at Duck Lake and rode against the Métis at Fish Creek. It’s not too late to find peace and to find fairness in that peace. Louis writes in his diary on April 29, just five days after Middleton’s routing at Fish Creek:
O my God, for the love of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and Saint John the Baptist, grant me the favour of speedily reaching a good arrangement, a good arrangement with the Dominion of Canada. Oh, mercifully arrange everything that this may be. Guide me, help me to secure for the Métis and Indians all the advantages which can now be obtained through negotiations.
Grant us the grace to make as good a treaty as Your charitable and divine protection and favourable circumstances will permit. Make Canada consent to pay me the indemnity which is my due, not a small indemnity but an indemnity which will be just and equitable before you and men!
LOUIS STILL HOPES BEYOND HOPE for a peaceful end to all of this for the Métis, the Indians, and himself. That he still holds out for John A.’s payment of what he believes he is due certainly speaks to Louis’s desperate desire for some kind of security, a real promise that he might have a sane and simple future. This provisional government will not last and is not meant to be looked upon as an act of treason. It has been created to force John A. to enter negotiations, and as soon as he does, the government will be disbanded. But just as importantly, Louis is asking that this battle—a battle he’s fought all his adult life—be recognized by the Canadians as truly just.
As each day passes and April turns into May, and as Middleton’s army reorganizes and plots to crush the Métis, half-breeds continue to trickle in from the farms out on the land. They bring stories of how Middleton’s men have destroyed everything, burning homes and stealing all the livestock, leaving the French and Michif speakers with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Middleton has no reason to do this. He is making this into a war between not just the Métis and the Canadians, but also the French and the English. Of all the people in Canada who watch this rebellion unfold in the newspapers, the only other ones who are in any way sympathetic to the Métis are the Québécois. Canada’s future relations with the Québécois will be deeply affected by the actions, and inaction, of the next few months.
CHAPTER NINE
Goliath
Gabriel knows that he, not Louis, truly understands the gravity of what they’ve allowed to happen. Middleton has marched to within miles of Batoche, and despite the Métis bruising them badly not once but twice, the next battle will be decisive. Middleton has spent the last two weeks licking his wounds while encamped at Fish Creek. Gabriel has been forced to begin preparations for the defence of Batoche, something he should never have had to resort to. His guerrilla tactics would have slowed Middleton to a stop, and within months John A. would have had his hand forced politically to make a deal and negotiate with the half-breeds. Hell, Gabriel could have staved off the Canadians till next winter and let the prairie cold destroy the green, citydwelling Protestant troops. But it is Gabriel who’s allowed this to happen—his men digging rifle pits on the town’s edges and the women and children digging caves into the banks of the South Saskatchewan River—because he did not argue fervently enough with Louis. Louis is a prophet, and Gabriel will not complain about what has passed and what he cannot change. The quickest route to defeat is in mourning what can’t be undone or worse, allowing it to weaken you like consumption. Louis has promised that God will listen to the Métis’ pleas for justice, and Gabriel knows to put his faith in Him. Dumont has changed in this last year. Louis has given him a focus and a newfound understanding for that which is holy.
If Gabriel knew how troubled Middleton and his men are—the Canadians are hunkered down near Fish Creek, many of them
O my God, for the love of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and Saint John the Baptist, grant me the favour of speedily reaching a good arrangement, a good arrangement with the Dominion of Canada. Oh, mercifully arrange everything that this may be. Guide me, help me to secure for the Métis and Indians all the advantages which can now be obtained through negotiations.
Grant us the grace to make as good a treaty as Your charitable and divine protection and favourable circumstances will permit. Make Canada consent to pay me the indemnity which is my due, not a small indemnity but an indemnity which will be just and equitable before you and men!
LOUIS STILL HOPES BEYOND HOPE for a peaceful end to all of this for the Métis, the Indians, and himself. That he still holds out for John A.’s payment of what he believes he is due certainly speaks to Louis’s desperate desire for some kind of security, a real promise that he might have a sane and simple future. This provisional government will not last and is not meant to be looked upon as an act of treason. It has been created to force John A. to enter negotiations, and as soon as he does, the government will be disbanded. But just as importantly, Louis is asking that this battle—a battle he’s fought all his adult life—be recognized by the Canadians as truly just.
As each day passes and April turns into May, and as Middleton’s army reorganizes and plots to crush the Métis, half-breeds continue to trickle in from the farms out on the land. They bring stories of how Middleton’s men have destroyed everything, burning homes and stealing all the livestock, leaving the French and Michif speakers with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Middleton has no reason to do this. He is making this into a war between not just the Métis and the Canadians, but also the French and the English. Of all the people in Canada who watch this rebellion unfold in the newspapers, the only other ones who are in any way sympathetic to the Métis are the Québécois. Canada’s future relations with the Québécois will be deeply affected by the actions, and inaction, of the next few months.
CHAPTER NINE
Goliath
Gabriel knows that he, not Louis, truly understands the gravity of what they’ve allowed to happen. Middleton has marched to within miles of Batoche, and despite the Métis bruising them badly not once but twice, the next battle will be decisive. Middleton has spent the last two weeks licking his wounds while encamped at Fish Creek. Gabriel has been forced to begin preparations for the defence of Batoche, something he should never have had to resort to. His guerrilla tactics would have slowed Middleton to a stop, and within months John A. would have had his hand forced politically to make a deal and negotiate with the half-breeds. Hell, Gabriel could have staved off the Canadians till next winter and let the prairie cold destroy the green, citydwelling Protestant troops. But it is Gabriel who’s allowed this to happen—his men digging rifle pits on the town’s edges and the women and children digging caves into the banks of the South Saskatchewan River—because he did not argue fervently enough with Louis. Louis is a prophet, and Gabriel will not complain about what has passed and what he cannot change. The quickest route to defeat is in mourning what can’t be undone or worse, allowing it to weaken you like consumption. Louis has promised that God will listen to the Métis’ pleas for justice, and Gabriel knows to put his faith in Him. Dumont has changed in this last year. Louis has given him a focus and a newfound understanding for that which is holy.
If Gabriel knew how troubled Middleton and his men are—the Canadians are hunkered down near Fish Creek, many of them
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