Who Was Louis Riel A Traitor?

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Louis Riel was a Metis leader, founder of Manitoba, and a central figure in the Red River and North-West resistances. He was born on 22 October 1844 in Saint-Boniface, Red River Settlement and died 16 November 1885 in Regina, SK. He lead 2 Metis Nations, and brought Manitoba to confederation. Many people think that he is a martyr. A martyr is a person that was killed to protect or for their religion or other beliefs. However I still think that Louis Riel is a traitor. A traitor includes someone who betrays another’s trust, someone who is false to an obligation or duty, and it is also someone that acts against one’s nation, sovereign or country. And I think that Louis Riel did just that. One reason why I think that Louis Riel is a traitor is because of the North-west rebellion. The North-west rebellion was violent, insurgency (active revolt or up-rise) against the Canadian government, fought mainly by Métis militants and their Aboriginal allies in what is now Saskatchewan and Alberta. Just with that information, you would assume that Louis …show more content…

My final reason that I think that Louis Riel was a traitor is because he flees to the United States of America. The reason that he wanted to flee to the USA was to protect himself. A large number of the soldiers wanted to seek out Riel and avenge the death of Thomas Scott. Because someone told him about the soldiers plans, he decides to flee with Lépine and William O'Donoghue, an Irish American. I don’t think that it was right for him to leave his people and flee to the USA to protect himself. Like the definition of a traitor states, someone that betrays their group. He abandoned the Metis just to protect himself. If he was a martyr, he would’ve stayed in Canada and protect his people like that. According to the slides that we did, he didn’t come back on his own. Some of his people had to bring him back to Canada. And not to mention, he left for 5

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