Louis Riel
Defender of Métis rights and founder of Manitoba
Louis Riel was born on 22 October 1844 in a small home in St-Boniface, near the fork of the Red and Seine rivers, as the eldest of eleven children in a locally respected family. His father, Louis Riel Sr., of Franco-Chipewyan Métis descent, had become prominent by organizing a group that supported Guillaume Sayer, a Métis man tried for challenging the Hudson’s Bay Company’s trade monopoly; Sayer’s release effectively ended that monopoly, making the Riel name well known in the Red River area. His mother, Julie Lagimodière, came from one of the earliest white families to settle in Red River in 1812. The family was noted for devout Catholicism and strong ties. Riel began schooling at age seven, attending St. Boniface Catholic schools, including one run by the French Christian Brothers. At thirteen, Bishop Alexandre Taché, eager to promote the priesthood for talented Métis, arranged for Riel to attend the Petit Séminaire de Montréal. Described as a fine scholar in languages, science, and philosophy, he was also hot-tempered, extreme in his views, intolerant of criticism, and prone to arguing with teachers. After his father’s premature death in 1864, Riel lost interest in the priesthood and withdrew from the college in March 1865. He briefly studied as a day student at a convent but was asked to leave for breaches of discipline. During mourning, he experienced emotional and religious turmoil, at one point believing he was a Jew named David Mordecai, and announced he would form a new religious movement. Impoverished, he worked as a law clerk in Montreal and had a failed romance with Marie-Julie Guernon, whose family opposed her involvement with a Métis. By early 1866, he left Canada East, working odd jobs in Chicago and as a clerk in Saint Paul, Minnesota, before returning to the Red River settlement on 26 July 1868.
- born
- 22 October 1844
- died
- 16 November 1885
- field
- Politics, resistance leadership
- nationality
- Canadian (Métis)
- known_for
- Founder of Manitoba, leader of the Red River Resistance and North-West Rebellion
Lore & Background
Riel fought to defend Métis rights and identity as the Northwest Territories came progressively under the Canadian sphere of influence. The first resistance movement led by Riel was the Red River Resistance of 1869–1870. The provisional government established by Riel ultimately negotiated the terms under which the new province of Manitoba entered the Canadian Confederation. However, while carrying out the resistance, Riel had a Canadian nationalist, Thomas Scott, executed. Riel soon fled to the United States to escape prosecution. He was elected three times as member of the House of Commons, but, fearing for his life, never took his seat. During these years in exile he came to believe that he was a divinely chosen leader and prophet. He married in 1881 while in exile in the Montana Territory. In 1884 Riel was called upon by the Métis leaders in Saskatchewan to help resolve longstanding grievances with the Canadian government. He returned to Canada and led an armed conflict with government forces: the North-West Rebellion of 1885. Defeated at the Battle of Batoche, Riel was imprisoned in Regina where he was convicted at trial of high treason. Despite protests, popular appeals and the jury's call for clemency, Riel was executed by hanging.
Reader's Guide
Riel was seen as a heroic victim by French Canadians; his execution had a lasting negative impact on Canada, polarizing the new nation along ethno-religious lines. The Métis were marginalized in the Prairie provinces by the increasingly English-dominated majority. A long-term effect of these actions was the bitter alienation felt by Francophones across Canada, and their anger against the repression by their countrymen. Riel's historical reputation has long been polarized between portrayals as a dangerous religious fanatic and rebel opposed to the Canadian nation, and, by contrast, as a charismatic leader intent on defending his Métis people from the unfair encroachments by the federal government eager to give Orangemen-dominated Ontario settlers priority access to land. Riel has received among the most formal organizational and academic scrutiny of any figure in Canadian history.
Did You Know?
- Riel was the eldest of eleven children in a locally well-respected family.
- His father Louis Riel Sr. helped end the Hudson's Bay Company's trade monopoly by supporting Guillaume Sayer.
- Riel attended the Petit Séminaire de Montréal at age thirteen, arranged by Bishop Alexandre Taché.
- After his father's death in 1864, Riel experienced emotional and religious turmoil and briefly believed he was David Mordecai.
- Riel was elected three times to the House of Commons but never took his seat.
Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)
"Deeds are not accomplished in a few days, or in a few hours. A century is only a spoke in the wheel of everlasting time." — Louis Riel "We may be a small community and a Half-breed community at that — but we are men, free and spirited men, and we will not allow even the Dominion of Canada to trample on our rights." — Louis Riel "My people will sleep for one hundred years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who give them their spirit back." — Louis Riel "I have nothing but my heart and I have given it long ago to my country." — Louis Riel
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