Editing Manitoba (section)

=== Confederation ===
[[File:Canada provinces evolution 2.gif|thumb|right|alt=When Canada was formed in 1867 its provinces were a relatively narrow strip in the southeast, with vast territories in the interior. It grew by adding British Columbia in 1871, P.E.I. in 1873, the British Arctic Islands in 1880, and Newfoundland in 1949; meanwhile, its provinces grew both in size and number at the expense of its territories.|Territorial evolution of Canada, 1867–present]]

Rupert's Land was ceded to Canada by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1869 and incorporated into the Northwest Territories; a lack of attention to Métis concerns caused Métis leader [[Louis Riel]] to establish a local provisional government which formed into the Convention of Forty and the subsequent elected [[Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia]] on 9 March 1870.<ref>{{vcite web |title=Indigenous and Northern Relations |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/inr/resources/print,the-legislative-assembly-of-assiniboia.html |publisher=Province of Manitoba|accessdate=21 October 2018|archivedate=14 October 2018 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014010142/https://www.gov.mb.ca/inr/resources/print,the-legislative-assembly-of-assiniboia.html}}</ref><ref>{{vcite web |author==Lawrence, Barkwell |title=A History of the Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia/le Conseil du {{as written|Gover|nement}} Provisoire |url=http://www.legislativeassemblyofassiniboia.ca/sites/default/files/history_legislative_assembly_of_assiniboia_final_w_footnotes.pdf |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023084632/http://legislativeassemblyofassiniboia.ca/sites/default/files/history_legislative_assembly_of_assiniboia_final_w_footnotes.pdf |url-status=dead |archivedate=23 October 2018 |publisher=Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia }}</ref> This assembly subsequently sent three delegates to [[Ottawa]] to negotiate with the [[government of Canada|Canadian government]]. This resulted in the ''Manitoba Act'' and that province's entry into [[Canadian Confederation|Confederation]]. Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald introduced the ''Manitoba Act'' in the [[House of Commons of Canada]], the bill was given [[Royal Assent]] and Manitoba was brought into Canada as a province in 1870.<ref name="sprague">{{vcite book|author=Sprague, DN|title=Canada and the Métis, 1869–1885|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press|location=Waterloo, ON|year=1988|pages=33–67, 89–129|isbn=978-0-88920-964-0}}</ref> Louis Riel was pursued by British army officer [[Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley|Garnet Wolseley]] because of the rebellion, and Riel fled into exile.<ref>{{vcite book|author=Cooke, OA|title=Dictionary of Canadian Biography|editor=Cook, Ramsay|publisher=University of Toronto/Université Laval|year=2015|orig-year=1998|edition=online|volume=14|chapter=Garnet Joseph Wolseley|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/wolseley_garnet_joseph_14E.html|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170615205354/http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/wolseley_garnet_joseph_14E.html|archivedate=15 June 2017}}</ref> The Canadian government blocked the Métis' attempts to obtain land promised to them as part of Manitoba's entry into confederation. Facing racism from the new flood of white settlers from Ontario, large numbers of Métis moved to what would become [[Saskatchewan]] and [[Alberta]].<ref name="sprague"/>

[[Numbered Treaties]] were signed in the late 19th century with the chiefs of First Nations that lived in the area. They made specific promises of land for every family. As a result, a [[Indian reserve|reserve system]] was established under the jurisdiction of the [[Government of Canada|federal government]].<ref>{{vcite book|author=Tough, Frank|title=As Their Natural Resources Fail: Native People and the Economic History of Northern Manitoba, 1870–1930|publisher=UBC Press|year=1997|pages=75–79|isbn=978-0-7748-0571-1}}</ref> The prescribed amount of land promised to the native peoples was not always given; this led Indigenous groups to assert rights to the land through [[aboriginal land claim|land claims]], many of which are still ongoing.<ref>{{vcite web|url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/stem/mrd/mines/sustain/first.html|title=First Nations Land Claims|publisher=Government of Manitoba|accessdate=28 October 2009|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091030030837/http://www.gov.mb.ca/stem/mrd/mines/sustain/first.html <!--Added by H3llBot-->|archivedate=30 October 2009}}</ref>

The original province of Manitoba was a square one-eighteenth of its current size, and was known colloquially as the "postage stamp province".<ref name="postage">{{vcite journal|author=Kemp, Douglas|date=April 1956|title=From Postage Stamp to Keystone|journal=Manitoba Pageant|publisher=Manitoba Historical Society}}</ref> Its borders were expanded in 1881, taking land from the Northwest Territories and the [[District of Keewatin]], but Ontario claimed a large portion of the land; the disputed portion was awarded to Ontario in 1889. Manitoba grew to its current size in 1912, absorbing land from the Northwest Territories to reach 60°N, uniform with the northern reach of its western neighbours Saskatchewan, Alberta and [[British Columbia]].<ref name="postage" />

The [[Manitoba Schools Question]] showed the deep divergence of cultural values in the territory. The Catholic Franco-Manitobans had been guaranteed a state-supported [[separate school]] system in the original constitution of Manitoba, but a grassroots political movement among English [[Protestantism|Protestants]] from 1888 to 1890 demanded the end of French schools. In 1890, the Manitoba legislature passed a law removing funding for [[Catholic schools in Canada|French Catholic schools]].<ref name="language">{{vcite journal|author=Fletcher, Robert|year=1949|title=The Language Problem in Manitoba's Schools|journal=MHS Transactions|publisher=Manitoba Historical Society|volume=3|issue=6}}</ref> The French Catholic minority asked the federal government for support; however, the [[Orange Order in Canada|Orange Order]] and other anti-Catholic forces mobilized nationwide to oppose them.<ref>{{vcite journal|author=McLauchlin, Kenneth|year=1986|title='Riding The Protestant Horse': The Manitoba Schools Question and Canadian Politics, 1890–1896|journal=Historical Studies|publisher=CCHA|volume=53|pages=39–52}}</ref> The federal [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservatives]] proposed remedial legislation to override Manitoba, but they were blocked by the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberals]], led by [[Wilfrid Laurier]].<ref name="language" /> Once elected Prime Minister in 1896, Laurier implemented a compromise stating Catholics in Manitoba could have their own religious instruction for 30 minutes at the end of the day if there were enough students to warrant it, implemented on a school-by-school basis.<ref name="language" />