La Barriere

On October 19th, 1869, a meeting was held in the St. Norbert Parish. The purpose of the meeting was to elect the Comite National des Métis, with Louis Riel as the secretary. On October 20th, 1869, the Métis found out that Governor McDougall was coming with armed men. The Métis people were already worried because the government was surveying their land and planning to claim it. The Hudson Bay company owned and operated the Métis people’s land and organized to transfer it to the Canadian government. The Hudson’s Bay Company did not inform the Métis people how this would affect them.

On October 21st, 1869, Riel and a group of Comite members met in St. Norbert to discuss a plan to stop Governor McDougall. They decided to build a three-foot-high wood barrier to block the Pembina trail crossing. They also arranged for forty armed men to be guarding the barrier. The barrier was successful and prevented government officials from claiming their land. This was the beginning of the Red River Resistance which ended in the creation of the Manitoba Act that declared Manitoba a province.