Bitterness
There is still a good deal of bitterness in the Métis community over
the history of the St-Paul-des-Métis settlement.
In the early days of the colony’s existence, some building materials
were supplied by the Hudson’s Bay Company, and Father Thérien engaged in
activities, such as breaking land, that were meant to prepare the
mission’s Métis residents for an agrarian existence. By 1897, a school
had been erected, and the town’s sawmill provided employment for many of
the town’s Métis residents. 32 families called St-Paul-des-Métis home by
1898, and that number grew to over 80 families by 1904. Still, the
colony was not as successful as the ambitious Oblates had hoped.
The "low number" of Métis families who had taken up residence in
St-Paul-des-Métis was worrying to its parish priest and manager, Adeodat
Thérien. In 1908, Thérien aggressively pushed the government to allow
settlement by French-Canadians on the reserve, and a new era in the
town’s history began when it was officially opened to outside immigrants
in 1909.
Father Thérien, behind the backs of the Métis, began to advertise
this land in Quebec, to attract French speaking settlers, and in 1909,
the Oblate Fathers requested the federal government to cancel the lease,
citing disinterest among the Métis as the cause for the "failure" of the
settlement. French-Canadian homesteaders were being admitted to the
settlement even before the official opening for homesteading on 10 April
1909.
Potential homesteaders lined up at the Dominion Government Land
Office to stake their claim on surrounding land. The Métis who chose to
remain received titles to the original 80-acre lots they had taken up
upon arrival and could have an additional 80 acres.
In 1936, the town’s name was shortened to St. Paul, and residents saw
the continued addition of modern amenities, such as banks and schools as
well as services such as power and natural gas. In just three decades,
St. Paul blossomed from a small utopian colony into an officially
recognized town.
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