Riel's Execution Has Had a Lasting Effect on Canadian and Québec History.

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• published: 09 Jan 2015
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Jean-Louis Riel (father of Louis Riel) Son of fur trader Jean-Baptiste Riel and a Métis woman, Marguerite Boucher, married Julie Lagimodière, the daughter of Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière and Marie-Anne Gaboury the first white pioneers in the West. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jean-louis-riel/ While studying for the priesthood, Riel met a young French Canadian woman, Marie-Julie Guernon, to whom he quietly became engaged. However, in the racially charged atmosphere of the day, Guernon’s parents refused to allow her to marry a Métis man and the engagement was broken off. Riel left the seminary and moved back to Red River. On 12 February 1875, the federal government adopted a motion granting amnesty to Riel that was conditional to five years of banishment from "Her Majesty's Dominions." 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. Between 1879 and 1883, in Montana Territory, he reintegrated himself with the Métis, joined the Republican Party, became an American citizen, and married a Métis woman, Marguerite Monet, dit Bellehumeur. Among other grievances, the Métis were concerned by the fact that they did not hold permanent title to their land. Non-Aboriginal farmers were also dissatisfied with their lot and took issue with low wheat prices, high freight costs and tariffs on farming machinery. They were especially upset that their settlements were not reached by the new Canadian Pacific Railway. Riel and William Henry Jackson — secretary of the Prince Albert area farmers' union and Riel’s secretary — drafted a petition outlining these grievances in December 1884. This petition, preceded by some 40 others sent before Riel’s arrival, was acknowledged by the federal government, which promised to appoint a commission to investigate and report on problems in the West. However, similar statements had been made before, and the Saskatchewan Métis, many of whom had left Manitoba after the Canadian government’s failure to live up to its agreements, were wary of such promises. The Provisional Government of Saskatchewan By 1885, the North-West Mounted Police had been established, and a railway to the West almost completed, so the impetus for the Canadian government to negotiate with Métis as it had in 1870 was no longer present. Tired of waiting on Canadian action, the Batoche Métis, at a meeting on 5 March 1885, proposed to take up arms in order to compel Canada to recognize their land rights. At a meeting on 8 March 1885, Riel put forth a motion to create a provisional government for Saskatchewan. While the motion did not pass at that meeting, a 10-point "Revolutionary Bill of Rights" was drafted. It asserted Métis rights of possession to their farms, amongst other demands, including, "That the Land Department of the Dominion Government be administered as far as practicable from Winnipeg, so that the settlers may not be compelled as heretofore to go to Ottawa for the settlement of questions in dispute between them and the land commissioner." After word was received that the federal government was sending 500 soldiers to Batoche in answer to the Métis petitions, on 18 March the Métis seized the parish church at Batoche, formed a provisional government — of which Riel was president — and demanded the surrender of the HBC post at Fort Carlton. The ensuing fighting lasted two months (see North-West Resistance), and although the Métis won the first of two engagements, the Canadians ultimately overwhelmed Métis soldiers, and Riel surrendered himself to the Canadian militia. Repeatedly at odds with his lawyers throughout the proceedings, Riel ended his trial with an eloquent speech that systematically dismantled his lawyers’ insanity-defence strategy. This speech proved Riel’s sanity — it also all but assured that he would hang. With the foreman in tears, the jury pronounced Riel guilty. While the jury recommended clemency, none was forthcoming. The verdict was appealed to the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba and to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Both appeals were dismissed, but public pressure, particularly from Québec, delayed execution pending an examination of Riel's mental state. The three examining physicians found Riel "excitable," but only one considered him insane. Owing to questionable excisions, the official version of the report did not reveal any difference of opinion and the federal Cabinet decided in favour of hanging. Several scholars have noted that it was usually Riel’s friends, rather than his enemies, who attempted to cast him as insane, and that among his contemporaries, his “insanity” was regularly contested; many thought he was simply extreme, radical, or excitable — none of which made him crazy. Suggested Reading... Source: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/louis-riel/