Elizabeth McKenzie & Ian Mosby

Elizabeth McKenzie & Ian Mosby, “Reconciling the Ledger: The Rupert’s Land Purchase, Settler Capitalism, and Indigenous Dispossession on the Prairies”. JCHA, vol. 34, no 1 (2024).

Elizabeth McKenzie and Ian Mosby’s “Reconciling the Ledger: The Rupert’s Land Purchase, Settler Capitalism, and Indigenous Dispossession on the Prairies” offers a new perspective on one of the most iconic real estate deals in Canadian history—the Rupert’s Land Purchase of 1870. This article provides an important intervention into treaty history by challenging popular narratives of the Rupert’s Land Purchase and repositioning this sale through the framework of settler capitalism and an illegal transfer of stolen Indigenous lands. Centering contemporary protests against the sale by Nêhiyawak (Cree), Nahkawé (Saulteaux) and Métis leaders, McKenzie and Mosby reveal the frustrations expressed by Indigenous leaders about the Hudson’s Bay Company selling land it did not own. The authors present a careful examination of the financial and material implications of this land deal both at the time of the purchase and into the twentieth century. Their work is critical in understanding how settler capitalism operated on the Prairies in collaboration with Indigenous dispossession.

Utilizing primary source research in federal government and HBC records, the authors provide a detailed account of the vastly unequal distribution of land to the Hudson’s Bay Company and treaty signatory communities in the wake of the transfer of lands under royal charter from the HBC to the Government of Canada. While First Nations received approximately three million acres in reserves through Treaties 1–7 (1871–1877), the Hudson’s Bay Company received more than double this amount of land (6.6 million acres) within the same territory. The authors critically compare both money received for the land (by the HBC through the Deed of Surrender and by First Nations through treaty annuity payments), as well as the distribution (and quality) of land itself through Treaties, Métis Scrip, Dominion Land Survey Homesteads, and Hudson’s Bay Company Lands. McKenzie and Mosby further provide a corrective to the common narrative of the Rupert’s Land transfer in emphasising that the “sale” was completed before any of the Numbered Treaties had been negotiated and finalized (making the sale illegal and against British and Canadian law).

“Reconciling the Ledger” is a significant addition to the discipline of Indigenous and Indigenous-settler histories as a glaring example of how colonial policy and settler capitalism shaped Indigenous land claims in the 19th century and beyond. McKenzie and Mosby’s article is a welcome addition to any history class syllabus and is well deserving of this award.