Louis Riel and The Metis People
Who was he? Louis Riel was a Metis as well as a Francophone with Catholic roots, he was also the president of the the Red River Settlement in 1869. Louis Riel championed the cause of both Metis and Francophone rights in what is today western Canada. With the creation of the provisional government it reflected the perspective of Francophones and the Metis in Red River, that Canada's government needed to negotiate with them about their entry into Canada. Up until the Red River Resistance Canada's government held views that negotiations were not necessary. The Manitoba Act, passed by Canada's parliament, was a result of the Metis-led Red River Resistance. The Act established Manitoba as a bilingual province, Catholics and Protestants gained education rights, and Metis land rights. The act specified that in addition to the land the Metis already had established along the Red River they would receive over 500 000 hectares of land. From 1875-1879 instead of establishing Metis lands in Manitoba the government issued scrips to the Metis. In some cases it offered the Metis a choice: to accept scrip or to become "Treaty Indians" under a Numbered Treaty. The views of the government were the Metis did not have the same rights to land as the First Nations and didn't require reserves. The Metis did not agree with this and Louis Riel led the Northwest Resistance, which ended in a military conflict between the Metis and Canada's government. The Metis had sent petitions to Canada's government about their land, but the government did not respond. Louis Riel was later tried and hung for treason in Regina on November 16, 1885. During the time many Anglophones and Canada's government agreed with the sentence. The Francophones opposed it and saw it as a betrayal of the Francophone-Anglophone agreement at the foundation of Confederation. Today many Canadians, including Francophones, Anglophones and Metis consider Louis Riel a "Father of Confederation" who upheld the rights of Aboriginal peoples and FRancophones in western Canada.