The Métis people arose in the 17th century from European and Indigenous ancestors. Indigenous women were key to the success of the fur trade, and most of the guides used by explorers were Métis. While they were excluded from both European and Indigenous societies, the Métis used their dual cultural knowledge to became innovators in trade, hunting and combat. A Hudson’s Bay Company Scottish settlement on the Red River suffered a decade of conflict with the Métis in the Pemmican Wars, but HBC abandoned them after the 1818 Battle of Seven Oaks.

Sustainable nomadic hunters, Indigenous people relied on buffalo. As farmers, the Métis were less dependant on this precious grasslands resource but their annual hunting parties threatened the survival of the Dakotas. Firearms sped up the buffalo’s decline and the Métis with their Ojibwe allies were competing with the Dakotas over hunting territory throughout the mid 1800s. The tactical wisdom of two worlds helped the Métis win skirmishes which continued until The Battle of Grand Coteau in North Dakota in 1868. Still in a state of legal and cultural limbo, a new generation of Métis militia now prepared to face Canada, their greatest threat yet.