Glorious and free | |||||||
| Capital | Niverville | ||||||
| Largest city | Brandon | ||||||
| Other cities | Gimli, Steinbach, Morden, Winkler, Selkirk, The Pas, Flin Flon, Gillam | ||||||
| Language official |
English, French | ||||||
| others | Icelandic, Cree | ||||||
| Monarch | William V | ||||||
| Prime Minister | Kevin Chudd | ||||||
| Population | 448,956 (2020 census) | ||||||
| Established | 1984 | ||||||
| Currency | Assiniboian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Buffalo Dollar | ||||||
The Dominion of Assiniboia is the newest and easternmost Province of Western Canada. Comprising the southern two-thirds of Manitoba as well as a very small band of river communities along the northern American states of North Dakota and Minnesota, it was a starkly independent state until economic ruination forced it to reconsider offers of absorption from both of the rival Canadian governments.
History[]
Pre-Doomsday[]
The region now known as Assiniboia was formerly land held by the Hudson's Bay Company called Rupert's Land, populated overwhelmingly by Indian tribes with only a handful of European settlers in isolated outposts. The first major European settlement was sent by Lord Selkirk, a small colony of about 200 Scottish settlers that set up near the Hudson's Bay Company outpost of Fort Garry, which is where the city of Winnipeg eventually grew from. In 1869 Rupert's land was conceded to the recently established Dominion of Canada, and was named the Northwest Territory. However, the establishment of the Province of Manitoba, centered on Fort Garry, angered the native and Metis (descendants of European Fur trappers and Indian women they married), and, under the leadership of Louis Riel, the rebelled. The Red River Rebellion, and the killing of Ontarian Thomas Scott forced Canada to send forces to crush the uprising, and forced Riel into exile, though he attempted once again to lead the Northwest Rebellion in what was Saskatchewan for native rights, but was captured, tried, and hung. He is considered the founder of Manitoba, though English Canadian's considered him a traitor.
Louis Riel, the "Father of Manitoba."
From the establishment of Manitoba, and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railroad through the province, lead to a massive increase in population, and the establishment of agriculture as the primary industry. Over 18,000 Manitoban men fought in First World War, and 14 Victoria Crosses were awarded to Manitobans. After the war, the fear of communism lead to the brutal suppression of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, notable for a Royal Northwest Mounted Police charge into the strikers, which resulted in serious injuries and one death. The strike leaders were charged with seditious conspiracy, illegal combinations, and seditious libel; four were aliens who were deported under the Canadian Immigration Act.
The Great Depression struck Manitoba especially hard, throwing thousands out of work and the drop in wheat prices, coupled with conditions known as the "Dust Bowl" led to an increase of economic diversification away from wheat and grain production. The Second World War helped lift the province out of the Depression, and was one of the main centers for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, which trained thousands of airmen. Winnipeg and other smaller towns in Manitoba was also home to a simulated Nazi Invasion, called "If Day", which was organized to sell Victory Bonds, and the event raised over $65 million.
After the war, the province's economy boomed, as oil was found in the Virden area, as well as mining in the Thompson area grew in importance. The city of Winnipeg was inundated in the Flood of 1950, which forced a partial evacuation of the city, and the calls by Primer Duff Roblin to construct a massive floodway to protect the city, and it was finished in 1968.
Before Doomsday, the province was booming, and was home to over one million people, 600,000 of whom lived in Winnipeg and the surrounding area. Winnipeg was a major thoroughfare for the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railways, and Winnipeg International was a major hub, with destinations throughout Canada and the US being offered. The port of Churchill on Hudson Bay is the only seaport in the Prairie provinces, and the major shipping point to Europe of Canadian grain.
Post-Doomsday[]
When Winnipeg was struck during Doomsday (due to its being a major hub in rail and air travel,), the region was immediately thrown into almost total chaos. CFB Shilo to the east of the city of Brandon was struck as well. With the decapitation of the Manitoban government, the local communities were pretty much on their own. Surviving RCMP and authorities from Winnipeg reconvened Niverville. On the anniversary of Doomsday, they finally agreed to join forces to repel the gangs. They finally forced the raiders to leave the newly formed Dominion of Assiniboia. They elected farmer William McVicar, the provisional mayor of Niverville, as the first Prime Minister of Assiniboia.
The first priority of the new government was to re-establish the agricultural supply stockpiles of the region, and to help provide for the refugees that soon began flowing into rural Manitoba. Hold off the gangs of bandits that were raiding the supply stockpiles and fleeing town proved exceedingly difficult, as attempting to catch them exhausted even more resources. In order to ensure that food would last through the winter of 1984, rationing was imposed. The agriculture coming from the region was in small amounts, though was higher compared to many other nations because of the large agriculture industry in the area. However, the 1984 Harvest was the lowest ever recorded in Manitoba, with many thousands of previously wounded refugees dying from the compound effect of malnutrition. As the skies fully cleared up after 1990, agriculture would slowly rise again to levels seen pre-Doomsday, with new fertilizers and dropping radiation levels around the world contributing to this success, though rationing was still in place until 2001. However, Manitoba had lost almost three-quarters of its population, with towns bordering the destroyed silos in North Dakota and the greater Winnipeg region feeling the worst of the population collapse. The town of Niverville, having formed an impromptu rallying point between Brandon and the towns east of former Winnipeg, managed to secure just enough supplies to avoid the worst of the dark years.
The refugees that came to Assiniboia after Doomsday were treated well, and many would choose to become citizens of the new nation, while others tried to make their way to the west, toward the North American Union after the Provisional United States was founded in 1991.
Expansion[]
In 1987, the first expedition to the source of the Red River was made, and was able to reach the city of Fargo, which revealed that most of the areas around the former states of North and South Dakota had become self-sufficient city states in a loose confederation called the " Provisional Government of the Dakotas."
Northern expeditions in 1989 revealed that the Opaskwayak Cree Nation and town of The Pas had joined together for protection from renegade armed bands, but had not formed a formal government. They held off joining with what become known as the "Assiniboian" effort at that time (calling back to an older name for the region employed by the British during its settlement). The expedition gave arms and resources to the defenders of the region to hold off the bands. When they reported back, Prime Minister William McVicar was reported to have said "... at least we know we are not alone, which is a good feeling, and a great moment for all of us." A second northern expedition in 1996 resulted in the finding the deserted towns of Thompson, Flin Flon and Gillam, which, it was assumed, the majority had died of starvation. It was later found out that the handful that did survive lived in the bush since 1984. Plans to repopulate the towns were undertaken as they were important mining towns and close to the hydroelectric dams further north.
After William McVicar retired from the Prime Minister's post in 1990, another farmer, William "Bill" Brigden, from the Southwestern portion of the nation was elected. He continued the former PM's policies, although his efforts to improve the economy in other parts of the fledgling nation, especially in the south western and northern parts of Assiniboia, were moderately successful. The major project to re-establish contact with the northern hydroelectric plants was also successful, and a secure source of electricity was secured.
The Crisis and Flood of 1997[]
The town of Morris, Assiniboia, during the 1997 flood. The entire town was ringed by a dike to prevent to flood waters from entering the town. In all, more than 2560 sq km (990 sq mi) of land underwater, which earned it the nickname "Red Sea".
After Bill Brigden left office in 1995, Brian Ransom from Boissevain, a local Conservative Politician, briefly took over the PM's post, until failing health forced him to resign in 1997. After a heated debate, Elisha Harper, the first Aboriginal to hold the post of Prime Minister, was named interim PM a few days later, on April 17, and almost immediately after had to confront the Red River Flood of 1997, which reached Manitoba less than two weeks later. However, the quick actions from the Royal Assiniboian Mounted Police to rescue those in the South saved thousands of lives.The radioactive ruins of Winnipeg were flooded, as the Red Diver Floodway was rendered useless following Doomsday, the pollution being drained out into Lake Winnipeg via the Red River. This devastated the remaining fishing stocks in the Lake, further impoverishing the nation.
Harper was elected in 2000. Current PM Dave Burgess from Brandon was elected in 2005. He made a major turn in policy by reaching out toward the east and west, establishing formal diplomatic relations with both the Provisional Government of Canada and the United States. Efforts to deter the armed bands of the predominantly Métis separatist group known as "Riel's Army" remained ongoing; although Riel's Army were cut off from their allies in Lakotah and rogue military along the Platte River, major headway was reached when the RAMP captured the town of Norway House in 2003, permanently ending attacks on lower Manitoba.
Both the North American Union and the post-DD Canadian government forwarded offers to help bring the Assiniboians into their respective unions. However, the highly independent nature of the Assiniboians has caused them to politely reject both offers. The NAU was not helped by its failure in ceasing Lakotan support of Riel's Army as the ongoing border dispute, and smoldering brush-fire war did not endear them to the Lakotans or their NAU leaders.
A Eastern Expedition was sent in early 2005, and contact was made with Thunder Bay later that year, but after scouts realized that the town was a Fascist dictatorship, left, and later made contact with Superior and the Canada Remainder Provinces in 2006, but an offer to reunite with Canada was rejected due to the CRP offering very few real-world services or benefits yet demanding a "flat" tax.
Canadian Spring and Present Day[]
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The rural society would quietly miss several world events such as the founding of the Atlantic Defense Community of which Canada was a founding-member, the birth of the League of Nations, the even the first half of the Saguenay War. It was only until fighter jets boomed over the small town of Niverville for the first time in 2011 that the leadership at Niverville had underestimated how much of the world had survived, and what the new stakes were.
Following the conclusion of the Saguenay War, northern Manitoba would slowly be 'reclaimed' by factions of the St. John's-based Canadian government operating out of the Hudson Bay. It is clear that while this reclamation was uncontested, it was not necessarily bloodless, with reports of defiant settlements facing summary arrests and occasional firefights (although the blame for this cannot be solely lodged on St. John's). In any case, popular culture in Assiniboia often slandered the eastern Canadian government after showing up only 30 years after the crisis. Ironically, the issue led to Assiniboia endearing itself more to the Provisional government at Saskatoon. The concurrent "American Spring" saw the Provisional United States drop its Provisional title and formally declare itself the successor to its namesake, with the Dakotas, Oregon and even parts of Oklahoma and Minnesota returning to the Union. Similar feelings of "Canadian nostalgia" would fall on the older generation.
The stalling of talks between the Western and Eastern Canadian governments and episodes of violence between CRP patrols in northeastern Manitoba and armed gangs actually sending the gangs further south into Assiniboia created a window of reconsideration to previous rebuttals to rejoin Provisional Canada. After decades of independence, Canada would finally re-integrate the northwest and southern half of Manitoba as the province of Assiniboia, matching Provisional Canada's border to the US state of Minnesota's.
Since uniting with Provisional Canada (and entering the North American Union by extension), Assiniboia's roads have slowly seen a rise in activity, being the safest and fastest land route between the rest of the NAU and Superior (at least in the warmer months). It has attempted to capitalize on the "oil sand" boom that unexpectedly made Assiniboia the wealthiest nation in the Union, although its inferior sands and stricter tax code have dissuaded the same number of investors.
Oil sand deposits as seen by Gulf States Union scientists in 2024.
Government[]
The government is a restructuring of the pre-war Manitoban government. The Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedoms are virtually identical to pre-War Canada's with several differences:
- The election of a Prime Minister is completely independent of the election of representatives in Parliament. As such, the Prime Minister is directly elected by the people.
- The age of Candidacy is 18, which is more along the lines of Australia than Canada's
The first elections after Doomsday was held in 1985, were interim Prime Minister William McVicar won unopposed. His major platform was to re-establish agriculture, defend against the various tribal gangs/bands attacking, and try to contact other survivor states. He is considered one of the most level-headed and calm of the leaders who came to power after Doomsday, and retired after one term in 1990. He returned to working his family farm outside the small town of Otterburne, Manitoba.
Health[]
Though they are lower than in other parts of the world, cancer rates are still higher than pre-DD levels. A quarantine zone has been placed around the site of the former city of Winnipeg. In light of lowering levels or radiation, there is talk of resettling the outer limits of the city, but this has not yet been possible.
Brandon General Hospital
Military[]
RAMP officers in ceremonial uniforms.
There is a militia in place to deter armed gangs from the former province of Ontario. It consists of the local remnants of the Canadian Army and the RCMP, mostly based at the former Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Shilo, near Brandon. There is a continuation of the RCMP called the Royal Assiniboian Mounted Police (RAMP).
Culture and Media[]
Assiniboia's culture is heavily influenced by Aboriginal and Metis culture, as well as the "imported" cultures of numerous groups of immigrants, such as the Icelandic and Ukrainians. After Doomsday, the festivals that had traditionally taken place in Winnipeg were later restarted in several other communities, such as Festival du Voyageur, honouring the fur traders that helped build Assinboia's past, and was restarted in the Franco-Assiniboian community of Ste. Rose du Lac in 2002; and Folkarama, celebrating the rich cultural backgrounds of the immigrants of Assiniboia, restarted in Brandon in 2004.
Other important figures after Doomsday included cartoonist Lynn Johnston, creator of For Better or For Worse, and living in the small community of Lynn Lake and painter Terry McLean from the Virden region, who specialized in wildlife painting. Well known rockers from before Doomsday, including Neil Young, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman, and who, presumably died in the tragedy, were from Assiniboia. Their legacy helped inspire several other small rock groups in the province as well, which strengthened the Assiniboian music tradition, which also included country music and old-fashioned Metis fiddling.
The most read newspaper in the province is the Brandon Sun, which shut down shortly after Doomsday but was finally restarted in 2003, with its first new issue dedicating a memorial to Doomsday on September 27, 2003. Most other small town newspapers have also shut down since Doomsday, and only a handful have since been able to start up again. Radio remains the most important source of news, entertainment and weather for Assiniboia, with stations in Brandon, Melita, Virden, Niverville, Boissevain, Dauphin and other towns to serve the nation. Radio dramas have become a well-refined mode of storytelling in the region, with radio stations often including imaginative set-ups to create life-like sounds for their dramas.
Sports[]
In 1989 the Assiniboians, in hopes of promoting national morale, revived the playing of certain sports. On New Year's Eve 1989 the first game of the new NHL was played. They also revived the tradition of the Stanley Cup, which was awarded in similar fashion to the destroyed original cup. The new National Hockey League has 6 teams from various communities in the nation.
- Niverville Clippers
- Steinbach Huskies
- St Adolphe Hawks
- Mitchell Mohawks
Economy[]
Despite the radiation damage caused by the nuclear bombing of Winnipeg and later pollution of Lake Manitoba, the main economy of the region still revolves around agriculture and fishing. Food process plants in the Brandon area are very important, and some light industry based in the area is starting to thrive again. There have been plans circulating to build an oil pipeline from neighboring Athabaska. The pipeline was under construction from 2015 to 2018. The requirement of paying in Buffalo Dollars (a wise move on the part of NAU-backed oil companies) led to the widespread introduction of the currency into Assiniboia, which smoothed over talks on the accession of Assiniboia into Provisional Canada and the wider North American Union.
Energy[]
One of the hydro dams reclaimed by Assiniboia.
The Hydroelectric dams the former Manitoba Hydro operated became an important source of power to the fledgling nation, as the structures were assumed to be in only moderate disrepair, and the some of the generators could be repaired. The dams on the Winnipeg River, totaling six in former Manitoba (totaling 570 megawatts), were first taken over and secured, but due to the age of the dams (the first had been built in 1911), it was decided that the massive northern projects, especially the four Nelson River dams, totaling over 3000 MW, would need to be secured, which was done so by 2004, and two of them are partially operational as of today, while the other two are virtually destroyed, parts from these two being used to fix the more operable ones. Other power plants included two small hydro dams on the Laurie River, but were considered to expensive to maintain for little output, a larger facility on the North Saskatchewan River, and a steam plant in Brandon, which was only used after Doomsday for a few weeks before the source of coal needed to run the plant ran out, and has not been used since. Assiniboia Hydro was formed in 2003 to control the various facilities, but RAMP forces are stationed at the plants due to the high risk of rebel native attacks. Several power lines went through the ruins of Winnipeg, and other lines running on the west side of Lake Winnipeg were enough to bring the power south, several attacks by Native rebels knocked down several in the 1990's. Plans for a new transmission line, running from the north through The Pas and Dauphin to reach Brandon are currently under consideration.
International Relations[]
The Assiniboians have healthy relations with most of the nations of North America.
Talks to reunify with the Canadian government at St. John's were stopped dead due to the total impracticality of bringing the Assiniboians back into confederation. The firm and practical 'practical' leadership in Niverville pointed out that there is plenty of territory between former Manitoba and Canada which would need to be pacified and reclaimed before the Canadian government can make any serious offer.
The Athabaskans are the 'closest' post-Doomsday nation to the Assiniboians. This is because they feel that they are a kindred nation in many ways, with both of the nations being heavily Metis and sharing the same determination to stay independent, despite the expanding influence of the Canadian government in St John's. The Athasbaskan economic boom following joining the North American Union and expanding its petroleum production was a large factor in convincing the Assiniboians to merge with Provisional Canada.
Assiniboia, with its position in the center of the North American continent, continues to work to improve economic ties to its west, east and south. With its position in the center of the Trans-Canada Highway, the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railways, it is essentially the link between the Pacific and the Atlantic in the future. But because of the difficulty in combating armed gangs in Ontario and other lawless parts of former Canada, all shipments require an armed escort, which can prove to be prohibitively expensive for many smaller businesses.
Assiniboia has one of the only Icelandic diasporas in the world, located around the town of Gimli. Like other Scandinavian communities in Superior and International Falls, the small Icelandic-speaking community has maintained a surprisingly strong grasp on their ancestral language. A church group from the small town was able to raise funds to visit Iceland in 2023, with the group being interviewed by chance for a documentary by Icelandic students that met critical acclaim in the Nordic Union.
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