Today is Louis Riel Day in Manitoba, a day to celebrate the founder and honorary first premier of Manitoba.
Born to a Metis family that was set against the Hudson Bay Company, Riel spent much of his life fighting both with words and weapons for the rights and freedoms of his people.
Some of his earliest works include forming the Metis National Council, establishing a list of rights for the people of the northwest, and eventually bringing Manitoba into confederation after bringing the eastern dominion of Canada to the bargaining table.
Central to this agreement, the federal government agreed to reserve 1.4 million acres for the children of Métis residents and ensured that the area would be officially bilingual.
Unfortunately, Riel's activism ruffled a lot of feathers in the Dominion after his people found and captured a group of armed Dominion troops in Portage La Prairie in 1870 who were looking to rally support against the provisional government.
The militia was captured, court-martialed, and one of the members, Thomas Scott was executed by firing squad.
The provisional government’s delegates later obtained an agreement with the Canadian government.
The agreement was presented as the Manitoba Act, which received royal assent on 12 May 1870, when the Province of Manitoba entered Confederation.
After the assent of the Manitoba Act, and the execution of Thomas Scott, the federal government sent a sizable military force to the new province on "an errand of peace".
When it became obvious that the expedition was out to lynch Riel, he fled to the United States. On the third of May 1871, he returned quietly to his home in Saint-Vital, Red River, although he often stayed in hiding.
Due to his reputation, Riel was encouraged by his friends and his widespread popularity in French Manitoba to enter federal politics, and was elected in both 1873 and 1874 to represent the province in the House of Commons.
Before taking his seat, he was expelled from the parliament , and a motion was made to Banish him from Canada for 5 years.
The question of whether or not Riel had broken either British or Canadian law for his part in the Red River resistance was never determined in court
In 1884, Riel was called on again once more, this time by the Metis of Batoche, where he tried to create a provisional government for Saskatchewan and draft a 10-point Revolutionary Bill of Rights.
Batoche became a battle ground for the next several months after the Dominion of Canada rejected the previous terms, the bloodshed only ending after Riel himself surrendered.
Riel was tried for treason and hanged November 16th, 1885.
His efforts led to aspects of Canadian life that embody many contemporary issues in the country, including bilingualism, multiculturalism, tolerance for difference and a keen sense of social justice.
