Demographic information about the Red River Settlement during the Resistance of 1869–1870 can be inferred from a census undertaken shortly after the creation of Manitoba. Lieutenant-Governor Adams George Archibald undertook the census “to ascertain the number of persons who come within the designation of ‘Families of half-breeds’.”^[i]

Individuals who lived at Red River Settlement and were “descended however remotely, either by father or mother, from any ancestor belonging to any one of the native tribes of Indians, and also descended, however remotely, from an ancestor among the Whites,” were identified as “Halfbreed” on English language census forms and as “Métis” on French language forms.^[ii]

The census was begun in October of 1870. The settlement was divided into five census districts. A team of enumerators — consisting of one person fluent and literate in the French language, and one person fluent and literate in English — was assigned to each district. Of the ten enumerators, eight were Métis. The enumerators of each team worked independently and their results were compared on completion. Their work was done by 23 December 1870. The double enumeration generated very similar tabulations. Lieutenant-Governor Archibald was satisfied with its “accuracy and impartiality.”^[iii]