Canadian political leader, born in Red River Settlement, Rupert's Land, Canada. He succeeded his father as a leader of the Métis, and headed the Red River Rebellion in 186970. As president of the provisional government, he was able to secure better terms for the new province of Manitoba in the Confederation. Following a period of exile in the USA, he returned to lead a second uprising of Métis (1885), in what is now Saskatchewan. His subsequent arrest and trial led to his execution.
Louis "David" Riel (October 22, 1844 – November 16, 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and leader of the Métis people of the Canadian prairies.
The first such resistance was the Red River Rebellion of 1869–1870. The provisional government established by Riel ultimately negotiated the terms under which the modern province of Manitoba entered the Canadian Confederation. Riel was forced into exile in the United States as a result of the controversial execution of Thomas Scott during the rebellion.
In 1884, Riel returned to what is now the province of Saskatchewan to represent Métis grievances to the Canadian government. Riel was viewed sympathetically in francophone regions of Canada, and his execution had a lasting influence on relations between the province of Quebec and English-speaking Canada.
Early life
The Red River Settlement was a community in Rupert's Land nominally administered by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), and largely inhabited by First Nations tribes and the Métis, an ethnic group of mixed Cree, Ojibway, Saulteaux, French Canadian, Scottish, and English descent. Louis Riel was born there in 1844, near modern Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Louis Riel Sr.
Riel was the eldest of eleven children in a locally well-respected French Canadian-Métis family—his father had gained prominence in this community by organising a group that supported Guillaume Sayer, a Métis imprisoned for challenging the HBC's historical trade monopoly. Sayer's eventual release as a result of agitations by Louis Sr.'s group is credited with ending the monopoly, and the name Riel was therefore well known in the Red River. The Riels were noted for their devout Catholicism and strong family ties. In 1858 Taché arranged for Riel to attend the Petit Séminaire of the Collège de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec under the direction of the Sulpician order.
Following news of his father's premature death in 1864, Riel lost interest in the priesthood and he withdrew from the college in March 1865. For a period he remained in Montreal, living at the home of his aunt, Lucie Riel. Impoverished by the death of his father, Riel took employment as a law clerk in the Montreal office of Rodolphe Laflamme. This progressed to the point of Riel having signed a contract of marriage, but his fiancée's family opposed her involvement with a Métis, and the engagement was soon broken. Compounding this disappointment, Riel found legal work unpleasant, and perhaps as early as 1866 he had resolved to leave Quebec.
Red River Rebellion
Background
The majority population of the Red River had historically been Métis and First Nations people. But upon his return, Riel found that religious, nationalistic, and racial tensions were being exacerbated by an influx of anglophone Protestant settlers from Ontario.
Riel emerges as a leader
In late August, Riel denounced the survey in a speech, and on October 11, 1869, the survey's work was disrupted by a group of Métis that included Riel. This group organised itself as the "Métis National Committee" on October 16, with Riel as secretary and John Bruce as president. When summoned by the HBC-controlled Council of Assiniboia to explain his actions, Riel declared that any attempt by Canada to assume authority would be contested unless Ottawa had first negotiated terms with the Métis. McDougall's party was turned back near the American border, and on the same day, Métis led by Riel seized Fort Garry without bloodshed.
On November 6, Riel invited anglophones to attend a convention alongside Métis representatives to discuss a course of action, and on December 1 he proposed to this convention a list of rights to be demanded as a condition of union. Riel ordered Schultz's home surrounded, and the outnumbered Canadians soon surrendered and were imprisoned in Upper Fort Garry.
Provisional government
Hearing of the unrest, Ottawa sent three emissaries to the Red River, including HBC representative Donald Alexander Smith. While they were en route, the Métis National Committee declared a provisional government on December 8, with Riel becoming its president on December 27. Meetings between Riel and the Ottawa delegation took place on January 5 and 6, 1870, but when these proved fruitless, Smith chose to present his case in a public forum. Smith assured large audiences of the Government's goodwill in meetings on January 19 and January 20, leading Riel to propose the formation of a new convention split evenly between French and English settlers to consider Smith's instructions. On February 7, a new list of rights was presented to the Ottawa delegation, and Smith and Riel agreed to send representatives to Ottawa to engage in direct negotiations on that basis.
Canadian resistance and the execution of Scott
Despite the apparent progress on the political front, the Canadian party continued to plot against the provisional government. Riel was repeatedly entreatied to commute the sentence, but Donald Smith reported that Riel responded to his pleas by saying:
Scott was executed by firing squad on March 4. Riel's motivations for allowing the execution have been the cause of much speculation, but his own justification was that he felt it necessary to demonstrate to the Canadians that the Métis must be taken seriously.
Creation of Manitoba and the Wolseley expedition
The delegates representing the provisional government departed for Ottawa in March.
As a means of exercising Canadian authority in the settlement and dissuading American expansionists, a Canadian military expedition under Colonel Garnet Wolseley was dispatched to the Red River. Although the government described it as an "errand of peace", Riel learned that Canadian militia elements in the expedition meant to lynch him, and he fled as the expedition approached the Red River.
The intervening years
The amnesty question
It was not until September 2 that the new lieutenant-governor Adams George Archibald arrived and set about the establishment of civil government. In the absence of an amnesty, and with the Canadian militia beating and intimidating his sympathisers, Riel fled to the safety of the St. Joseph's mission across the border in the Dakota Territory. However the results of the first provincial election in December 1870 were promising for Riel, as many of his supporters came to power. Companies of armed horsemen were raised, including one led by Riel. When Archibald reviewed the troops in St. Boniface, he made the significant gesture of publicly shaking Riel's hand, signalling that a rapprochement had been effected. He therefore quietly arranged for Taché to offer Riel what amounted to a bribe of $1000 to enter voluntary exile. This was supplemented by an additional £600 from Smith for the care of Riel's family. With few other options, Riel accepted, arriving in St. Paul on March 2, 1872. However, by late June Riel was back in Manitoba and was soon thereafter convinced to run as a member of parliament for the electoral district of Provencher. However, following the early September defeat of Cartier in his home riding in Quebec, Riel stood aside so that Cartier — on record as being in favour of amnesty for Riel — might secure a seat. Cartier won by acclamation, but Riel's hopes for a swift resolution to the amnesty question were dashed following Cartier's death on May 20, 1873. In the ensuing by-election in October 1873, Riel ran unopposed, although he had once again fled, a warrant having been issued for his arrest in September. Riel made his way to Montreal and, fearing arrest or assassination, vacillated as to whether he should attempt to take up his seat in the House of Commons — Edward Blake, the Premier of Ontario, had announced a bounty of $5000 for his arrest. Famously, Riel was the only Member of Parliament who was not present for the great Pacific Scandal debate of 1873 that led to the resignation of the Macdonald government in November. Although the Liberals under Mackenzie formed the new government, Riel easily retained his seat. Formally, Riel had to sign a register book at least once upon being elected, and he did so under disguise in late January. Undeterred, Riel prevailed once again in the resulting by-election, and although once again expelled, his symbolic point had been made and public opinion in Quebec was strongly tipped in his favour.
Exile and mental illness
During this period, Riel had been staying near Plattsburgh, New York in the French-Canadian village of Keesville. This sparked outrage in the sympathetic Quebec press, and calls for amnesty for both Lépine and Riel were renewed. This opened the door for Mackenzie to secure from parliament an amnesty for Riel, on that the condition that he remain in exile for five years. But after Riel disrupted a religious service, Lee arranged to have him committed in an asylum in Longue-Pointe on March 6, 1876 under the assumed name "Louis R. He consequently began calling himself Louis "David" Riel, prophet of the new world, and he would pray (standing) for hours, having servants help him to hold his arms in the shape of a cross. But with insufficient means to propose marriage, Riel returned to the west, hoping that she might follow.
Montana and family life
In the fall of 1878, Riel returned to St. Paul, and briefly visited his friends and family. This was a time of rapid change for the Métis of the Red River — the buffalo on which they depended were becoming increasingly scarce, the influx of settlers was ever-increasing, and many had sold their land to unscrupulous land speculators. Like many other Red River Métis who had left Manitoba, Riel headed further west in order to start a new life. and a boy that was born and died on October 21, 1885, less than one month before Riel was hanged.
Riel soon became involved in the politics of Montana, and in 1882, actively campaigned on behalf of the Republican Party. In response, Riel applied for United States citizenship and was naturalized on March 16, 1883.
The North-West Rebellion
Grievances in the Saskatchewan territory
Following the Red River Rebellion, large numbers of Métis travelled west and settled in the Saskatchewan Valley, especially along the south branch of the river in the country surrounding the Saint-Laurent mission (near modern Grandin, Saskatchewan). In the electoral district of Lorne, a meeting of the south branch Métis was held in the village of Batoche on March 24, and thirty representatives voted to ask Riel to return and represent their cause. On May 6 a joint "Settler's Union" meeting was attended by both the Métis and English-speaking representatives from Prince Albert, including William Henry Jackson, an Ontario settler sympathetic to the Métis and known to them as Honoré Jackson, and James Isbister of the Anglo-Métis. It was here resolved to send a delegation to ask Riel's assistance in presenting their grievances to the Canadian government.
The return of Riel
The head of the delegation to Riel was Gabriel Dumont, a respected buffalo hunter and leader of the Saint-Laurent Métis who had known Riel in Manitoba. Riel was easily swayed to support their cause — which was perhaps not surprising in view of Riel's continuing conviction that he was the divinely selected leader of the Métis and the prophet of a new form of Christianity. Riel also intended to use any new position of influence to pursue his own land claims in Manitoba. Upon his arrival Métis and English settlers alike formed an initially favourable impression of Riel following a series of speeches in which he advocated moderation and a reasoned approach. During June 1884, the Plains Cree leaders Big Bear and Poundmaker were independently formulating their complaints, and subsequently held meetings with Riel. Inspired by Riel, Honoré Jackson and representatives of other communities set about drafting a petition, and Jackson on July 28 released a manifesto detailing grievances and the settler's objectives. In the interim, Riel's support from some quarters began to waver. As Riel's religious pronouncements became increasingly removed from Roman Catholicism, the clergy began to distance themselves, and father Alexis André cautioned Riel against mixing religion and politics. Also, in response to bribes by territorial lieutenant-governor and Indian commissioner Edgar Dewdney, local English-language newspapers adopted an editorial stance critical of Riel. Nevertheless, the work continued, and on December 16 Riel forwarded the committee's petition to the government, along with the suggestion that delegates be sent to Ottawa to engage in direct negotiation.
Break with the church
While Riel awaited news from Ottawa he considered returning to Montana, but had by February resolved to stay. In the absence of a productive course of action, Riel began to engage in obsessive prayer, and was, in fact, experiencing a significant relapse of his mental agitations. But Riel, undoubtedly influenced by his messianic delusions, became increasingly supportive of this course of action. In the church at Saint-Laurent on March 15, Riel disrupted a sermon to argue for this position, following which he was barred from receiving the sacraments, and increasingly frequently discussed his "divine revelations". But disenchanted with the status quo, and swayed by Riel's charisma and eloquent rhetoric, many Métis remained loyal to Riel, despite his proclamations that Bishop Ignace Bourget should be accepted as pope, and that "Rome has fallen". Macdonald, who was instrumental in upholding Riel's sentence, is famously quoted as saying
"He shall hang though every dog in Quebec bark in his favour." On December 12, 1885, Riel's remains were laid to rest in the churchyard of the Saint-Boniface Cathedral following the performance of a requiem mass.Legacy
Political legacy
The Saskatchewan Métis' requested land grants were all provided by the government by the end of 1887, and the government resurveyed the Métis river lots in accordance with their wishes. In many respects, Riel's worst fears were realised — following the failed rebellion, the French language and Roman Catholic religion faced increasing marginalisation in both Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as exemplified by the controversy surrounding the Manitoba Schools Question.
Riel's execution and Macdonald's refusal to commute his sentence caused lasting upset in Quebec, and led to a fundamental alteration in the Canadian political order. In Quebec, Honoré Mercier exploited discontent over Riel's execution to reconstitute the Parti National. That Riel's name still has resonance in Canadian politics was evidenced on November 16, 1994, when Suzanne Tremblay, a Bloc Québécois member of parliament, introduced private members' bill C-228, "An Act to revoke the conviction of Louis David Riel".
Riel reconsidered
The formerly widespread perception of Louis Riel as an insane traitor, especially outside of the Métis and French Canadian community, weakened considerably since the late 20th century. Many now view Riel as a hero who stood up for his people in the face of a racist government, and some who question his sanity still view him as an essentially honourable figure. Riel nevertheless presents an enigma, although as historian J.M.S. Careless has observed, it is possible that Riel was both a murderer and a hero. For example, shortly after the Red River Rebellion the Canadian government began a programme that speculators and other non-Métis exploited to dispossess the Métis of their land; Métis scholars have noted that Riel is a more important figure to non-Métis than to Métis, perhaps because he is often the only Métis figure most non-Métis are aware of. While it is by no means universally accepted, some scholars such as Thomas Flanagan have pointed out certain parallels between Riel's following during the North-West Rebellion and millenarian cults. Others have embraced his image as a revolutionary — in the 1960s, the Quebec terrorist group, the Front de libération du Québec, went so far as to adopt the name "Louis Riel" for one of its terrorist cells.
Monuments and place names
A statue of Riel now stands on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and two statues of Riel are located in Winnipeg. One of the Winnipeg statues, the work of architect Étienne Gaboury and sculptor Marcien Lemay, depicts Riel as a naked and tortured figure. It was replaced in 1994 with a statue designed by Miguel Joyal depicting Riel as a dignified statesman.
In numerous communities in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and even in Ontario, Riel is commemorated in the names of streets, schools, and other buildings. The student centre and campus pub at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon are named after Riel. Saskatchewan provincial highway 11, stretching from Regina to just south of Prince Albert, has been named Louis Riel Trail by the province;
Arts, literature, and popular culture
Portrayals of Riel's role in the Red River Rebellion include the 1979 CBC television film Riel and Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown's acclaimed 2003 graphic novel Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography.
An opera about Riel entitled Louis Riel was commissioned for Canada's centennial celebrations in 1967.
From the late 1960s until the early 1990s, the city of Saskatoon hosted "Louis Riel Day", a summer celebration that included a relay race that combined running, backpack carrying, canoeing, hill climbing, and horseback riding along the South Saskatchewan River in the city's downtown core. Although not affiliated with the Saskatoon Exhibition, for many years Louis Riel Day was scheduled for the day prior to the start of the fair, and as such came to be considered the Exhibition's unofficial kick-off (the scheduling of the two events was separated in later years).
In the 1970s TV series How the West Was Won, Zeb Macahan once goes to Canada and meets Louis Riel (in the episode L'affaire Riel).
In 1994 a Canadian rock band adopted the name Exovedate, the name given by Riel to his council in 1885.
Billy Childish wrote a song entitled "Louis Riel", which has been performed by Thee Headcoats, Thee Headcoatees and Blackhands.
On October 22, 2003, CBC Newsworld and its French-language equivalent, Réseau de l'information, staged a simulated retrial of Riel. The results of this straw poll led to renewed calls for Riel's posthumous pardon. Similarly, the CBC's Greatest Canadian project ranked Riel as the 11th "Greatest Canadian" on the basis of a public poll.
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