Who was Louis Riel?

Louis Riel (October 22, 1844 to November 16, 1885) was a Métis leader who led the Red River Resistance of 1869 to 1870 and the North-West Rebellion of 1885. He founded Manitoba as a province but was hanged for treason in 1885 after the failure of the second uprising. Riel is now considered a Father of Manitoba and a hero of the Métis people. The federal government formally recognised him as a Father of Manitoba in 1992; Manitoba commemorates him with Louis Riel Day on the third Monday of February.

Riel was born at the Red River Settlement (now part of Winnipeg) on October 22, 1844 to Louis Riel Sr. and Julie Lagimodière. He was the eldest of 11 children in a leading Métis family. He attended the Saint-Boniface College and then the Petit Séminaire de Montréal in Quebec from 1858 to 1865, originally intending to enter the Catholic priesthood. He left the seminary and worked as a clerk in Montreal and Chicago before returning to the Red River in July 1868. By 1869 he was a recognised Métis political leader.

After leading the Red River Resistance and establishing the Provisional Government of Assiniboia, Riel was elected to the House of Commons in 1873 and twice in 1874 from the Manitoba constituency of Provencher. He was unable to take his seat because of his role in the 1870 execution of Thomas Scott. The federal government of Alexander Mackenzie banished Riel from Canada for five years in 1875. Riel spent some of this period in Quebec mental institutions (he was diagnosed with megalomania); after his release he moved to the United States, becoming a US citizen in 1883 and teaching school in Montana.

In June 1884 a delegation of Saskatchewan Métis led by Gabriel Dumont travelled to Montana to ask Riel to return to the North-West and help with Métis grievances against the Canadian government. Riel returned to Saskatchewan and led a renewed agitation that escalated into the North-West Rebellion of 1885. After Métis military defeat at Batoche on May 12, 1885, Riel surrendered. He was tried for high treason at Regina, found guilty on August 1, 1885, and hanged on November 16, 1885. His trial and execution divided English and French Canada, with Quebec public opinion overwhelmingly opposed. The Riel Quebec nationalism wave of 1886 contributed to the rise of the Parti national and the long Liberal alliance with Quebec under Wilfrid Laurier. Riel is buried at the Saint-Boniface Cathedral in Winnipeg. His statue stands on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislative Building. In 2018, Manitoba inscribed November 16 (the anniversary of his execution) as a day of remembrance for Riel.