By Beth Greenhorn
In the spring of 2016, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) digitized A General Statement and Report relative to the Disturbances in the Indian Territories of British North America, more commonly known as “the Coltman Report.” Its digitization was in support of the 200th-anniversary events commemorating the Battle of Seven Oaks, organized by the Manitoba Métis Federation in June 2016.
Screenshot of Page 1 of the Coltman Report, 1818 (MIKAN 114974)
As part of our support, LAC launched a crowdsourcing transcription tool and chose the Coltman Report as the first document to be transcribed.
Events leading to the Battle of Seven Oaks on June 19, 1816
Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, or Lord Selkirk, was a Scottish peer who was granted a huge parcel of land by the Hudson’s Bay Company. The land, referred to as the Selkirk Concession, included portions of Rupert’s Land, or the watershed of Hudson Bay. It covered sections of present-day Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. Its settlement was at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers in the Red River Valley.
Lord Selkirk’s plan was to bring Scottish settlers to farm in the area. Their arrival threatened the Métis, who felt that settlement would have a negative impact on their way of life. Although the Métis occupied this area, they held no “legal title” and feared losing their lands and livelihoods.
Many Métis were working for the North West Company (NWC) and the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). A number were employed to supply pemmican to the fur trade. In 1814, as a result of food shortages in the Red River District, the governor of the new Red River Colony, Miles MacDonell, issued the ‘’Pemmican Proclamation’’ to the inhabitants of the area.
The proclamation declared that no one should “take out any provisions, either flesh, dried meat, grain, or vegetable.” It was the governor’s attempt to guarantee adequate food supplies for the HBC and to stop the Métis people from exporting pemmican out of the district. The HBC wanted to prevent the Métis from selling pemmican to its rival, the NWC. The settlers tried to block the Métis pemmican export business because they wanted the pemmican for themselves.
The proclamation had an enormous impact on Métis livelihoods. They saw it as a ploy to monopolize the fur trade as it prohibited them from selling their pemmican to the fur brigades. Led by Cuthbert Grant, the Métis ignored the new law, which further fueled the conflict between the Métis and the settlers.
The Battle of Seven Oaks and emergence of the Métis Nation
The dispute over the pemmican supply culminated with the Battle of Seven Oaks (also known as “The Battle of Frog Plain”). It took place on June 19, 1816, along the Red River just north of the HBC’s Fort Douglas. It was a quick but fierce battle that left 21 HBC employees and settlers dead. There was one Métis fatality.
The battle is commemorated with a monument at the battle site in Winnipeg, at the intersection of Main Street and Rupert’s Land Boulevard.
Map showing the area of the Battle of Seven Oaks, William Sax, D.P. Surveyor, April 1818 (MIKAN 4149343)
Following the Battle of Seven Oaks, William Coltman was commissioned by the governor in Lower Canada (now the province of Quebec) to investigate. After taking depositions from the Métis and the settlers, Coltman sympathized in his report with the NWC’s position while condemning the use of violence on both sides. He determined that the Métis did not fire the first shot, but had reacted in self-defense. On pages 193 and 194 of the report, Coltman concluded that:
Such is the evidence by which the fact of the first shot being fired by the Colonists stands supported; of [19 June 1816] those present, five Witnesses speaks [sic] positively to its being so, and not one except Hayden states the contrary even on belief, and all others who have spoken to the question, concur in stating that such was the general report; whilst the opposite statement of Hayden remains unsupported by a single evidence either direct or indirect. (Page 193 and Page 194)
The battle marked the emergence of a new nation—the Métis Nation. It was also the first time that the Métis flew their blue infinity flag, which helped shape their sense of identity. Today, the Coltman Report provides one of the best sources on the fur-trade war and is a key document in the history of the Métis Nation.
Transcription tool a success
The transcription of this 521-page handwritten report was a resounding success. The transcription tool was announced on June 16, 2016, and thanks to an enthusiastic public, the entire report was transcribed within less than a month. In addition to the transcription, every page has tags related to the individuals, dates, locations and specific events recorded during Coltman’s investigation. A PDF of Coltman’s report is available in the database and is fully searchable. Each entry is accompanied by a link to the corresponding digitized page from the report.
Screenshot of the transcription of the Coltman Report (MIKAN 114974)
LAC owns the only copy of this report. Prior to digitization and transcription, researchers had to arrange a visit to the Gatineau Preservation Centre with an archivist to consult the report. Travel to LAC is not an option for many researchers. Consequently, some historians have perpetuated information found in many secondary sources that described the confrontation as a massacre initiated by the Métis. Through digitization, and with the help from the public to transcribe this important document, historical inaccuracies have been corrected.
Beth Greenhorn is Project Manager in the Online Content and Exhibitions Division at Library and Archives Canada.
Library and Archives Canada Blog 
Great initiative. Are the links in the PDF of the Coltman’s report supposed to be hyperlinked? That is not the case when I click on the PDF provided above. And when I copy and past the supposed hyperlink, I receive an error message. What should I be doing with this report? Thanks!
Hello, I have forwarded your comment to the appropriate people and will respond as soon as I have an answer.
Beth, this is an excellent article and initiative. As a visually-impaired person, however, it was the excellent and thoughtful ALT text that you included in your post that most affected me. Thank you. IT is among the best that I’ve come across. If everyone did ALT text as well as you do here, people like me would be able to fully participate in the online environment. Please accept my sincere thanks and great appreciation.
Hello,
First of all, thank you for
While researching my Selkirk Settler ancestors, I came across the recently digitized report and Coltman’s references to the various depositions he took. One of my ancestors gave his deposition (#200 Alexander Sutherland) and was referenced by Coltman several times.
As the countless depositions were not included in the report itself, is there a way to view specific depositions online or at least request copies?
PS. I have also been searching the Selkirk Collections on Heritage.ca but have yet to come across it.
First line should have read: “First of all, thank you for facilitating this wonderful crowd-sourcing project”!
Hello Mr. Sutherland,
I have forwarded your question to the author of the blog and I am now waiting for a response. However, I would recommend that you use the Ask Us a Question form to go through the formal reference channels.
Hello Mr. Sutherland,
Here is the answer I received from the archivist most knowledgeable on the subject:
The Selkirk collection archival record can be found here: http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/ourl/res.php?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_tim=2017-10-18T20%3A44%3A52Z&url_ctx_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=114525&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fcollectionscanada.gc.ca%3Apam&lang=eng
The description indicates that it includes depositions and it is contained on reels C-1 to C-19. Unfortunately there does not seem to be a finding aid for it. There is a note that describes the arrangement order: “The collection is arranged by both chronological order and by subject; but some sections manifest little discernible order.”
And in the scope and content note, which may be helpful to you (this section is written in order of how the material would appear on the reels – so based on this, you might want to start looking in the middle of the range of reels, i.e. reels C-9 and C-10.
The note reads as follows:
Series consists of correspondence of the Earl of Selkirk, his heirs and executors, including instructions to agents and letters concerning emigration and the military protection of colonists, 1802-1850; journals and diaries of the Earl of Selkirk, the master of Brandon House, Rev. Charles Bourke, Miles Macdonell, Archibald McDonald, Peter Fidler, Alexander McDonell, Colin Robertson, John McNab and J.B. LeMoine, 1803-1818; and papers connected with the seizure of Fort William, 1816-1817, including correspondence, fragments of journals, and other papers of the North West Company, 1798-1817. The series also includes depositions, affidavits, transcripts of trials and legal opinions, relating to Red River affairs 1813-1820; the seizure of Fort William, Selkirk’s sketch of the fur trade in British North America and representations on settlement, 1819; Red River accounts, correspondence, accounts, surveys maps and related papers concerning the Baldoon settlement, 1816-1818; a survey of the Grand River lands, 1818; correspondence, accounts and reports on land in Prince Edward Island, 1769-1870; and Sir George Simpson’s proposals on the co-partnership between the North West and Hudson’s Bay companies for the period 1821-1842.
I hope this helps – sorry to not to be able to give you a more definitive answer. If you are still unable to locate the deposition, please send an email to bac.blogue-blog.lac@canada.ca and we will follow up.
Thank you very much for taking the time to look into this! As it turns out, thanks to the information you provided, I was able to find a usable finding aid one record up on the more general record entitled: Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk fonds [textual record (some microform)]
http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/ourl/res.php?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_tim=2017-10-20T16%3A57%3A29Z&url_ctx_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=100745&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fcollectionscanada.gc.ca%3Apam&lang=eng
After figuring out how that worked I was able to find the microfilm, page and exact record I was looking for!
Thank you again!
Darren
Alexander Sutherland figures on the list of passengers on board of the PRINCE OF WALES for Red River Settlement, landing at Churchill about aug 13, 1813. The list encompasses several other Sutherlands, such as John, William, Kate, Haman, Source : The Hist. and Scientifical Society of Manitoba. TRANSACTION N° 33 SEASON 1888-9 Oroginal letters and documents relating to the SELKIRK SETTLEMENT, pp. 8-9. Read before the Society JKan 17th, 1889, by Rev. Dr Bryce and C.N. Bell. Winnipeg Manitoba Free Press Print 1889.
Antoine de Courten Jan 9, 2018
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