ST. LAURENT PETITION, DECEMBER 16, 1884
The demands in this petition, encompassing Metis, Indian and settlers' grievances, preceded the granting of provincial status to Saskatchewan and Alberta by 20 years. Louis Riel composed the petition, although he did not sign it. The original document is in the collection of the National Archives of Canada, RG 15, Dominion Lands Branch Correspondence file 83808.
(Source: p.45, Vol. 3, The Collected Writings of Louis Riel/ Les Ecrits complets de Louis Riel, ed. Thomas Flanagan, gen. ed. George F.G. Stanley et al., University of Alberta Press, 1985.)
To His Excellency the Governor General, of Canada, in Council.
We, the undersigned, your humble petitioners, would respectfully submit to Your Excellency-in-Council, the following as our grievances:
1. that the Indians are so reduced that the settlers in many localities are compelled to furnish them with food, partly to prevent them from dying at their door, partly to preserve the peace of the Territory;
2. that the Half-breeds of the Territory have not received 240 acres of land, each, as did the Manitoba Half-breeds;
3. that the Half-breeds who are in possession of tracts of land have not received patents therefore;
4. that the old settlers of the N.W.T. have not received the same treatment as the old settlers of Manitoba;
5. that the claims of settlers on odd numbers, prior to survey, and on reserves, prior to the proclamation of such reserves, are not recognized;
6. that settlers on canceled claims are limited to eighty acres Homestead and eighty acres of pre-emption;
7. that settlers are charged more than one dollar per acre for their pre-emptions;
8. that settlers are charged dues on timber, rails and firewood required for home use;
9. that custom duties are levied on the necessities of life;
10. that settlers are not allowed to perform the required amount of breaking and cropping on their pre-emption, in lieu of their Homestead, when, as frequently happens in the vicinity of wooded streams, it is convenient to have farm buildings and grain fields on separate quarter sections;
11. that purchasers of claims from bona fide setters who have not completed the required time of actual residence, do not get credit for the term of actual residence, by settlers;
12. that contracts for public works and supplies are not let in such a manner as to confer upon the North west producers as large a benefit as they might derive therefrom, consistent with efficiency;
13. that public buildings are often erected on sites little conducive to the economical transaction of public business;
14. that no effective measures have yet been taken to put the people of the North west in direct communication with the European Markets, via Hudson's Bay;
15. that settlers are exposed to coercion at elections, owing to the fact that votes are not taken by ballot;
16. that while your petitioners wish to give the eastern government every credit for the excellent liquor regulations which obtain in the N.W.T. yet they must express their anxiety, lest those beneficial restrictions should be loosed, more specially as the country is sparsely settled and the Indians numerous and dissatisfied;
17. that they may humbly state their case, without intending to intermeddle with the affairs of Manitoba and other parts of the N.W.T. your petitioners respectfully submit:

(a) that in 1870, when, on invitation of the Dominion, the Delegates of the N.W. arrived in Ottawa, claiming the control of its resources as one of the conditions of entry of the Territory into Confederation, they were arrested;
(b) that after releasing those Delegates, at the interposition of the Imperial authorities, after explicitly acknowledging and receiving them as the Delegates of the North west the Dominion treated with them amid preparations for war; and dispatched to the Northwest an expedition of federal troops while the negotiations were pending;
(c) that a Commissioner of the Then Governor General and of His government having averted the conflict which he saw would be the consequence of these hostilities, by giving his word of honor as commissioner that however threatening the outlook of the situation might appear, Canada would act in good faith, the response to that peace preserving act was repudiation;
(d) that an understanding having thus [been] arrived at with the Delegates, subject to the consent of the North west, the order in council by which the Queen annexed the Northwest Territory and Rupert's Land to the Dominion of Canada bears date 23rd June 1870, at which time that consent had not been obtained;
(e) that having thus dispensed with one of the most important conditions of the Union the imperial government seems to have followed, ever since, a policy calculated in the opinion of your humble petitioners, to make the Northwest a mere appendage of Canada;
(f) that although the existence of the above-mentioned word of honor and extraordinary treaty has been established, four years after, by special inquest of the House of Commons of Canada, supported, another year later, by the government and recorded in the most conclusive official documents, there are nevertheless, to day, in that part of the N.W. called Manitoba extant proofs of their continual violation;
(g) that although, by the last clause of the Manitoba Act Rupert's land and the North West Territories were to have been under temporary government until the 1st of January 71 and until the end of the session then next succeeding, those
(h) Territories are, nevertheless, to day, under a government which has remained temporary for fifteen years, and which, by the nature of its constitution is destined to remain temporary for an indefinite period;
(i) that the N.W.T. although having a population of 60,000, are not yet granted responsible government, as was Manitoba, when she had less than 12,000 of a population;
(j) that the N.W.T. and its Premier Province are not yet represented in the cabinet, as are the Eastern Provinces;
(k) that the North west is not allowed the administration, of its resources as are the eastern Provinces and British columbia.
In submitting this as a fundamental grievance, your petitioners would disclaim any intention of defrauding the Federal government of the monies which they may have contributed to the improvement of the N.W.
In conclusion, your petitioners would respectfully state that they are treated neither according to their privileges as British subjects nor according to the rights of people and that consequently as long as they are retained in those circumstances, they can be neither prosperous nor happy;
You humble petitioners are of the opinion that the shortest and the most effectual methods of remedying these grievances would be to grant the N.W.T. responsible government with control of its own resources and just representation in the Federal Parliament and Cabinet.
Wherefore your petitioners humbly pray that your excellency in Council would be pleased to cause the introduction, at the coming session of Parliament, of a measure providing for the complete organization of the District of Saskatchewan as a province, and that they be allowed as in 1870, to send Delegates to Ottawa with their Bill of rights, whereby an understanding may be arrived at as to their entry into confederation, with the constitution of a free province, And your humble Petitioners will not cease to pray.
(The preceding document was unsigned, but a covering letter listed the names of those who endorsed it.)