When did Manitoba join Confederation?

Manitoba joined Confederation on July 15, 1870 as the fifth province of Canada and the first province created out of the western prairies. The province was established by the Manitoba Act of 1870 (33 Victoria, c. 3), passed by the Canadian Parliament on May 12, 1870 in response to the Red River Resistance led by Louis Riel. Manitoba's entry followed Canada's purchase of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1869 to 1870 for 300,000 pounds sterling and one-twentieth of fertile prairie land.

The original Manitoba was small (the 'postage-stamp province'), covering only about 36,000 square kilometres around the Red River Settlement at the Forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Manitoba's boundaries were extended in 1881 (eastward and northward) and 1912 (to the 60th parallel of north latitude). The province's modern area is about 650,000 square kilometres. The capital is Winnipeg, located at the Forks. The province name comes from the Cree word 'manitou-bou' meaning 'the strait of the spirit', referring to the narrows of Lake Manitoba.

The Manitoba Act contained provisions designed to protect the existing population. Section 22 protected denominational (Catholic and Protestant) school rights; section 23 made English and French equal languages of the legislature, courts, and statutes. Section 31 set aside 1.4 million acres of land for the Métis children, and section 32 confirmed the land titles of existing Métis settlers. The Canadian government later honoured these provisions only in part, contributing to Métis grievances that led to the 1885 North-West Rebellion. The Supreme Court of Canada in Manitoba Métis Federation Inc. v. Canada (2013) found that the federal government had breached its duty to implement the section 31 land grants.

Manitoba's first premier was Alfred Boyd, a Conservative who served briefly from September 16, 1870 to December 14, 1871. The Manitoba Schools Question of the 1890s (about Catholic and French rights in education) was a major federal issue and contributed to the 1896 election victory of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Manitoba abolished its appointed Legislative Council in 1876, becoming the first Canadian province with a unicameral legislature. The province was the site of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, the first province to grant women the right to vote (January 28, 1916), and the home province of several Prime Ministers including Arthur Meighen and (briefly) Tommy Douglas (born in Saskatchewan, raised in Winnipeg).