St. Antoine de Padoue,
South Saskatchewan,
4th September, 1882.
To the Right Honorable Sir John A. Macdonald, Minister of the Interior, Ottawa:
SIR,- We the undersigned French half-breeds, for most part settled on the west bank of the Saskatchewan, in the district of Prince Albert, N.W.T., hereby approach you, in order to set forth with confidence the painful position in which we are placed with reference to the lands occupied by us in this portion of the territory, and in order to call the attention of the Government to the question which causes us so much anxiety.
Compelled, most of us, to abandon the prairie, which can no longer furnish us the means of subsistence, we came in large numbers, during the course of the summer, and settled on the south branch of the Saskatchewan. Pleased with land and the country, we set ourselves actively to work clearing the land, but in hope of sowing next spring, and also to prepare our houses for winter, now advancing rapidly. The surveyed lands being already occupied or sold, we were compelled to occupy lands not yet surveyed, being ignorant, for the most part, also, of the regulations of the Government respecting Dominion lands. Great then was our astonishment and perplexity when we were notified that when the lands are surveyed we shall be obliged to pay $2 an acre to the Government if our lands are included in odd-numbered sections. We desire, moreover, to keep close together, in order more easily to secure a school and a church.
We are poor people and cannot pay for our land without utter ruin, and losing the fruits of our labor and seeing our lands pass into the hands of strangers, who will go to the land office at Prince Albert and pay the amount fixed by the Government. In our anxiety we appeal to your sense of justice as Minister of the Interior and head of the Government, and beg you to reassure us speedily, by directing that we shall not be disturbed on our lands, and that the Government grant us the privilege of considering us as occupants of even-numbered sections, since we have occupied these lands in good faith. Having so long held this country as its masters and so often defended it against the Indians at the price of our blood, we consider it not asking too much to request that the Government allow us to occupy our lands in peace, and that exception be made to its regulations, by making to the half-breeds of the North-West free grants of land. We also pray that you would direct that the lots be surveyed along the river ten chains in width by two miles in depth, this mode of division being the long established usage of the country. This would render it more easy for us to know the limits of our several lots.
We trust, Sir, that you will grant a favorable hearing to this our petition, and that you will make known your decision as soon as possible. We await it with great anxiety, and pray God to protect you and keep you for
the direction of this great country which you wisely govern.
Your humble petitioners:-
Gabriel Dumont, Baptiste Vandal,
Jean Carron, Antoine Fergusson,
Baptiste Rochlot, Baptiste Vandal,
Moise Parenteau, Joseph Tourond,
Pierre Honore, William Vandal,
Baptiste Delorme, Jean Carron, ...
...and thirty-five others.
List of Persons whose names appear on Petition who received Land or Scrip in Manitoba:-
Jean Carron, Theophile Carron,
Baptiste Rochlot, Mathias Parenteau,
Moise Parenteau, Elzear Parisien,
Pierre Honore, A. Fidler, ...
...and twenty-eight others.
List of Persons whose names appear on Petition who received Scrip Certificate from the North-West Half-Breed Commission:-
None.
List of Persons whose names appear on Petition who have not proved their claim:-
Gabriel Dumont, Zephirin Dumas,
Napoleon Neault, William Natome,
Andre Neault, Xavier Batoche,
R.P. Tessier, Theophille Goulette,
Moise Honore, Charles Gareau