The Role of Migration for Household Change during Canada’s Westward Expansion at the End of the 19th Century: The Case of Red River Colony

Laurence Véronneau , Université de Montréal
Simona Bignami, Université de Montréal

This research project analyzes the impact of colonization and massive migrations on the residential mobility and family structures of Indigenous peoples in Manitoba, an underdeveloped angle of Canadian social history. While most studies concentrated on the eastern part of the country (Gauvreau & Thornton, 2014), 19th-century Manitoba experienced a radical demographic shift. The proportion of Indigenous-headed households in the Red River colony fell from 78% in 1856 to only 20% in 1901 (Statistics Canada, 2000). We aim to understand the family and spatial dynamics behind this transformation by exploiting these databases from a demographic perspective. Objectives are to: (1) Reconstruct the life course trajectories of Red River households between 1870 and 1901, by identifying and validating information on residence, household relationships, and ethnicity; and (2) Assess the role of migration and spatial relocation for observed changes in household living arrangements. This analysis is based on the linkage of two exceptional data sources: the Genealogy of the First Metis Nation (Spargue & Frye, 1983) and the full count 1901 Canadian census. This linkage will make it possible to follow families over 30 years to measure changes in location and co-residence in response to the colonization of the West. The significance of this project is threefold. It will fill part of the empirical gap in Canada’s demographic history by giving visibility to the Indigenous experiences of the West, offer an innovative application of network theory and provide an essential historical perspective to contemporary discussions on territorial dispossession, community resilience, and reconciliation.

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 Presented in Session 64. Flash Session Residential Context and Spatial Segregation in Migrant Populations