Ultimately, after the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, boarding schools became less and less prominent. The BIA-approved boarding schools were plagued by neglect, abuse, and misconduct. Established primarily in the 19th and 20th centuries, these boarding schools eventually came under the supervision of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which, at the time, sought to assimilate Native people to white American culture rather than conserving Native cultures. Erdrich also refers to historical cultural events, such as the attempted conversion of the Ojibwe people to Catholicism through boarding schools and missionaries. Louis Riel’s execution and the actions of the Canadian government towards the First Nations and Métis people during these rebellions continues to be a source of controversy in Canada’s history. Ultimately, this led to a second rebellion, the North-West rebellion, that ended with Riel being executed by the Canadian government. He landed in Saskatchewan Valley, where eventually more white protestant settlers began to filter in. After failing to do so, Riel and his followers rebelled, establishing an independent government that was later quashed by the Canadian one, forcing Riel to flee. Louis Riel, emerging as a leader of the resistance to this injustice, tried to diplomatically come to an agreement with the Canadian government about land rights.

During the mid-1800s, an influx of white protestant settlers moved to Red River, claiming formerly First Nations and Métis lands as their own. Louis Riel was born in the Red River Settlement, a primarily Catholic and First Nations and Métis-inhabited area spanning present-day Manitoba and parts of the surrounding territories.

Erdrich links Mooshum’s personal history to the Métis rebellions in Canada in the 1800s, led by Métis politician Louis Riel. Generally, these decisions have centered on land rights. These include the vast catalog of Supreme Court cases dealing with Native rights and autonomy that Joe finds in his father’s Handbook, starting as far back as the early 1800s. Louise Erdrich’s work refers explicitly to various events in the history of the Ojibwe people, and in the history of indigenous people in the United States and Canada more generally.

Novel the round house