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Women in the Colony
The position of many women in the Red River Colony was determined within the Hudson Bay Company's 1670 Charter; this document gave legislative and judicial powers in Rupert’s Land to the company. It is stated within the Charter that the legal status of women is as dependents of a male authority, which included fathers, husbands or brothers. Although women’s agency was limited through the inclusion of British laws, it was also empowered by these same laws.

For example, Maria Thomas- a 16-year-old Anglo-Cree Metis domestic servant, took her English Reverent employer to court for repeatedly raping her and subjecting her to illegal abortions. Thomas, in her testimony, used the laws in place to challenge her assaulter’s actions. She suggested that British laws for British citizens abroad were not cohesive with his behavior. She won the case; however, Reverent Owen Corbett was freed shortly after by a group of settler men. The courts did not challenge this, fearing insurrection, which demonstrates the colonial power in place despite the laws.

In the establishing years of the English Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) and the Scottish North West Company (NWC), male settlers were likely to have a First Nations or Metis spouse. Though only encouraged by the NWC for trade relations, it was common practice among both companies due to the European colonial policy that only allowed white males to settle in the territory. When white women did eventually join the settlement, racial tensions were heightened due to the race and gender narrative they brought with them from Europe. The European ideology that women were to authorize and maintain white domestic spaces allowed for domesticity to create exclusion between themselves and the non-white women who lived in the colony. In being a part of upholding British morality, European men also had thoughts in regards to the differences between white and Indigenous women. Ross Alexander, an author who lived in Red River for a number of years, states in his book that a friend had often said that white women were graceful and that Indigenous women were exempt from this due to their bashfulness.

The Metis People of the Red River Colony
The mixed ethnicity of Indigenous and European peoples at the Red River Colony, known as Metis, were not always referred to by that name in the beginning years of their existence. Augustus Chetlain, an author who lived in the colony, wrote in his book that they were often called "Brules, Metifs, or half-breeds, the bastard sons of Indian concubines”.

The culture and lifestyle of the Metis community living in Red River was not only present at the colony. Metis people had a long lasting tradition of a semi-annual, commercial, buffalo hunt that took place throughout the prairies starting in the mid 1700’s with the western fur trade. The Hudson Bay Company’s journals and a number of witnesses to these events stated that the united caravan was commonly known as a brigade. These brigades did not just focus on buffalo hunting, but were used by buffalo hunters to trade and freight during this time. Women were fundamental in both actively participating in the brigade hunts or trade, as well as the bringing together of people prior to the excursion. By studying the social network of the Trottier Brigade, a community of people from the White Horse Plains in Red River, it is notable that biologically related women brought the majority of the men together.

Throughout the time that Metis people were apart of the Red River community they developed into several different identities, rather than just the common depiction of the bison-hunting French Catholic Metis. Metis identity, at that time as it is today, was diverse and complex due to the different livelihoods and practices followed. Metis who chose not to live on prairies and hunt buffalo for the winter remained on lakes such as Manitoba, Winnipegosis, and Winnipeg to ice fish. Over the course of the first half of the 19th century, up to forty households had developed on the lakeshore of Lake Manitoba. Fishing and trading had become year round practices and the Metis families involved would trade with HBC and ‘Freemen’- traders that did not work at the post.

Christianity played a vital role in shaping the community within the colony, especially for the Metis people. In the early 19th century, considerations were made by the Committee in London to open schools run by the Clergymen to benefit, in their opinion, from instruction in religion and civilization. Although these schools took in all children of the colony, mixed-ancestry children were a large focus due to them being tied to the fur trading post by their European fathers. John Halkett, a Committee member, wanted Metis families of retired HBC employees to be brought to Red River (from other nearby posts) to be put under the authority of the Roman Catholic Mission or Church Missionary Society. This plan was largely related to keeping retired Metis employees from continuing trade with the Indigenous peoples; however, its effect led to Christianity being a prominent part of culture for the Metis community. The Chaplain of the Hudson Bay Company, John West, was also interested in the religious educating of Metis children. According to his book, he wrote to the Governor submitting a plan to gather up a number of children to care for and educate. He stated that he created this plan when he saw these children being raised in a way he deemed ignorant and idle.