Assiniboia District refers to two historical

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

. The name is taken from the Assiniboine First Nation.

Historical usage

''For more information on the history of the provisional districts, see also

Districts of the Northwest Territories The vastness of Canada's Northwest Territories meant that for much of its history it was divided into several districts for ease of administration. The number and size of these territorial districts varied as other provinces and territories of Ca ...

(Old) District of Assiniboia

The District of Assiniboia was a name used to describe the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assiniboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay ...

, mainly for official purposes, between 1812 and 1869. Nominally the district included all of the territory granted in the Selkirk Concession. However, much of this was ceded to the United States by the Treaty of 1818, and in 1838 the district was redefined as the circular region within of Fort Garry, which was at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. The actual area of settlement, centred at present-day

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, was limited to the Red River valley between Lower Fort Garry and Pembina, and the

Assiniboine River The Assiniboine River ( ; ) is a long river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River. The Assiniboine is a typical meandering river with a single main channel embanked ...

valley between Winnipeg and

Portage la Prairie Portage la Prairie () is a small city in the Central Plains Region of Manitoba, Canada. In 2016, the population was 13,304 and the land area was . Portage la Prairie is approximately west of Winnipeg, along the Trans-Canada Highway (exactly ...

. The district was governed by a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

-appointed Governor of Assiniboia, who was advised by members of the Council of Assiniboia. In 1869

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (), or Prince Rupert's Land (), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin. The right to "sole trade and commerce" over Rupert's Land was granted to Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), based a ...

, including the District of Assiniboia, was transferred to Canada without consultation of the residents of the settlement. This, and the arrival of Canadian surveyors, led to the

Red River Rebellion The Red River Rebellion (), also known as the Red River Resistance, Red River uprising, or First Riel Rebellion, was the sequence of events that led up to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by Métis leader Louis Riel and his f ...

, in which a provisional government and

Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia The Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia () was a short-lived legislature established to pass laws for the North-Western Territory and Rupert's Land under the provisional government led by Louis Riel from 1869 to 1870. The Legislative Assembly was n ...

was established by

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

leader

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis in Canada, Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of ...

to negotiate the admission of the district as a province of Canada. The original proposal, which suggested that the new province consist of all of the fertile belt between Winnipeg and

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, was rejected by the Canadian government as it conflicted with their plans to manage the settlement of the North-West Territories directly. As a compromise, a small part of the district, consisting mainly of the settled areas, was admitted to Canada as the Province of Manitoba in 1870, though the federal government retained control of Crown land and natural resources until 1930. In some accounts of the history of Manitoba, the term ''Old Assiniboia'' is used to describe the pre-1870 settlement, though the terms ''Red River Colony, Red River Settlement'' and ''Selkirk Settlement'' are more common.

District of Assiniboia

Northern Pacific Railroad map circa 1900 Assiniboia

The (Second) District of Assiniboia was later created (1882) as a regional administrative district of Canada's North-West Territories. Most of it was absorbed into the Province of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

in 1905, except for the westernmost quarter, which became part of

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. The east boundary of the district coincided with the modern Manitoba–Saskatchewan boundary, the line between the 29th and 30th ranges west of the First Meridian of the

Dominion Land Survey The Dominion Land Survey (DLS; ) is the method used to divide most of Western Canada into one-square-mile (2.6 km2) sections for agricultural and other purposes. It is based on the layout of the Public Land Survey System used in the United St ...

. This boundary has jogs at each correction line. Any roads built on this boundary are now designated Road 174 West under the Manitoba system or Range Road 1300 under the Saskatchewan system. The north boundary was the 9th Correction Line, approximately 52° north, now also designated Township Road 350. The west boundary was the line between the 10th and 11th ranges west of the Fourth Meridian. This line, now designated Range Road 110, has jogs at each correction line. The northwest corner of the Assiniboia District is commemorated by a cairn 10 km south of Coronation, Alberta. Between 1876 and 1883, Battleford (in the

District of Saskatchewan The District of Saskatchewan was a regional administrative district of Canada's North-West Territories. Formed in 1882, it was later enlarged then abolished with the creation of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905. Much of the are ...

) was the territorial capital of the North-West Territories. The territorial capital was moved to Regina, in Assiniboia, in 1883, and on the formation of the province of Saskatchewan in 1905, Regina became the capital of the province. Its location was chosen by Edgar Dewdney, the territorial lieutenant-governor. Dewdney had reserved for himself substantial land adjacent to the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

line on the site of what became the town, and thereby considerably enriched himself. This was the occasion of a considerable scandal in the early days of the Territories.See

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...

The District of Assiniboia survived in its original geographical configuration as the Anglican Diocese of Qu'Appelle until the 1970s when the portion of the diocese (and former District of Assiniboia) lying within the province of Alberta was ceded to the Diocese of Calgary. WikipediaCanadaWest 1886

Notes

{{Authority control Districts of the Northwest Territories History of the Northwest Territories History of Manitoba by location History of Saskatchewan by location History of Alberta by location Proposed provinces and territories of Canada 1812 establishments in the British Empire 1869 disestablishments in the British Empire 1882 establishments in the Northwest Territories 1905 disestablishments in the Northwest Territories

Historical usage

(Old) District of Assiniboia

District of Assiniboia

See also

Notes