Louis Riel: His background, His life, His History Throughout the mid-eighteen hundreds, the Metis and First Nations people saw a lot of changes due to the increased numbers of White settlements. Throughout their struggles, one Metis man stood up in defense of his people and land. This is a story of the life of Louis Riel, the man who changed it all. His background, his roots, his history. Louis Riel was born on October 22, 1884 in the area of the Red River Settlement, St. Boniface, Manitoba and was the first of eleven children born to Louis Riel and Julie Lagimodiere. Riel’s father, Louis Riel Sr., was born to Jean Baptiste Riel L’Irlande and Marguerite Boucher (Guilbeault, 2007). Louis Riel’s mother Julie, was born to Jean Baptiste Lagimodiere and Marie-Anne Gaboury (Guilbeault, 2007). The Riel family was a highly-respected French-Canadian family of mixed European and Aboriginal ancestry called the Metis, who devoted their lives to Catholicism and earned a well-known name (Worldwide Sunshine, 2013). Riel was educated by Roman Catholic priests in the St. Boniface area at a young age. In his teenage years, Riel was recognized by Bishop Alexandre Tache, who was promoting the priesthood for talented Metis at the time. In 1858, Riel attended the Petit Seminaire at the College de Montreal in Montreal, Quebec, which was arranged by Bishop Tache and was held by the Sulpician order of priests (Guilbeault, 2007). While in Montreal, Riel studied English, Science, French, Greek, Latin, and Philosophy (Guilbeault, 2007). Riel was a scholar in his studies and did well in all of his subjects (Worldwide Sunshine, 2013). He appeared to enjoy his studies. In 1864, on one of his trips to Montreal, Riel stopped in Crookston, Minne... ... middle of paper ... ...clopedia. Retrieved from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/featured/battle-of-batoche Boyer, K. (2008). 1885 - Aftermath. University Saskatchewan Library. Information received from: http://scaa.sk.ca/ourlegacy/contact Linder, D. (2004). The Trial of Louis Riel. Information received from: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/riel/rielaccount.html Société historique de Saint-Boniface. (2010). The Death of Louis Riel. Centre du patrimoine. Information received from: http://shsb.mb.ca/en/node/1381 Stanley, G. (2012). Louis Riel. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Foundation. Information received from: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/louis-riel University of Toronto. (2013). On this date Louis Riel was Hanged. Thomas Fisher Rare book Library. Information received from: http://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/date-louis-riel-was-hanged
McQuillan, Aidan. “Des chemins divergents: les Irlandais et les Canadiens francais au XIXe siècle.” ed. Wadell, Eric. “Le dialogue avec les cultures minoritaires.” Ste-Foy, QC: Les Presses De L'Université Laval 1990.
Métis are descendant of half Natives and Europeans, most of them are half Cree and French, which they defines themselves as their own group. Their looks are different from the Aboriginals, they look like one of Europeans, but inside that body, they have their own culture and language. In the past, many Métis felt left out because Aboriginals and Europeans did not consider them as their own kind. Once they created their own culture, they felt proud of their heritage and language. The short story “Joseph Justice” is about a Métis man try to justify his stolen belonging of beaver pelts, guns by going court battle after court battle to get his stuff. In the “Joseph Justice” , author uses many writing techniques such as diction, figure of speech,
The story of Louis Riel began on October 28th 1844. He was born in a log cabin beside Seine Lake. The same priest who married his parents one year earlier baptized Louis on his day of birth. Many people view Louis Riel as the biggest pioneer of Metis in Canadian history. They base their decision on the fortresses he took and his position in Metis organizations. Others call him a joke and despise him. They base this on him being taken to trial for treason and eventually convicted and sentenced to death. As well as him betraying his country and fleeing when the land's owners were switched ruining a chance for a rebellion and having the nerve to return and restart a rebellion only before being arrested tried and hung. Everybody has his or her own view as what to make of Louis Riel. What's yours…? Hero or Villain?
The trial of Louis Riel is one of the most debatable controversial topics in Canadian history, and to this day, 130 years after his death, there is still a debate on whether this man was a hero or a villain. Louis Riel is innocent. He is innocent because he was a man with a sense of self worth for himself and for his metis people, he was a man of pride, who could stand up for his people even after being betrayed, cheated and lied to by his own government multiple times.
Ever since human civilization came into existence, people have been putting rules in place to determine who is behaving according to social norms and moral values and who is not. Because the majority of Western societies have historically been democratic, it makes sense that the public have a say in the enforcement of said rules. It is for this reason that the trial became a popular means of deciding upon punishment for those perceived to have broken the law, while also allowing them an opportunity to testify against their charges. Socrates underwent this process in 399 BC on charges of impiety and corruption of the youth of Athens , as did Louis Riel in 1885 on charges of treason for leading a Métis rebellion . Although they lived during vastly
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 start off, I’ll be writing about the life of people in British North America and its significance towards unifying Canada, as well as background knowledge of conflicts that existed. Life in British North America was changing at an alarming rate. New technology and services were being introduced such as railways and steamships. Industries such as building, producing and farming were being introduced. This was in part due to the many immigrants from Britain and France who’d settled. This was dreadful for the First Nations as their land had been taken away even more so than before. More resources were needed for the growing crowd so trade agreements were made. As more people came, the First Nations were even more distanced from the Europeans. Meanwhile, the French and the British wanted the other’s culture to be erased from the
Vacante, Jeffery. 2011. "The Posthumous Lives of René Lévesque." Journal Of Canadian Studies 45, no. 2: 5-30. Accessed February 25, 2014. EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier.
The Red River Colony was changing, but it wasn’t the only one, all of Canada were changing, because in the late 1860s Canada entered a new era and the changes and events that occurred in the Red River was only the beginning of many more conflicts and circumstances to come that would help shape and define this age Canada has entered. Although the Red River Rebellion had ostensibly achieved most of its major objectives, the Metis would soon find themselves at a disadvantage. They would rise yet again for another rebellion called The North-West Rebellion of 1885 to assert their nationality once more.
LYNN, MICHAEL R. "Executions, the Guillotine and the French Revolution." The Ultimate History Project. Purdue University, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
Canada likes to paint an image of peace, justice and equality for all, when, in reality, the treatment of Aboriginal peoples in our country has been anything but. Laden with incomprehensible assimilation and destruction, the history of Canada is a shameful story of dismantlement of Indian rights, of blatant lies and mistrust, and of complete lack of interest in the well-being of First Nations peoples. Though some breakthroughs were made over the years, the overall arching story fits into Cardinal’s description exactly. “Clearly something must be done,” states Murray Sinclair (p. 184, 1994). And that ‘something’ he refers to is drastic change. It is evident, therefore, that Harold Cardinal’s statement is an accurate summarization of the Indigenous/non-Indigenous relationship in
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.
The Francophone’s population made up twenty-five percent of Canada’s population, and they mainly resided in Quebec. The native language of Quebec was French, and their religion was focused on the Roman Catholic Churches. It was different from the other nine provinces, which had a majority of English population following Protestant Churches. For the Quebecers, they felt that their distinct cultural identities have been neglected. They felt uncomfortable about being part of a nation that refused to understand their own culture, history, and language. The possibility that one day Quebec would be dominated by English population threatened the stability of the French societies’ culture, language, and educational system. The local government be...
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...
Claude Bernard started going to school in church in St. Julien. He then was referred to go to the Jesuit College for a higher education in Villegrance-sur-Saone, which was in a nearby town. He showed very little academically, so his parents arranged for him to go to Collège Royal of Thoissey for a year (“CLAUDE BERNARD”). He