Unscripted Fates

Welcome to Unscripted Fates,the podcast where we tear up the colonial script and look at the history hidden behind the lines.

I'm your host, Beniel.

And I'm your host Lucas. Today we're taking a deep dive into Frances Koncan's brilliant historical play. Women of the Fur Trade.

In this episode, we will analyse the play through post colonial theory and provide critical historical context regarding the Numbered Treaties.

I'm going to break down some of the terms first. Our lens, Post-colonial theory, looks at issues of power, economics, politics, religion, and culture and how these elements work in relation to colonial hegemony

Adding on, the Numbered Treaties refer to the 11 legal agreements used by the Canadian government between 1871 and 1921 in order to secure Indigenous land for settlement and the railway.

Our guiding questions today are How do government policies, actions, or inactions impact the Indigenous communities mentioned in the play today? And what direct connections can we make to the Numbered Treaties?

In "Women of the fur trade" the fate of indigenous characters and communities are not accidental, It is a direct consequence of the government's numbered treaties that was created for the control over the indigenous communities.

Close your eyes and draw the word where your family's entire fates are decided by a piece of document that you never even witnessed, but created by the government that does not listen to you.

That's the description of our 3 characters in the play, who are trapped in a fort. Koncan addresses the consequences of colonial policy on people, which is that it confines them, limits them, and takes away freedom.

To slide you some historical background, In 1896, the Canadian federal government bought Rupert's land from the HBC, land that Metis people had lived on for generations. However, it was not consulted with Metis community, almost like no one lived on that land.

And then to make it worse, the Government sent a governor and surveyors to the Red River, to measure and divide the land to set up settlements for European settlers while pushing Metis out. This is how colonial power is treating them, acting like they do not exist.

Fast Forward to 1871, the Canadian government started creating something called "The Numbered Treaties", 11 agreements between Indigenous communities and the government. However, understanding of the treaties of each side were different. Indigenous leaders understood them as sacred sharing agreements while the Government used them as legal tools to take away Indigenous land and displace them into small reserves.

And even the promised benefits that were made inside those treaties, including healthcare, education, land, were not respected by the government in the future. This is a Textbook example of colonial hegemony, where colonizers are using the legal system to rewrite history in their favour, while ignoring Indigenous communities.

Anyways moving back to our play, We are able to see this exact tension in the play In act 9, when Marie Angelique says, "But it is! It is our business. These are our lives. And now Ottawa has sent surveyors here to take our land away and claim it for their own. This is what the Canadian Party wants". (Koncan 57)

That line, "Ottawa has sent surveyors here to take our land away" , is not just a plot detail. Koncan is directly referencing the historical moment we just discussed, the event that initially sparked Red River resistance. In this line, Marie Angelique is not just "angry". She is articulating colonial mechanisms, the way that governments act, the way they dress up the language in law in order to steal everything from them.

In the play, characters are physically trapped in a windowless, doorless fort. When we portray this through the lens of post colonial theory, this demonstrates the result of the numbered treaty that pushed Indigenous communities into small, enclosed land far from their traditional home, and their fate is determined not by themselves, but the force of colonialism pushing them back and forth for their own favour.

To sum up our point, the core issue is that the fate of Indigenous Communities, especially Metis, both in the play and in history, were shaped by government policy, who considered them like an "obstacle" for their expansion rather than people with rights and history. The numbered treaties were not created between two equals, they were just legal tools of colonial power to take away everything from them.

The colonial system tried to use those papers to box these women in and silence them, but these characters find a way to completely flip the script using satire. Lucas,take us into part 2

We are back for the second part of our podcast. Just a reminder we discussed how exactly the colonial system used legal papers to lock these women in. But in the second part, they are not just going to let that happen. But without weapons. Beniel, tell me about it

The Colonial power tried to take everything from Indigenous Communities, then Louis Riel created an organized resistance movement against it. When the Government sent surveyors to the Red River, Louis created a provisional government, and created a formal list of rights to negotiate with Canada on Metis people's side. This was a first political counter move against the government using their own tools of governance.

And it worked pretty well at first, or at least I would have to say. This led to the Manitoba Act of 1970, which led to few results: Manitoba was brought into confederation while recognizing both French and English as official language of Canada and promising land to Metis community. For a moment, it looked like the fate of Metis was being written by themselves…

This resistance was also shown in the play. In act 9, Cecilia tries to convince Marie Angeliqe to stay quiet and to "stay out of the way" while letting things "blow over". However she refuses and says: "I can't. I stand with Louis Riel. I stand with the Métis people. I publicly denounce the survey and the theft of our land. I demand retribution for all of us and I will be on the battlefields of the rebellion alongside my people" (Koncan 59).

Damn That was arguably one of the most powerful moments of the play. She is not just making personal choices, but she is making political statements. This is what we call "counter narrative", an act of speaking back against dominant colonial power. She is finally refusing to let her fate be decided for her.

However, this is where tragedy takes place. As a result of resistance, the promised benefits of the treaties for Indigenous communities were not being respected. European settlers kept arriving, further pushing Mei's people west into Saskatchewan. Louis returned for another chance for resistance, but ended up being hanged for treason.

The play does not hide from this brutal reality. Louis Riel is executed on act 12, and the Women who symbolizes whole Indigenous communities falls asleep for a long time. Even the most powerful and organized form of resistance through the provisional government, were easily ignored by Government simply refusing to honour its own terms.

So through our Post-colonial lens, the provisional government represents both its power and the limits of resistance within a colonial system. The Metis found a solution but the government had the final word. Ottawa disrespected the treaty agreements it had signed, and Louis Riel paid for that resistance with his life. The fate of the characters in the play was granted brief freedom, followed by being trapped again.

Let's bring it all together. Today we analyzed Frances Koncan's "Women of the fur trade" through a Post Colonial Theory lens focusing on the topic of fate and our central question, how do government policies impact indigenous communities with direct connections to the Numbered Treaties?

In Point 1, we looked at the issues: the Canadian government's 1869 survey of Red River, the signing of the numbered Treaties from 1871 onward, and how these policies functioned as acts of colonial hegemony legally erasing indigenous land rights and confining communities the way the women in the play are confined inside the fort.

In point 2, we looked at the attempted solution: Louis Riel's provisional government, the Manitoba act, and Marie Angelique's declaration of the resistance succeeded temporarily, the colonial system ultimately refused to honour the agreements it made leaving communities in the same cycle of dispossession.

Through a post-colonial lens,we have seen how the fate of the characters in Women of the Fur Trade was a deliberate construction of Canadian government policy,however,by analyzing the play's use of satire and indigenous resistance,it becomes clear that these characters successfully reclaim sovereignty over their own narrative and history.

Koncan's work forces us to see the real people fighting for their future ,it challenges us to reconsider the official narratives we've been taught and recognize the importance of indigenous voices in reshaping history