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ISSUE 91A LOUIS RIEL DECEMBER 2009
The Truth About Louis Riel
While most Canadiansare generally aware of Louis Riel and the mur-der of Thomas Scott,few who know, or, evenif aware, talk about thetragic loss of 80 Cana-
dian lives during Riel‟s
disagreements with theCanadian governmentsof 1869 and 1885. Rieltwice used violent in-surrection and deathwhile challenging Brit-ish and Canadian au-thority and Canadianunity. Accordingly,Louis Riel was chargedwith high treason, tried,convicted and thenhung for his crimes thatresulted in the deathsof some 80 persons.Criminals of the day were hung for a lot lessthan being accountable for the deaths of 80people. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Canada's LoyalOpposition Party leader at the time, was op-posed to Riel's execution only on the basisthat he considered the sentence to be too se-vere. He did not find fault with the conviction.The crime was regarded with the utmostgravity by all politicians of the day. Sir John AMacdonald, Canada'sPrime Minister, refusedto interfere with thecourt imposed deathsentence, which wasthen duly carried out.The facts of Riel's lead-ership role in armed in-surrection are not in dis-pute. The fact that thisarmed insurrection re-sulted in many deaths isalso not in dispute. Rielclearly chose to lead; healso clearly chose to in-cite uprisings thatcaused many to die. Asthe leader of these up-risings, Riel is responsi-ble for each and everydeath occurring as aconsequence of his ac-tions. To now questionThere are those today who want to changethe historical record regarding 19th centuryMetis leader Louis Riel. Peter Goldring,Member of Parliament for Edmonton Eastsays that such historical revisionism iswrong and sets the record straight on Rieland his crimes.
Louis Riel was charged with high treason, con-victed and hanged for his crimes that resultedin the deaths of some 80 people. Those whowant to exonerate him for his crimes morethan 100 years later are ignoring the severityof his crimes.
One typical example of selective memorywas a Canadian Lawyer magazine article onRiel's trial, presumed to have been written bya discerning member of Canada's legal pro-fession. In the article there was absolutely nomention of anyonehaving died, although80 people (some sayup to 110) were deadas a result of Riel'sleadership; 80 sepa-rate Canadian familytragedies commencedand not even a foot-note in the thoughtprocess of the maga-zine article. Givensuch a selective view,it is understandablethat one finds a full-page editorial in thesame issue of themagazine, calling for a public apology for Riel's "wrongful con-viction". A similarlyselective nature to thepresentation of facts appears to be evidentby the CBC for
its “Riel
retrial
”. Métis organi-
zations
weren‟t even
consulted during theplanning for this production. The production
has been variously described as “ill concei-ved” and “socially, morally and politically irre-deemable”.
To "unhang" Riel today is illogical for thosewho remember the true history of Riel's revo-lutionary role and who also respect the au-thority of historical jury decisions. To posthu-mously "pardon" Riel would amount to a ret-roactive miscarriage of justice. To apologise
ISSUE 91A LOUIS RIEL PAGE 2 DECEMBER 2009
the integrity of the jurists of over 100 years iswrong. Riel had the best and brightest law-yers of the day and still, the jury did not ac-quit. Nearly 125 years later, there are somewho wish to "time travel" back in history, toreassess eventswith the "refinedlegal enlighten-ment" of today.The CBC initiativesome years ago
to “retry” Riel is
but one in a seriesor regrettablesteps to refuse toacknowledge thefacts our history.Revisionist "time
travel” ignores the
reality of humansuffering. Historyis there to belearned, not to berevised or reinter-preted today bypersons who do not like the outcomes of
over a century ago. “Time travelling” back to
the Riel era and erasing this judgement fromour history books as if it were wrong, wouldin itself be wrong. How can we possiblyknow what was in the minds of people 100years ago, to re-judge them today, years af-ter the fact. How can we obtain a true ap-preciation for those issues, without thesweat of fear and the odour of death thatthose events caused across the West in thatera?
A statue of Louis Riel is on display outside theManitoba Legislature. Louis Riel Day, held the thirdMonday in February, is a statutory holiday inManitoba.
to Riel's memory and to anoint Riel as a"Father of Confederation" would be an insultto the memories of those fallen Canadian
soldiers, Canada‟s first recognized war veter-
ans, and their descendants. These are theproud Canadian soldiers who fought anddied defending Canada against armed insur-
gents, led by Riel. Riel didn‟t „Father‟ Con-
federation; he foughtthose who did. Tounhang Louis Rieland to mount astatue to him on Par-liament Hill wouldelevate anarchy andcivil disobedience tothat of democraticstatesmanship.Such confusionseems to continue,year after year. In2000, preservation
of the Riel “myth”
was entrusted tonone other than our Governor General of that time, who used her Office in a way that appeared to prejudge aparliamentary outcome. Speaking with rev-erent atonement at the foot of a memorial
honouring Canadian soldiers, Canada‟s first
war veterans, who sacrificed their lives sothat the Northwest Rebellion could be putdown and Louis Riel be brought to justice,and flanked by an RCMP honour guard
wearing Métis sashes, our Governor General
assumed the role of Riel apologist. Readilyforgotten was the fact that those Canadiansoldiers were ordered by the Government of Canada to fight Riel and to bring him to jus-tice. At the time, the Government Bill direct-ing military action against Louis Riel waspassed in Parliament and then receivedRoyal Assent by the Queen and her repre-sentative in Canada
—
the Governor Gen-eral.So many people today appear to know littleof and care less for the sacrifice of thosevery first Canadianwar veterans whofought against Rieland saved our country from disin-tegration, so longago.Some facts that
likely won‟t comeout in the “Riel re-trial”, since of
course they are not
“relevant” are: the
war veteran sol-diers who foughtRiel were awardedmedals by a thank-ful government for their service in defendingCanada. The first war medal ever issued byCanada to its war veterans was ribboned ina striped pattern of "red-white-red"--the col-ours of Canada's flag of today--and wasgarlanded with maple leaves around theword "Canada". The medal's ribbon bore aclasp for either the Red River Campaign or the Fenian Raids. The second war medalissued by Canada was specifically for ser-vice during the Northwest Rebellion. Bothmedals awarded demonstrate Canada'sgratitude for the sacrifices of those whoserved their country to bring Riel's rebellionsto an end and him to justice.
Louis Riel with members of his 1869-70 provisionalgovernment in Red River, Manitoba. It was the firsttime he had set up a government in defiance of authorities.
ISSUE 91A LOUIS RIEL PAGE 3 DECEMBER 2009
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