Confilcting Ideas of the Past in Canada

Confilcting Ideas of the Past in Canada

He has been called a prophet, a traitor, a martyr, a visionary and a madman, but whatever one thinks of him, Louis Riel, remains one of the most controversial figures in Canadian history. Does this man who has continued to haunt Canadian history for more than a century after his execution, deserve all of those descriptions? After reading three different interpretations of the rebellions, it is still difficult to decide which is closer to the truth. All three authors retold the Metis history and although they differ on crucial issues, there was agreement on the basic facts. The primary difference amongst the three authors was whether the Canadian and Manitoban governments acted in good faith in carrying out the terms of the Manitoba Act, whether John A. MacDonald purposely deceived the Metis as to what Canada’s intentions were with respect to the Canada-Metis Agreement and to what extent were there deceptions in the administration of the Metis land grants. How these three historians attempt to encapsulate Riel’s life, accomplishments, and mistakes is very different. How they attempt to separate fact from fiction and decide whether Riel was justified in his actions against the government is written from three very different perspectives. Where their sympathies lie, how subjective they are and how they interpret the facts is quite evident, but there are many sides to history and every side must be examined if a fair judgment is to be made.

One can surmise that historians have probably debated quite heatedly the rights and wrongs of all the players in the Red River Rebellion, and the Northwest Rebellion. Authors like Stanley, in his book, The Birth of Western Canada believe t...

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...ch of their own bias. No doubt for years, decades, maybe even centuries to come, historians will still be debating whether Riel was a hero and a patriot, or as the government claimed, a traitor!

Bibliography:

1G.F.G. Stanley, The Birth of Western Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press,

1961) 88.

2Stanely 105-106.

3Stanley 205.

4Stanely 255.

5Stanley 251.

6Stanley 261

7Stanely 244.

8Stanley 214.

9Stanley 407.

10Stanley 48-49.

11 D. Sprague, Canada and the Metis, 1869-1885 (Waterloo Ontario: Wilfred Laurier

University Press, 1991) 157.

12Sprague 174.

13 Sprague 175

14 Thomas Flanagan, Riel and The Rebellion 1885 Reconsidered (Saskatoon: Western

Producer Prairie Books, 1984) 83.

15Flanagan 26.

16Flanagan 27.

17Flanagan 51.

18Flanagan 47.

19Flanagan 49.

20Flanagan 71.

21Flanagan 99-100.

22Flanagan 145.

23Flanagan 146.