Canada, Dominion. An 1876 Dominion Of Canada $20 Land Scrip Metis

Numbered "076" at the upper left and right corners, inscribed "DOMINION OF CANADA / Department of the Interior / DOMINION LANDS BRANCH. / The Bearer hereof is entitled to an allowance of Twenty Dollars in any purchase of Dominion Lands. Issued at the Dominion Lands Office at Ottawa this first day of May 1876 / AUTHORIZED BY 37 VIC. CAP 20.", entered and signed in black ink by the Surveyor General and by the Minister of the Interior David Laird, initialled handwritten inscription in faded blue ink "Cancelled July 12 1876" across the central portion of the document, stamped in faded blue ink "DOMINION LAND OFFICE / CANCELLED SCRIP / JAN. 15 1878" at the far right, stamped in faded blue ink "CANCELLED" in four locations, the document printed in black and green inks by the British American Bank Note Co. of Montreal, measuring 225 mm (w) x 147 mm (h), one small stain along the bottom edge, near extremely fine.

Footnote: The date of issue of this note is May 1, 1876. They are among the early notes issued under the federal government plan to extinguish Metis land title. For the purposes of this program, land was valued at $1 per acre. At that time, the newly-created provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta did not have the same standing, status or rights as the 4 provinces that were part of Confederation in 1867. In fact, all lands in the new provinces were controlled by the federal government. The federal government controlled mineral rights in the new provinces as well. The provincial rights under the British North America Act of 1867 did not apply to the new provinces at that time. The lands available to be acquired with Metis scrip were predominantly in the southern part of the provinces. Many Metis, most of whom were illiterate, lived in the northern parts of the province and were unwilling to move south. They were also susceptible to being manipulated by white settlers. Metis scrip could only be redeemed in the Dominion land offices, in exchange for available lands specified by federal government authorities. Since many Metis received the scrip, but were unwilling to relocate to use it for land acquisition in the south, they ended up selling their scrip, usually at a highly discounted rate, to white settlers, who could then acquire available lands, since the scrip were ‘bearer’ notes. This left many Metis dispossessed of their land, without a replacement tract of land, and poorer for having sold the scrip for pennies on the dollar.