Portrait sketch of Louis Riel [1880 - 1889]
When looking for notable historic events in Canada’s relatively brief history, Louis Riel and his fight for the Metis people of Canada is arguably one of the most shocking and tragic. A man who was almost a priest turned into the leader of a near two-decade long battle against the land-grabbing Dominion of Canada. Hanged and defamed by the public of the time, Louis Riel and his fight for the Metis peoples is a story that is curiously unheard of and should play a larger role in coloring our perspective of early Canada. Born on October 22, 1844 in the Red River Settlement, Riel was the eldest of eleven children. Spending his early days on his grandparents farm in the parish of St. Boniface, Riel was initially put into seminary school by Bishop Alexandre-Antonin Tache. From the start of his education Riel was a prolific student. Riel excelled in seminary school and was shortly at the top of his class. While studying, Riel also picked up a passion for poetry which grew throughout his life. Riel also met a young French-Canadian woman named Marie-Julie Guernon, to whom he secretly became engaged to be married. Sadly, Marie-Julie's parents simply could not allow their daughter to marry a Metis man and broke off the engagement. His father, a prominent businessman and political leader for the Metis community also passed away shortly after in 1864 causing Riel to abandon priesthood and take up a job as a law-office clerk in Montreal to support his family. |