Louis Riel passed away on November 16, 1885 in his 41st year of living. Predeceased by his parents Louis Riel Sr. and Julie Lagimodiere, his son Jean-Louis Riel and daughter Marie-Angelique Riel. As a leader for Metis freedoms and culture, Riel was celebrated as one of the most enduring Canadian Politicians of Canadian history and is solemnly remembered as a hero by the Metis and Francophone communities of Manitoba and beyond.
Riel was born 1844 in St. Boniface within the Red River Settlement of Manitoba. His father was a businessman who advocated for the rights of Metis. During his childhood, Riel excelled in his formal schooling and was sent to Montreal to become a Catholic Priest, there, he met a young French-Canadian woman named Marie-Julie Guenon and attempted to marry her. Unfortunately, the proposal ceased as Guenon’s parents rejected the idea of a Metis marrying a French Canadian.
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When Riel moved back home, he became invested in politics as he learned of the Canadian influence on the Red River increasing starting with the announcement that William MacDougal will survey the Red River settlements.
Concerned by the influx of Anglo-Protestants, Riel organized the Metis National Committee to protect the rights and culture of Metis in the Northwest. With Riel taking the helm, the Committee interrupted the surveys and barred MacDougal from entering the Red River. Furthermore, the Committee seized the Upper Fort Garry from the Hudson Bay Company with little resistance. This led to the Canadian government to send some officials to the Red River to discuss the development of a new provincial government for the
Metis. As the provincial government thrived in the Red River, an incursion of Irishmen led by Thomas Scott sought to create Irish settlements and confiscate the Metis Provincial Government. However, the plan backfired as Metis officials rounded up the invaders and imprisoned them in Fort Garry. Furthermore, Riel sentenced Scott to be executed by a firing squad for causing disturbances within Fort Garry, a controversial decision that sparked the outrage of Anglophone Protestants residing in Ontario. Faced with the fury of the Ontarians, Canadian Prime Minister John A. MacDonald sent Riel to exile in Montana, United States; this was then Riel faced nationwide denouncement by Protestants and praise from the Metis Community. While his exile lasted for 4 years, Riel was expelled from any position he received from the Canadian Government. When Riel returned from the United States, he moved to Saskatchewan where the Metis requested his assistance. The Metis explained that they have waited for the Canadian Government to declare permanent entitlement for the Metis and become impatient with the Government’s ill-conceived promise. While Riel initially practiced nonviolent protests and sent petitions to the government, the inaction prompted Riel to initiate his second rebellion. The Northwest Rebellion marked a disaster for the Metis, while the Metis had won several minor skirmishes; they were eventually overwhelmed by the advanced military of the Canadian Northwest Mountain Police. Facing this humiliation, Riel surrendered unconditionally to the Canadian government. In 1885, Riel was arrested for treason and was tried guilty. He was hanged in Regina, Saskatchewan and was buried in St. Boniface. Riel’s execution marked a massive scar on the Canadian government and on MacDonald’s reputation. Riel became a martyr of the Metis people and the tensions between the Metis and Canadian government had continued for several more years. Louis Riel is remembered as one of the many figures of Canadian history that challenged and revolutionized Canadian Identity. Today, he is celebrated as a proponent of Metis multiculturalism and individual rights and freedoms.
Canadian history consists of many memorable moments, including many great leaders that helped Canada become what it is today, like the well-known Louis St. Laurent. He was born on Feb. 1st, 1882 in Compton, Quebec, and died on July 25, 1973 in Quebec City (Coucil, 13). Louis St. Laurent was raised in a mixed family, with a French - speaking father, and English - speaking Irish mother, and was fluently bilingual. He studied many years in law, where he graduated from law school, at Laval University in 1914, and had been a successful corporation lawyer (“St-Stephen, St. Laurent”). Laurent entered politics a lot later in his years, as he became older; however he still managed to have a large impact on Canada, and achieved many accomplishments. Louis St. Laurent was an extremely important, and well-respected politician, because he helped resolve the conscription crisis from 1940-1944 (,Pickersgill,14), and prevented the government and cabinet from collapsing, which would have caused the society to fall apart at the time, he was involved in the establishment of the Canada Council, which introduced support for Canadian arts, to help Canada separate from the influence of American culture (Jocelyn), and lastly he welcomed Newfoundland into confederation in 1949 (“Newfoundland History”), which was a large accomplishment because of the failures Many other politicians experienced in trying to do so before.
Was Louis Riel a hero or a traitor? Well, some individuals say that he was a hero, and others say that he was a traitor. Individually I believe that Louis Riel was a hero because he was the forefather of Manitoba, which is a province of Canada. The fact that he was a persuasive politician and spiritual leader made him a hero as well. Lastly, he stood up for Native rights. Others like the British had thought of him mostly as a traitor, because they were not able to understand that Louis Riel had just needed the Canadian government to treat his people fairly, and that he was willing to do everything for his people. Instead the government had thought that he was violent and evil, so a threat to them. Most people who had seen him as a traitor had realized that he did everything for his people…after his hanging.
To them, the excitement and the adventure of the buffalo hunt held more appeal than farming. Hundreds of Metis were content to earn a living by hunting buffalo, making pemmican or finding employment as freight drivers. After a while Canada bought Rupertsland from Hudson Bay Company. When the Metis heard this they were alarmed. They feared their religion,their language, their lands and their old, free way of* life.
The Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) represents the Métis community in Manitoba in political, cultural, social and economic matters (Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF), 2013). Manitoba Métis Federation, representing Métis in Manitoba, filed a claim asking for a declaration that the federal and provincial statutes, which affected the implementation of Manitoba Act provisions, were "constitutionally invalid” (Chartrand, p. 477, 1991). In Section 31 of Manitoba Act, 1870, it provided lands to the Métis people. Section 32 assured the settlers, Aboriginal or not, that their occupied lands in 1869 would not be “jeopardized” by the wave of newcomers (Sprague...
Burke, Marie. "Seven aboriginal senators: 40 years (looking back on the Senate's Aboriginal representatives)." Windspeaker Dec. 1998: 9. Canada in Context. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
Charles-Émile Trudeau was a Conservative, and several of his friends belonged to the Liberal Party. When his father’s friends were visiting at their Lac Tremblant cottage, Pierre was exposed to political debates and rivalries at an early age. He found politics interesting, but could not understand much of it. His father invested in successful several companies at the beginning of the...
The main point that Frits Pannekoek makes in her essay is as follows. Panekoek reasons that there are differences between the Metis and the Half-breeds that led them to form to groups apart from each other, with a bitter relationship between the two . Pannekoek believes that "In fact there was little unity between the two groups during the Riel Resistance" . I must start of my first main point by saying that essential there is much reliability to what Frits Pannekoek is saying.
MacDougall, Brenda. One of the Family: Metis Culture in Nineteenth-Century Northwestern Saskatchewan. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2010.
An innocent, joyless, outcast lurks in the depths of the earth. He is feared by all due to his violent behavior and thirst for humans. Stories about this monster stretch across lands, intriguing the one and only Beowulf. In this notorious Epic, Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney, Grendel is the Frankenstein of this poem, the Joker of this time period, the Lord Voldemort of this book. Basically, Grendel is the villain and when there’s a villain there’s a hero. Our hero today is Beowulf, who challenges Grendel and he trounced not only Grendel but Grendel’s mother as well. Not only are Grendel and his mother villains but they also played the role of being the outcast/scapegoat. Symbolically they play the role
Many people saw Louis Riel as a hero because of his passion about preserving the Métis rights and culture. Riel was a great Métis leader because he risked his own life just to improve the Métis’ lives. His heroism began when he returned home to Red River in 1868 after his studies, and discovered that the settlement was alarmed by arrangements to transfer territorial rights from the Hudson’s Bay Company to the Dominion of Canada. This was because the Hudson’s Bay Company resigned its control of the Northwest, and sold Rupert’s Land to Canada. This caused the Métis (people of mixed Aboriginal and European heritage) to fear that they would lose control of their homeland and traditional rights. They we...
government, t. p. (n.d.). Quebec Nationalism - Quebec History. Faculty.marianopolis.edu. Retrieved May 27, 2012, from http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/events/natpart4.htm
Was Robert E. Lee a Hero or a Hitler? Like Hitler, Lee’s legacy is very controversial. The three page web-based biography our class was asked to read gives a lot of facts about Lee, but also leaves out a lot of facts that are important for people to know. Robert E. Lee was born on January 19, 1807 and died October 12, 1870. He was born in Stratford Hall, Virginia and was the son of Ann Carter and Henry Lee.
Pierre Laporte, Canadian journalist, Deputy Premier and Minister of Labour of the province of Quebec, had a large impact on the October Crisis and the FLQ attacks. The Quebec-born politician was known for his work against then-Quebec Premier; Maurice Duplessis. Laporte targeted the Duplessis government.
Her book makes me do a lot of personal reflecting on how I can help reshape my family to celebrate their Métis identity. Fiola makes me realize once inner security and self-confidence is claimed that racism can be addressed in constructive ways, to get to the root of our problems. Realizing that I am internally racist to my own culture was very hard but the book helped provide me with evidence that other people can reclaim their identity and be proud. The Indigenous people she interviewed helped me realize that I can do reshape my identity and become a spiritual women. I found a lot of peace within her sharing these stories and expanding on how the Métis people lived and have gotten to where they are today. Fiola (2014) talks about Louis Riel in an inspiring light how he managed to “straddle two cultures, Native and white, and came as close as anyone to envisioning a sympathetic an equitable relationship between the two. That Canadians may someday achieve this vision that remains Louis Riel’s legacy”. Louis Riel is a dominant figure to many Métis people, including my self. Riel shows me that many people have made sacrifices to get me to where I am today as a Métis
On the 25th May 1984 Musqueam Band Member Ron Sparrow was caught fishing in the traditional Indian Fraser river fishery, using a 45 fathom drift net in direct contravention of his band’s food fishing licence issued by the Canadian Department for Fisheries which stipulated that Musqueam band members could only use drift nets 25 fathoms long to reduce their catch in the interest of conservation of the fishery. The Musqueam community decided to defend Ron Sparrows use of a longer drift net on the basis of the Band’s aboriginal fishing rights and the new constitutional recognition and affirmation of aboriginal rights in section 35 of the Canadian Constitution, which is part of the supreme law of Canada.