Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement

History

The Great Depression of the 1930s saw much deprivation among the nomadic Métis population of Alberta, estimated at 11,000 in 1936. A royal commission was formed to investigate the living conditions of Alberta's "half-breeds" (as the Métis were known), who were then squatting on road allowances with no ready sources of cash income, or trapping in remote areas without access to education or health services.

This Ewing Commission saw agriculture, particularly stock-raising, as the means by which the Métis could be made into "self-supporting citizens". Farm colonies, in which the Métis themselves would provide most of the physical labour, would be a suitably inexpensive relief scheme for the cash-strapped Alberta government to implement.

Following these recommendations, the 1938 Metis Population Betterment Act enabled unoccupied Crown land to be set aside for the creation of new Métis settlements. Eleven were originally created by Order-in-Council through 1938 and 1939 – Wolf Lake, Utikuma Lake (now Gift Lake), Cold Lake, Marlboro, Keg River (now Paddle Prairie), Big Prairie (now Peavine), Touchwood, Goodfish Lake (now Kikino), Elizabeth, Fishing Lake, and East Prairie. Caslan (now Buffalo Lake) was the final addition, reserved for Métis veterans returning from World War II before being thrown open to general settlement in 1951.

Settlement at Paddle Prairie progressed rapidly. A 1941 report of the Alberta Bureau of Public Welfare recorded nineteen heads of families resident in the area, with a total population of 72. The settlement's central village was established at its approximate geographic center, the Paddle Prairie proper, an area of open land and productive soil, where a lumbering operation produced 91,372 board feet of rough sawn lumber. From here, 14 mi of road was cleared to a landing on the Peace River, suitable for the unloading of supplies.

Geography

The largest and most northerly of Alberta's Metis settlements, Paddle Prairie consists of approximately seventeen townships. It is bounded by the Peace River on its eastern border, where the La Crete ferry still operates.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Paddle Prairie had a population of 551 living in 212 of its 256 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 544. With a land area of 1726.45 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

The population of the Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement according to its 2018 municipal census is 536, an increase from its 2015 municipal census population count of 530.

As a designated place in the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement had a population of 544 living in 185 of its 240 total private dwellings, a decline of 3.2% from its 2011 population of 562. With a land area of 1738.82 km2, it had a population density of {{#expr:544/1738.82}} PD/km2 in 2016.

References

References

1. (May 9, 1939). "Unoccupied Provincial Lands set Aside for a Metis Colony in the Keg River Area".
2. {{AMOS
3. (2012-11-05). "Specialized and Rural Municipalities and Their Communities". [[Alberta Municipal Affairs]].
4. (February 15, 1936). "Report of the Ewing Commission".
5. "About Us".
6. Bureau of Public Welfare. (January 31, 1941). "Activities in Connection with the Betterment of the Metis Population". Government of Alberta.
7. (February 9, 2022). "Population and dwelling counts: Canada and designated places". [[Statistics Canada]].
8. (December 2019). "2019 Municipal Affairs Population List". [[Alberta Municipal Affairs]].
9. "2016 Municipal Affairs Population List". [[Alberta Municipal Affairs]].
10. (February 8, 2017). "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, and designated places, 2016 and 2011 censuses – 100% data (Alberta)". [[Statistics Canada]].