In 1870, at the height of the Red River Rebellion, millions in gold coins were sent by the British Crown to pay for the expedition force sent to confront Louis Riel.

Those coins never made it to their intended destination and to this day have been considered by the Royal Mint to be lost or stolen.

Local geo-spatial tech-entrepreneur and 25-year Calgary firefighter Ross “Memphis” Pambrun is on the hunt for that gold as part of a new docuseries from the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network entitled Red River Gold.

The series takes Pambrun, along with fellow treasure hunters Laurie “Goldie” Gagne and Bill “Moose” Marsh along the Dawson Trail in Manitoba, hearing the stories of the gold and the land from local Elders and historians, and uncovering a largely untold history of the Métis peoples in the mid to late 19th Century.

“What we do is, there’s a number of historical reports that we’ve done the research to try and find, we read books, we’ve interviewed family members from all of those communities, understanding the history that their families, the oral traditions, the oral histories that they’ve been sharing. I know that there’s a path along the Dawson trail,” said Pambrun.

“Some of the stories tell us that gold was hidden to protect it from people who were in Indigenous communities or thieves who were chasing the soldiers. So, we have different stories, but in this case, we have a pretty good idea along the route that we need to search, and that’s where we start.”

He said that Red River Gold dives into a period in Canadian history where Rupert’s Land was being transformed with westward settlement, and the burgeoning province of Manitoba.

“It was at a time where we led into what’s called scrip, and that scrip was being given to the Indigenous communities… was being given to many families who didn’t speak English, they didn’t understand how they were going to be able to achieve this land,” Pambrun said.

“So, it was being what ended up becoming Canada’s largest land swindle. This gold was being shipped to pay the soldiers; all of these soldiers, at the end of this journey, were going to receive land as well, but the gold was lost. It was either lost, stolen, but not one sovereign, not one piece of gold, has ever been found.”

Telling a uniquely Canadian story

Pambrun said one of the beautiful things about filming the series was how communities opened up to tell their stories.

“I wasn’t sure at first how people were going to want to experience this opportunity. Were they going to be hesitant because they were fearful of talking too much about the challenges that they faced?” Pambrun said.

“I said, ‘well, we need to tell that story.’ Yes, the crux of the story is the gold, but at the end of the day, the biggest treasure is telling these stories, telling the history.”

He said that history had to reflect both sides of the Canadian experience and told as such.

“There are challenging stories to be told, but what we have to do is continue to share the stories so we can find positive ways to move forward. In this situation, one of the things that was really a big focus to me was that sometimes it depends on the side of history you’re standing on. I want people to understand what the Métis people were facing at that time, what the Indigenous communities were facing, but I also need to look at it from what was happening to the people immigrating to Canada,” he said.

“Why did we need to move west? What were the opportunities? So, I just want people to see both sides of that story. When we have an audience, I think we’re going to have a very strong audience, because this is a fun story.”

That the show would also increase interest in Canadians in discovering more about Métis culture and the new Otipemisiwak Métis Government, was also a good thing, he said.

“We’re a community that has had government before and as one of Canada’s three recognized Indigenous nation groups and citizen groups, this is the time right now where our countries, our international partners, are open-minded saying we need to understand more, because we don’t understand the challenges you faced,” Pambrun said.

“It’s OK to tell people we’re Métis, but I also really focus on the fact that as Métis, we’re part of the Indigenous community, and we share the strength of that. Canada gets to know more about the history, and we slowly move the story out so that it’s shared amongst us all.”

Red River Gold will debut on APTN on May 5 as a production of 3 Story Pictures.