Within the Grasp of Company Law: Land, Legitimacy, and the Racialization of the Métis, 1815–1821

By 1815 the Red River Métis were coalescing as a social and political group, asserting their rights to land as an indigenous community. Their opponents, the Hudson’s Bay Company, sought to establish a colony at Red River, while their allies, the North West Company, claimed access to these lands due to prior usage. After conflict between the parties erupted at the Battle of Seven Oaks, both companies waged propaganda campaigns to articulate their version of events. These publications sought to legitimate both companies’ rule through their specific constructions of jurisdiction, land rights, Métis family structure, and race.