Welcome to Episode 6 of History is Unreal. Today, we officially deploy our four-step historical analysis on a critical event in Canada's history, the Métis expropriation at St. Paul, Alberta; starting with Step 1: Context. To truly understand why the Métis farming colony at St. Paul des Métis was broken apart in 1909, we must first understand what was happening at the time in Canada.

Dr. John Fontaine and his AI co-host, ANI (Artificial Narrow Intelligence), explain how the federal government’s 1879 National Policy intersected with the Oblate Catholic Church's missionary role to transform Métis families into a successful colony. By exploring the unique legal architecture of the 1896 lease agreement and the dual roles odf the Oblate Church, we seek to understand why decisions were made to first initiate a Métis farming colony, only to be broken apart 13 years years later.

Before we provide our own opinions on what happened at St. Paul des Métis, we must first understand what was happening in that context - from the time of Canadian Confederation until just before WWI. Looking ahead to future episodes, Dr. John and ANI will then consider what histories have been told and what histories should we instead tell to get a better history of what happened at St. Paul des Métis.

Related Chronology of Events

To better understand the event, use this contextual timeline:

Date / Event Significance / Podcast Context

1867 / BNA Act Adopted / The Dominion of Canada is born.

1867 / U.S. Purchases Alaska / Created "border anxiety" in Ottawa; a catalyst for securing the West quickly.

1869 / Rupert’s Land Transition / The land sale from HBC to Govt; Indigenous inhabitants excluded from the decision-making.

1869–70 / Red River Resistance / Louis Riel and the Métis force Ottawa to negotiate; the Catholic Church acts as a mediator.

1870 / Manitoba Act / Manitoba becomes the 5th province; promise of 1.4 million acres for Métis children.

1871 / B.C. Joins Confederation / Canada becomes a transcontinental nation.

1871–1921 / The Numbered Treaties / The "Legal Clearing": Systematic removal of Indigenous title to make way for the CPR.

1872 / Dominion Lands Act / 160-acre quarter sections for "preferred" farmers.

1873–78 / PM Alexander Mackenzie / Followed the Pacific Scandal; his slow-growth approach frustrated Western expansion.

1875 / NW Territories Act / Established the governance of the West.

1879 / The National Policy Finalized / Macdonald's "Big Three": Tariffs, the Railway, and Western Immigration.

1878–91 / PM John A. Macdonald / His second term; focused on the CPR as a "steel ribbon" to hold the country together.

1885 / CPR Completed / The physical infrastructure is ready, but it is deeply in debt and lacks a western population to make use of it.

1885 / North-West Resistance / The execution of Riel; the Métis become "destitute" in the eyes of Ottawa.

1891 / Macdonald's Death / Five years of Conservative instability follows; the "St. Paul idea" begins to brew.

1895 / "A Philanthropic Plan to Redeem the Half-Breeds of Manitoba and the North West Territories." / Father Lacombe and A.M. Burgess agree on St. Paul as a low-cost infrastructure/farming project for Métis peoples.

1896 / Laurier & Sifton Rise / The Liberals back in power; Sifton replaces Burgess.

1896 / St. Paul des Métis Founded / The 21-year lease is signed; the "Scrip-Free Zone" (and cage) is created.

1900 / Institutional Pressure / Protestant competition arrives in western Canada, pushing the Oblates to rethink their priorities.

1905 / AB/SK Become Provinces / The "School Question" and the 1905 fire at the St. Paul school destabilize the colony.

1908 / The Thérien Journal / Father Thérien submits "Plan B" to replace Métis farmers with more productive farmers from Québec.

1909 / Métis Expropriation from St. Paul / The lease is cancelled and immediately re-distributed to French-Catholics from Québec.

2009 / 2019 / MA & PhD Research / Dr. John's research.

2026 / History is Unreal Ep. 6 / ANI audits the ledger; identifying the Métis as "placeholders" for Sifton's factory.

Key Takeaways From This Episode

• The 4-Step Framework Deep-Dive: Why establishing raw structural context (Step 1) must happen before analyzing the biases of textbook histories (Step 2) or rewriting a better narrative (Step 3).
• The Anatomy of the 21-Year Lease: How Father Lacombe's anomalous lease successfully locked out predatory Scrip Raiders but simultaneously functioned as a cage, stripping Métis families of the ability to build equity or borrow against their own land improvements.
• Sifton’s Pure Economic Factory: How Clifford Sifton transformed the Department of the Interior into an aggressive corporate machine that explicitly filtered out urbanites, Black homesteaders, and Asian laborers in pursuit of raw grain revenue.
• The Placeholder Economy: How experienced, self-sufficient Métis families like the Laboucanes and Garneaus provided the high-risk developmental labor required to prove the land's value while Ottawa waited for its preferred demographic machine to arrive.

Sponsorship Notice

Today's episode of History is Unreal is proudly brought to you by Margie’s Closet (uniquefindsyyc on Poshmark). Looking for incredible, unique fashion finds while supporting independent sustainable retail? Check out the closet on Poshmark and use your listener perk code to refresh your style today!

Coming Up Next Week

Get ready for an uncomfortable shift. In Episode 7, we step directly into Step 2 (Told History) and Step 3 (Better History). We are diving into the micro-level agricultural productivity ledgers of the Laboucanes, Poitras, and Garneau families to prove they didn't "fail"—and Dr. John will systematically audit and dismantle his own 2009 Master's thesis conclusions on the recording booth floor.

Sources & References

• Georg Iggers: Historiography in the Twentieth Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge (1997).
• Dr. John Fontaine: 
• St. Paul des Métis, 1896 to 1909 - the Dual Roles of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. University of Alberta (2009).
• Grouper, Unir, Protéger: Elite Strategies and the Formulation of a French-Catholic Identity in Western Canada, 1870-1930. PhD Dissertation, University of Alberta (2019).

Connect with the Show

• Website: HistoryIsUnreal.ca
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Music Credits

• Track: Violin Concerto in F minor, RV 297 'Winter'
• Composer: Antonio Vivaldi
• Performed by: The Modena Chamber Orchestra
• Source: Musopen.org
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

• Track: "Everybody clap your hands"
• Voice Artist: Original Audio Concept inspired by "The Cha-Cha Slide" (DJ Casper).
• Source: https://youtu.be/eekVbkhY4kI?si=sV4lyKBMndtjPlGj 
• License: no copyright

• Track: "suspenseful-dum-dum-dum-drum-hit-sound-effect”
• Source:https://orangefreesounds.com/suspenseful-dum-dum-dum-drum-hit-sound-effect/ 
• License: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

the Team

• Dr. John Fontaine: Podcast Host & Executive Producer
• Dr. Marcia Kim: Podcast Editor
• Kaviya Govindaraj: Marketing & Design

"History is not factual; it is interpretive, and it is messy. Keep questioning the teller."