Road allowance communities were settlements established by

Métis people The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

in Canada in the late 1800s through most of the 20th century on road allowances at the margins of

settler society Settler society is a theoretical term in early modern and modern history that describes a common link between modern, predominantly European, attempts to permanently settle in other areas of the world. It is used to distinguish Settler colonialism, ...

. Road allowances are frequently unused portions of land established by the

Dominion Land Survey The Dominion Land Survey (DLS; french: links=no, arpentage des terres fédérales, ATF) is the method used to divide most of Western Canada into one-square-mile (2.6 km2) sections for agricultural and other purposes. It is based on the layout ...

for road and rail access to settlements. Métis people were dispossessed from their land in the late 19th century, so they frequently

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

in these unclaimed and marginal spaces.

History

Following the

Red River rebellion The Red River Rebellion (french: Rébellion de la rivière Rouge), also known as the Red River Resistance, Red River uprising, or First Riel Rebellion, was the sequence of events that led up to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by ...

(1869) and the

North-West Rebellion The North-West Rebellion (french: Rébellion du Nord-Ouest), also known as the North-West Resistance, was a resistance by the Métis people under Louis Riel and an associated uprising by First Nations Cree and Assiniboine of the District of S ...

(1885), Métis people were dispossessed from their land through a practice of issuing

scrip A scrip (or ''chit'' in India) is any substitute for legal tender. It is often a form of credit. Scrips have been created and used for a variety of reasons, including exploitive payment of employees under truck systems; or for use in local comme ...

that promised land in the Prairie Provinces in exchange for their land rights in more southern homelands. It was generally difficult for Métis people to redeem scrip for their promised lands, forcing them to settle illegally in unclaimed road allowances. After the

Battle of Batoche The Battle of Batoche was the decisive battle of the North-West Rebellion, which pitted the Canadian authorities against a force of First Nations and Métis people. Fought from May 9 to 12, 1885, at the ad hoc Provisional Government of Saskatche ...

(1885), many Métis people were burned out of the homes and evicted by settlers; many of their children were sent into the

Canadian Indian residential school system In Canada, the Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school sy ...

In 1872, the

established road allowances between surveyed lots for road and rail access and other infrastructure. These strips of land were frequently not used. Between 1930 and 1960, most of the road allowance communities were broken up, often by force. Métis people no longer inhabit these communities, but many do still struggle with lack of housing or squat on unused land.

Description

Historian

Jesse Thistle Jesse Thistle (born 1976) is a Métis-Cree author and assistant professor in the Department of Humanities at York University in Toronto. He is the author of the internationally best-selling memoir, '' From the Ashes.'' He is a PhD candidate in th ...

describes road allowance communities as spaces of resilience and cultural resistance. Road allowance settlements typically consisted of log cabins with a tar paper roof. People in these settlements frequently did labour for local farms and were paid minimal wages or were paid in food. Road allowance communities faced extreme poverty and racism, and were frequently forced to relocate. In spite of these hardships, many recollections of life in these settlements describe tight-knit and joyful communities. The settlements were not taxable and did not receive government services. This generally prevented children in road allowance communities from receiving a formal education. The independence of road allowance settlements helped to preserve the people's stories, oral tradition, and culture.

In popular culture

The documentary ''Ashes and Tears'' tells about the forcible relocation of the road allowance community of Lestock to Green Lake in 1949.

Maria Campbell Maria Campbell (born April 26, 1940 near Park Valley, Saskatchewan) is a Métis author, playwright, broadcaster, filmmaker, and Elder. Campbell is a fluent speaker of four languages: Cree, Michif, Western Ojibwa, and English. Four of her publish ...

preserves some of the Métis oral histories of this time in her book, '' Stories of the Road Allowance People''.

References

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History

Description

In popular culture

References

Further reading