroutes. The North-West Company had to merge with the Hudson Bay Company, trade\nforts were abandoned, and jobs were lost, resulting in a major impact ion the\nfinances of the M\u00e9tis community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canadian Government<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1869 the new Canadian government bought\nRupert\u2019s Land, essentially all the land in the Hudson Bay drainage basin, from\nthe Hudson Bay Company, and appointed an English-speaking governor, William\nMcDougall, who was opposed by French-speaking mostly M\u00e9tis people. In that same\nyear, Louis Riel and his followers established a M\u00e9tis provisional government\nin the Red River Colony, in what is now Manitoba. Riel\u2019s men arrested some men\nwith the pro-Canadian resistance, and tried, convicted one Orangeman, Thomas\nScott, who had threatened Riel with death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1870, the Canadian government and the\nM\u00e9tis negotiated a settlement, and Canada passed the Manitoba Act, making the\nRed River Colony a new province, Manitoba, and incorporating some of the M\u00e9tis\ndemands such as separate French schools for their children. However Canada sent\nBritish troops and Canadian militiamen to enforce the agreement. Riel\npeacefully withdrew from Fort Garry and fled to the United States. The arrival\nof the troops ended the Red River Rebellion. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Canadian government refused to hear the\ngrievances of the M\u00e9tis and First Nation communities. A later rebellion in 1885\nwas brief and unsuccessful, and resulted in Riel\u2019s arrest, trial, conviction of\ntreason and execution. Three battles between M\u00e9tis and First Nation men against\nEnglish-speaking volunteers and North-West Mounted Police preceded these\nevents, in which the rebels had early victories but lost at the Siege of\nBatoche.  Riel\u2019s death led to his heroic\nmartyrdom among French-speakers in Canada. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R.) played\na key role in the Canadian victory over the rebels, increasing political\nsupport for the completion of the trans-continental railway. Only a few hundred\npeople were affected by the rebellion in Saskatchewan, but the end result was\nthe control of the territory by English-speakers, not French.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Large-Scale Settlement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1880, the land had been surveyed and\ndivided into meridians, ranges, townships, sections and quarters. A township\nhad 36 sections, with section one belonging to the railway, in exchange for\nlaying track to bring the new settlers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Canadian government then posted\npropaganda to encourage settlers from Eastern Canada to move to the prairies;\nthe settlers then bought land from the CPR and the Southwestern Colonization\nRailway in Saskatchewan, or from land companies which had purchased land from\nthe government. Upon arrival, a person would file on a homestead with the help\nof land agents and received a legal description of the land he was applying\nfor.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A filing fee for a homesteader was only $10\nfor 160 acres of land, but it came with the obligations to reside on the land\nfor at least six months per year and to clear 10 acres per year for planting\nfor three consecutive years. Since this was a great hardship for many, some\nwith the money preferred to buy the land as opposed to homesteading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homesteading<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A settler\u2019s first job upon arrival was to\nbuild a shelter. The first shelters built were sod houses, as wood was scarce\non the prairie. Nevertheless, the settler had to find poplars to erect poles to\nbuild a frame. Then as many as 3000 pieces of sod were cut and used as you\nwould bricks to build the walls, slanted inwards. The roof was built of closely\nfit poles, filled in with hay and sod. Also the settler would build a fireguard\naround his home to protect from prairie fires, started by electrical storms or\nchimneys and often lasting for days (the other threats to their labours were\nhailstorms, snow blizzards and an occasional cyclone).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The early settlers plowed the fields with\noxen or horses and a one-furrow plow, with the rest of growing and reaping a\ncrop done by hand. Food consisted of what could be shot or caught (ducks,\nprairie chickens, rabbits), milk and eggs from their few livestock, and their\ngrown vegetables and wheat. Harvest began in the fall; in later years grain was\ncut with a binder (a machine pulled by four horses), with a sickle on the\nbinder to cut the grain and a canvas that carried the grain to be wrapped and\ntied. Wheat was the main commercial crop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saskatchewan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 1, 1905, Saskatchewan became a\nprovince of Canada. Saskatchewan began an ambitious province-building program\nbased upon its Anglo-Canadian culture and wheat production for the export\nmarket. The provincial government set up the Saskatchewan Cooperative Elevator\nCompany in 1911. The Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association was the dominant\npolitical force until the 1920s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 1912, 450 members of the\nFrancophone community of Saskatchewan met at Duck Lake to form a provincial\norganization called La Soci\u00e9te du Parler Fran\u00e7ais de la Saskatchewan<\/em>, to\nwork to ensure the protection of the French culture and their religion in the\nprovince. The following year it became the Association Catholique\nFranco-Canadienne.<\/em> As Wikipedia notes in its \u201cFransaskois\u201d article:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 1916 several provincial organizations like the Saskatchewan Grain Growers, the Saskatchewan School Trustees\u2019 Association, the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities resolved to forbid the use of foreign languages in Saskatchewan’s schools.[15] Premier William Martin drafted an amendment to Section 177 of the School Act which limited French instruction to one hour a day.[11] In response to the loss of the right to teach French in a public school in 1918 Franco-Catholic school trustees formed the Association des commissaries d\u2019\u00e9coles franco-canadiens<\/em> (ACEFC).[16] In Gravelbourg, Monsignor Mathieu O.M.I Regina opened the College Mathieu, a private institution offering a classical education opened its doors   in 1918. [17] For over 75 years the College Mathieu was the only option for a French education in Saskatchewan. The school was renowned for their competitive sports teams and their dynamic arts programs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 1982, Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights guaranteed minority education rights. [20] A Supreme Court decision (Mahe decision) in 1990 recognized the Fransaskois\u2019 right to control their children\u2019s education.[20] The province of Saskatchewan adopted bill 39 (Multicultural Act) in 1993, and the following year in the town of Gravelbourg, the first French council gained control of their school for the first time in nearly eighty years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Village of Storthoaks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The land companies brought in tradespeople\nto service the settlers. Some settlers abandoned land for various reasons (lack\nof water, soil that was too sandy or rocky, or tragedy from firestorms or\ndeath; or they were the child of a farmer and chose a different field of work),\nand went into business locally or moved away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small chapels and schools were built.\nFarmers served as trustees of the school. An early school would not have\nelectricity or internal lighting, and only a small stove for heat. The settlers\npaid tithes for their church and a tax for their school. An epidemic (such as smallpox)\nor blizzard would cause the school to close. Felix Toupin was President of the\nSt. Thomas School Board from 1920 to 1923, his daughter-in-law Gabrielle was\nSecretary from 1922-1926, and his son Theodore was a teacher at the St. Edmond\nschool in 1924. Later Felix\u2019s son Alphonse was a school board trustee in 1932\nand 1936.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to the creation of formal local\ngovernment, local settlers got together to build needed public works, such as a\nstone crossing over a creek, or grades for roads. The first local municipal\ngovernment in the Storthoaks area was called a Local Improvement District, and\nformed around 1904. French-Canadians from Quebec had settled in the area, and\nwere some of the new teachers, municipal councillors and school trustees. Felix\nToupin served as a Councillor in 1913 and from 1917 to 1920 (later his son\nErnest Toupin served from 1932-1934). Taxes then were only five or six dollars\nper quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rural Municipality of Storthoaks #31 was\norganized in 1911, and the next year the village of Storthoaks came into being\nas a hamlet. The word apparently comes from a Scottish version of \u201cStrong\nOaks.\u201d Among the first buildings were the International Machinery shed\nconstructed in 1913 by Willie Toupin, son of Felix Toupin and Josephine Bissonnette.\nWillie held the business for 50 years. A grain elevator had been built the\nprevious year, when a C.P.R. line was built from Lauder, Manitoba to Alida\n(nearby and directly west of Storthoaks). A second elevator was built in 1915.\nA Wheat Pool grain elevator was built in 1927. The Storthoaks Rural Telephone\nCompany was formed in 1915 to bring the first telephone service to the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social life consisted of gatherings of\nneighbours in a family\u2019s small home. A square dance might take place in the\nmiddle of the crowded floor. Mr. Paradis writes (in Dusty Trails, Abandoned\nRails<\/em>) that baseball was played outdoors even before 1905, and later hockey\nwas introduced, all without the protective equipment seen in later times. The\nlocal expended ice skating surface was known as the \u201cToupin\u201d slough. (Later, in\n1937 a committee formed to build an enclosed, indoor rink, including Felix and\nJosephine\u2019s sons Abel and Willie). Felix Toupin was active as an office in the\nlocal chapter of the Association Culturelle Franco Canadienne<\/em>, as were\nhis son Theodore, daughter-in-law Gabrielle and grandson D\u00e9sir\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1915 a hotel was built for Arthur\nChicoine; and in 1926 the Catholic Church moved into the village. The Village\nof Storhoaks was incorporated in 1940.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Great Depression<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Great Depression began in 1929 and was a\ndeep, world-wide slump in business activity that led to business failures, loss\nof jobs, and the scarcity of money on the prairies, as elsewhere. It was\nfollowed by heat waves, droughts and grasshopper infestations (the Dirty\nThirties) and eight years of crop failure on the prairies at a time when prices\nform grain were already low. Tons of feed, fruits, vegetables, fish, cheese and\nclothing were supplied by provinces to the east. Farmers in the prairies joined\ntogether in these hard times, such as forming a \u201cBeef Ring\u201d to ensure there was\nfresh meat during hot summers and frozen, canned or salted meat in winter.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of the European settlers of the prairies is one of both hardship and reward. The hard work and suffering paid off in the fruits of their labours and the families which flourished despite the often difficult environmental, cultural and economic conditions.  The French culture continues, with French-speakers in the plurality or majority in small towns like Gravelbourg, Albertville, Duck Lake, Ponteix, Zenon Park and Bellegarde, as well as living in as Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Moose Jaw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researched & Written by David Toupin, great-grandson of Felix Toupin.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The First Peoples of Canada, https:\/\/firstpeoplesofcanada.com\/fp_metis\/fp_metis1.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

500 Nations, https:\/\/www.500nations.com\/Canada_Tribes.asp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wikipedia, Red River Rebellion, https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Red_River_Rebellion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wikipedia, Saskatchewan, https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Saskatchewan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wikipedia, Fransaskois, https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fransaskois<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wikipedia, Truth and Reconciliation\nCommission (Canada), https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(Canada<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Georgette Blerot, \u201cEarly History,\u201d in Dusty\nTrails, Abandoned Rails<\/em>, 1988, Storthoaks\/Fertile Historical Society, pp\n2-9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J. B. Paradis, \u201cEarly Beginnings,\u201d in Dusty\nTrails, Abandoned Rails<\/em>, 1988, Storthoaks\/Fertile Historical Society, pp\n11-12<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dusty Trails, Abandoned Rails<\/em>, 1988, Storthoaks\/Fertile Historical Society, \u201crecreation\u201d, pp\n87-98<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Settlement on the Canadian Prairies Before the arrival of Europeans, the First Nations peoples lived on the Canadian prairies for some 8,000-10,000 years: the Blackfoot (Siksika), the Blood, the Peigan, the Gros Ventre, the Plains Cree, the Assiniboine, the Sioux (Dakota), and the Sarcee, among others. Specifically, in the area …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7908","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","column","twocol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7908"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7908"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8857,"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7908\/revisions\/8857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}