Embedded by Ted Glenn

Author:Ted Glenn [Glenn, Ted]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Canada / Post-Confederation (1867-)
ISBN: 9781459747364
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2020-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

EXCLUSIVE

Always with an eye for a scoop, Cunningham grabbed an interpreter and followed Prince across the river to his village — a collection of about 100 wigwams “laid out in regular order” — to pay his respects to the chief of the “celebrated Swampies.” Cunningham said that he found Prince in his wigwam dressed in striped pants and a red woollen shirt. The chief was seated beside his “Queen,” who was clad in a “blue calico with yellow spots — the pattern of 50 years ago.” When Cunningham and the interpreter entered their home, Prince rose, “wiped his right hand on his trousers,” and shook the reporter’s hand. Cunningham was impressed — “Prince is one of the finest men, physically speaking, I have ever looked at. He has a noble head, large vivacious eyes, a chest like an ox, and the muscle of a prizefighter.”

Prince invited Cunningham and the interpreter to take a seat on the mat with his wife and children. They were tucking into the pork and potatoes Wolseley had presented. Cunningham said that he and Prince talked “a great deal,” mostly about “the land question.”

“The chief would like to know how much Canada is going to give the Indians for the land,” Prince said through the interpreter.

“What particular land is the chief referring to?” Cunningham asked.

“The chief says the whole of the province of Manitoba.”

Cunningham replied that he was “staggered” by the answer. “Tell the chief I haven’t the slightest idea of to what extent Canada might be inclined to fork out, or whether she means to fork out at all or not.”

The reporter signed off for the night by saying from what he had been able to gather, the Métis and Saulteaux “not only lay claim to the territory” but also regard the Hudson’s Bay Company as “having acted quite illegally in giving grants to anyone.” Cunningham said he would have to “learn more about this afterward.” He took the commitment seriously. In 1872, Cunningham ran for Parliament on a promise to force the Dominion government to “come to prompt and generous arrangements with these tribes. Any delay on this head would be dangerous and shabby economy would be folly.”

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