Pemmican Proclamation

Pemmican Proclamation
George Bryce · Public domain · source
Name	Pemmican Proclamation
Date	January 8, 1814
Location	Red River Colony, Assiniboia
Issued by	Miles Macdonell
Jurisdiction	Hudson's Bay Company territories, North West Company districts, Métis people lands
Significance	Restriction on export of pemmican affecting trade and Indigenous relations

Pemmican Proclamation

The Pemmican Proclamation was an 1814 order issued by Miles Macdonell at the Red River Colony near Fort Douglas in Assiniboia, forbidding the export of pemmican and provisions from the settlement, a directive that quickly entangled the settlement with the North West Company, Hudson's Bay Company, and Métis people and contributed to the chain of events leading to the Red River Resistance. The proclamation intersected with competing interests of Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, William Macjon, Robert Semple, Alexander Macdonell of Greenfield, Simon McTavish, and multiple fur trade partners centered on Montreal and Scots investors. Its issuance drew immediate responses from figures and institutions such as John Ballenden, Cuthbert Grant, Charles de Salaberry, and colonial administrators in London, Ottawa, and York Factory.

Background and context

The proclamation arose amid fierce rivalry between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company over control of the fur trade routes through the Red River basin, intersecting the lifeways of the Métis people, Saulteaux hunters, and Cree families who supplied pemmican used by voyageurs from Montreal to Fort William and Fort Garry. Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk established the Red River Colony as a settler agricultural enterprise, bringing settlers from Scotland, Ireland, and Upper Canada into territories used by pemmican hunters linked to Cuthbert Grant and trading networks organized in Île-à-la-Crosse, Fort Alexandria, and Fort Carlton. The proclamation referenced shortages at Red River Colony and sought to secure foodstuffs against perceived market manipulation by North West Company partners including Simon McTavish, William McGillivray, and Patrick Small, while provoking officials in Hudson's Bay Company circles like Prince Rupert's Land managers and British colonial officers stationed at Fort York and York Factory.

Text and provisions of the proclamation

The core text, issued by Miles Macdonell and proclaimed at Fort Douglas, banned export of pemmican and other provisions from the Red River Colony limits, threatened confiscation, and authorized militia enforcement drawn from settler lists and volunteers associated with Selkirk Settlers and their officers, including named signatories often compared later with orders in colonial proclamations like the Order in Council of United Kingdom ministries. The wording invoked protection of supplies for settlers and referenced affronts attributed to North West Company partners such as Robert Semple and Alexander Mackenzie in contemporary accounts, and echoed imperial administrative language used by governors in Canada and agents at Hudson's Bay Company headquarters in London and Whitehall.

Immediate effects and enforcement

Enforcement efforts led to confrontations with pemmican suppliers and traders affiliated with the North West Company, provoking seizures, skirmishes near Upper Fort Garry, and legal complaints lodged at Montreal courts and by agents operating out of Fort William and Fort Alexander. Enforcement escalated to physical clashes involving men associated with Cuthbert Grant, Charles de Salaberry, Robert Semple, and militia detachments, and produced retaliatory measures by North West Company voyageurs and allies from Les Canadiens and Métis river settlements along the Penguin River and Assiniboine River. News of enforcement reached colonial authorities in London and prompted correspondence with figures such as Lord Selkirk, Lord Bathurst, Governor of Lower Canada administrators, and clerks at Colonial Office.

Role in the Red River Resistance and Métis relations

The proclamation became a flashpoint in escalating hostilities between Selkirk Settlers and the Métis and North West Company partners, directly contributing to organized Métis resistance under leaders like Cuthbert Grant and to episodes later associated with the Seven Oaks confrontation and broader Red River Resistance. It crystallized Métis grievances over access to pemmican procurement grounds traditionally used around Lac La Pluie, Lac Sainte-Anne, and the Pembina River and stoked alliances that included veterans of conflicts near Fort William and Fort George. The contested nature of provisioning, combined with colonial settlement expansion tied to Lord Selkirk and corporate actions by the Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company, made the proclamation a key antecedent to subsequent legal and military episodes involving figures such as Glenlyon, William Tomison, and Roderick Mackenzie.

Legal and political aftermath

Legal challenges followed in courts at Montreal, Quebec City, and imperial venues in London where advocates for Selkirk and agents of the North West Company submitted rival claims. Litigation, petitions to the British Parliament, and administrative inquiries involved actors like Lord Bathurst, Colonial Office clerks, and commissioners dispatched to assess the situation in Assiniboia; prosecutions and acquittals in local courts reflected contested jurisdictional claims tied to trading charters of the Hudson's Bay Company and the commercial practices of the North West Company. The controversy influenced eventual corporate consolidations culminating in the 1821 union of Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company and shaped policies enacted by subsequent governors including Charles de Salaberry and colonial reformers in Upper Canada and Lower Canada.

Historical interpretations and legacy

Historians have debated the proclamation’s intent and impact, with interpretations advanced by scholars focusing on settler colonialism, Métis agency, and mercantile rivalry: analyses reference works on Lord Selkirk by biographers, studies of the North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company, and histories of the Métis Nation and Red River Settlement. Interpretations range from viewing the proclamation as defensive provisioning akin to other imperial directives to seeing it as provocatively exclusionary toward Indigenous economies, echoed in later discourses about treaty-making in Manitoba, representations in Canadian historiography, and commemorations at sites like Upper Fort Garry National Historic Site and museums in Winnipeg.

Category:Red River Colony Category:Métis history Category:Hudson's Bay Company