Increased settler immigration in the 1860s and 70s increased pressure on the Mechif. As successful hunters, traders and businessmen, they complicated the European’s pre-Confederation plans. Under The Manitoba Act of 1870, the Canadian Government agreed to allocate 1.4 million acres to the Mechif. A scrip program was set up, bringing with it unscrupulous land speculation from banks, the Church and private industry, resulting in repossession of the land. Some Mechif moved west to Saskatchewan settling in the Batoche area. With the return of Louis Riel as their leader, battles ensued at Fish Creek and Batoche. With the surrender of Riel, Canadian Government took strong action against the Mechif by invoking an obscure 1351 statute to execute Riel. This set the continued future tone of the Canadian Government toward Indigenous people. Actions that followed included the banning of first languages and cultural practices. From this point forward, the West became entrenched as an English society with the Métis a dispossessed people forced to live in road allowances.