Louis Riel was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people in pre-Manitoba Northwest Territories. He led two resistant movements against the government of Canada led by its first post-Confederation prime minister, John A. Macdonald. The first resistance led by Riel became known as the Red River Rebellion of 1869–1870. He was elected three times as member of the House of Commons, but, fearing for his life, he could never take his seat. In 1885 he was convicted at trial of high treason and executed by hanging.
About Louis Riel in brief
Louis Riel was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people in pre-Manitoba Northwest Territories. He led two resistant movements against the government of Canada led by its first post-Confederation prime minister, John A. Macdonald. The first resistance led by Riel became known as the Red River Rebellion of 1869–1870. He was elected three times as member of the House of Commons, but, fearing for his life, he could never take his seat. In 1885 he was convicted at trial of high treason and executed by hanging. Riel’s historical reputation has long been polarized between portrayals as a dangerous half-insane religious fanatic and rebel against the Canadian nation, or by contrast as a charismatic leader who fought to protect his people from the unfair encroachments by the federal government. He is increasingly celebrated as a proponent of multiculturalism, although that downplays his primary commitment to Méti- nationalism and political independence. The Red River Settlement was a community in Rupert’s Land nominally administered by the Hudson’s Bay Company. It was largely inhabited by First Nations tribes and the Miltis, an ethnic group of mixed Cree, Ojibwa, Saulteaux, French-Canadian, Scottish, and English descent. His mother was the daughter of Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière and Marie-Anne Gaboury, one of the earliest European families to settle in Red River in 1812. His father, who was of Franco-Chipewis descent, had gained prominence in this community by organizing a group that supported Guillaume Humeayer, imprisoned for challenging the historical trade monopoly of the HBC.
Louis Sr. was educated in St. Boniface and Point Douglas. He came to the attention of the French Christian Brothers at the age of 13, and eventually attended a school run by the French Brothers. At age 13 he was noted for his devout Catholicism and strong ties to the Catholic Church. He married in 1881 while in exile in the Montana Territory in the United States; he fathered three children. He died on November 16, 1885, in Regina, Saskatchewan, after a battle with government forces, which led to armed conflict with the Canadian government, the North-West rebellion of 1885. His execution had a lasting negative impact on Canada, polarizing the new nation along ethno-religious lines. The long-term result was that the Metis were marginalized in the Prairie provinces by the increasingly English-dominated majority. An even more important long- term impact was the bitter alienation Francophones across Canada felt, and anger against the repression by their countrymen. Riel is remembered as a heroic victim by French Canadians; his death was seen as a great loss to the French-speaking population of Canada. His son, Louis Jr., became a well-known Canadian politician and was elected to the Canadian House of Representatives.
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This page is based on the article Louis Riel published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 08, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
