Who were the Selkirk settlers in the Red River Settlement?

The Selkirk settlers were a group of Scottish and Irish colonists brought to the Red River Settlement in present-day Manitoba, Canada, by Thomas Douglas, 5th earl of Selkirk.12

Lord Selkirk, a Scottish philanthropist, believed that emigration was a necessary solution to the poverty and evictions caused by enclosure in Scotland. In 1811, he acquired a massive land grant from the Hudson’s Bay Company in the Red and Assiniboine river valleys, an area known as Assiniboia.132

The first group of settlers arrived in 1812 under the leadership of Miles Macdonnell, the colony's first governor, with additional parties arriving through 1815. Their presence sparked significant conflict with the North West Company and the local Métis, who feared the settlers' intensive farming practices would threaten their traditional livelihoods and land rights. The settlers faced frequent harassment, crop destruction, and violence, most notably during the Seven Oaks Massacre in 1816.23