Louis Riel, a powerful Métis leader, and his followers were finally granted their demands after extreme scrutiny with the government. The province of Manitoba was created when the government signed The Manitoba Act, which gave specific rights to the settlers in Manitoba, mainly to satisfy the French speaking Catholics in the province in 1870. The act stated that the settlers would have title to the land on which they farmed; French-speaking Catholics could keep their Catholic Schools and their French language, which will be the way for instruction in the Catholic Schools. But in 1890 Manitoba passed another act, Manitoba Schools act, which made English the only language of instruction in schools and the funding to the Catholic Schools were cut. The French speaking Catholic minority was furious. What Louis Riel and his followers won for the Métis was being taken away. The government didn't do anything, until 5 years later, when a French Canadian Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier came to power and looked for a compromise. He changed the act so that each day, at least one hour would be devoted to religious instructions. Also, a French-speaking teacher would be provided wherever 10 or more students spoke French. Although this still broke the Manitoba Act, the compromise satisfied both the French and the English. However, further damaged the relationship between French and English even more.
The French being minority put them at a disadvantage over the English Canadians who controlled most of the government. Manitoba and the rest of the Prairie Provinces were still mostly under populated before the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), and the Métis, and white French speaking Catholics were dominant. But when the CPR was finished, large populations of new immigrants, mostly English speaking who had no fondness for the French language or the Catholic Church settled in the Prairie Provinces.
