Canada's interests in the North West Rebellion were met head-on by the eastern media with what was considered instant news coverage (supplied via a recently-completed telegraph line), souvenir maps of the battlefields, and picture postcards of the rebel leaders. Many of the members of the militia recognized the importance of their presence in the West and kept family and friends apprised of the situation through their diaries and letters. These personal accounts, when coupled with the official photographs, correspondence, reports, and memoranda of government departments have resulted in an archival gold mine from which historians have pieced together a very detailed account of the rebellion.

But we have to ask ourselves, whose history is preserved in these records? Can the Métis perspective be reconstructed from the surviving records since many of the creators of these records openly articulated deep contempt for the rebel cause? Unfortunately, we may never find answers to these questions because much of the memorabilia saved by Métis participants never made it to an archival institution. Honoré Jaxon, Louis Riel's secretary during the rebellion, had always intended to create an Aboriginal library/archives on land that he owned in Saskatchewan. He even toured the province in the early decades of the twentieth century and collected papers, letters, diaries, and photographs which Métis families willingly handed over to him knowing the role he played in the rebellion and his connection to Riel. According to a report by Allan Levine in the Ottawa Citizen (January 11, 2000), Jaxon's collection amounted to some two tons of priceless records. Regrettably, Jaxon's dream never materialized. His archives was sold for scrap in December 1951 to pay back-rent when the 91-year-old was evicted from his New York City apartment. In that single incident, the memory of an entire generation of Métis was lost to Canadian history.