Editing Louis Riel (section)

===Creation of Manitoba and the Wolseley expedition===
The delegates representing the provisional government arrived in Ottawa in April. Although they initially met with legal difficulties arising from the execution of Scott, they soon entered into direct talks with Macdonald and [[George-Étienne Cartier]]. The parties agreed on several of the demands in the list of rights, including language, religious, and land rights (excepting ownership of public lands). This agreement formed the basis for the [[Manitoba Act]], which formally admitted Manitoba into the Canadian confederation; the Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia unanimously supported joining. However, the negotiators could not secure a general [[amnesty]] for the provisional government; Cartier held that this was a question for the British government.<ref name=Thomas-1982/><ref>{{cite journal|first=Thomas |last=Berger|title=The Manitoba Metis Decision and the Uses of History |url=https://www.canlii.org/en/commentary/doc/2014CanLIIDocs265|journal=Manitoba Law Journal |volume=38|issue= 1 |year=2015|pages=1–28  |doi=10.29173/mlj920 }}</ref>

As a means of exercising Canadian authority in the settlement and dissuading [[Manifest Destiny|American expansionists]], a Canadian [[Wolseley Expedition|military expedition]] under Colonel [[Garnet Wolseley]] was dispatched to the Red River. Although the government described it as an "errand of peace", Riel learned that [[Colonial Militia in Canada|Canadian militia]] elements in the expedition meant to [[lynching|lynch]] him.<ref name=Thomas-1982/>