Louis Riel Essay, Research Paper
Louis ?David? Riel?s role in the Confederation of Manitoba
When people hear the name Louis Riel, some fill up with anger
and others fill up with a thankful sense of happiness. Louis was Metis,
this was the product of a Voyageur and Indian women having a baby. A
Voyageur and a Indian women getting together back then occurred
during the time the Hudson Bay company and the Northwest were
searching for furs. The Voyageurs wanted to remain friends with the
Indians so they married the Indian women. Louis was born in 1844. He
was a man who stuck up for the rights of his people. In this essay I will
entice you on how Louis Riel contributed to the Confederation of
Manitoba within the years 1869-1885.
In 1821 the Hudson Bay company had created a union with the
Northwest. By this time the Hudson Bay company had ruled the praries.
They were soon in the process of relinquishing its territory to the
Canadian government. It was like an end to an era. English Protestants
had settled on the Forks near the Red River, these Canadians wanted the
land so they could obtain political and judicial structures with which
they were familiar with. The Metis believed that this would not favor
their way of life.
In 1869 the Canadian government sent surveyors to the colony
before the government even owned the land. Louis Riel had ordered
them to stop, he was very upset about this. The Metis then wouldn?t
allow William McDougall, the Lieutenant- Governor elect into the
colony. Very mad and defensive the Metis took over Fort Gary and used
it as a headquarters. The Canadians who were there an didn?t want to
participate were imprisoned. Louis formed a provisional government to
negotiate the colonies entrance into Confederation, he knew that the
Metis thoughts and ideas would be bypassed. A list of rights were made
by the government and sent to Ottawa. The prisoners would be let free if
nobody interfered with the provisional government. One of the prisoners
did plan an attack however, a Thomas Scott was then recaptured and
executed.
Ottawa received the list of rights and had passed the Manitoba Act
on May 23, 1870. Manitoba was entered as the fifth province on July
15, 1870. Amnesty was awarded to the whole rebellion except Louis. He
became an exile, of course he was very upset about this. He changed his
name and went to Montreal where he was interned in a hospital for the
mentally ill. After his release in 1879 he eventually moved to Motana
where he married a Marguerite Monet and had two children.
In 1884 he was asked by a Mr. Gabriel Dumont to come to
Saskatchewan because the Indians were starving and the Metis lands
and rights were being usurped. He agreed and went back to his rebels to
help them fight the government with the help of the Indian Chiefs Big
Bear and Poundmaker. Eight thousand troops were organized to fight
the rebels, they fought at Duck lake, Fish Creek, and Batoche. During
this battle Louis surrendered to a General Middleton. He was tried and
found guilty. On November 16,1885 he was hanged.
I hope that during the reading of this essay I have explained how
Louis ?David? Riel contributed to the Confederation of Manitoba. I
don?t know if Louis should of or shouldn?t of been executed. What I
mean is that I know for what he did for his people he should not have
been executed for, but the fact that he was makes the whole issue all the
more important and spiritual. He died to make life easier for his fellow
people and in the process he established Manitoba as a province.
Thank You.