Essay

Parker Phillips

Dec.7,2010

Riel was a very religious child, which is why he was educated by Roman Catholic Priests at St. Boniface. As Riel started to age and become more mature, he came to believe he should stick up for the Metis people. In act of standing up, when John A Macdonald ordered survey crews to the land of Red River, Riel brought together a " National Commitee. " This organization put a stop to the surveys and disallowed Mcdougalls presence of entering The red river. From there Riel gathered some Metis and took over the Hudson's Bay Trading Post ( Fort Garry.) When the word got back to the Canadians that the Metis did not allow them to survey The Red River they were furious and angry. The Canadians reacted by sending armed forces to try and take over Fort Garry, but those forces failed and everyone except for Thomas Scott was imprisoned. Instead, he was executed by a firing squad on March 4th 1870. Later Riel and his council sent all of the prisoners free, giving the Metis a horrible disadvantage when instead they could have executed them all. This was extremely unintelligent thinking on Riel's part.
A couple of years later Riel was fortunate enough to be elected a seat in Parliament. Although Riel clearly wanted to take his seat, he couldn't because if he took a step outside the Parliament buildings he would be arrested. Over all this confusion Louis David Riel had a nervous breakdown and was sent to the hospital at Loungue Pointe. Later Louis was forcefully transferred to the Beauport mental asylum. While Riel was locked up in this retched place he got into thinking that he had a religious mission to make North America Catholicism with the pope of the new world being Bishop Bourget. When living in the asylum Riel would never wear clothing. Three years later Louis David Riel was released from the mental institution that he was being held at. From there he journeyed to the United States, where he continued to educate young children and became engaged to a wonderful woman. In the Saskatchewan Valley, the Canadian Metis that live there were having problems with their Legal Rights, so they found Riel and asked of his assistance to assist with their conflict. He agreed to help them. On July 1884, the main settlement of Metis people ( Batoche) was reached by Louis and his family. Riel sent a harmless petition throughout the town acknowledging the Metis to sign it so it could be received by the federal government in Ottawa. While in Saskatchewan he kept seeing the execution of Thomas Scott in his mind which made him contemplate about his unorthodox religious views. Because of these horrible thoughts, he became extremely frustrated and started to take immediate action, by taking control of the Parish Church and trying to seize Fort Carlton with his many armed men.
In 1885, the mounted police of the north-west were created and the main railway to the west of Canada was almost finished. This allowed Canada to send men and provisions very fast unlike at the Red River rebellion where it took days for back up troops to arrive. While the battle was occurring Military commander Gabriel Dumont and Riel led the Metis to win many battles even though their weapons were weaker and the number of troops were quite smaller. Riel had strange visions and feelings that he was being controlled by god and Riel thought of himself of the " Prophet of the New World". Which explains why during many battles of great bloodshed, he would sit up tall on his trusty steed, holding a cross high in the sky praying for his life and his companions. Following the months of war Riel accepted defeat and was from then on known as the north-west rebellion. Later Louis David Riel was charged with treason. During Riels trial, his council announced to fight for him on the grounds of insanity, but he denied his insanity, making him guilty.
Riel was studied by four physicians. Three considered him excitable and one found him insane. On the day of November 16th, 1885 in Regina, Louis David Riel fulfilled his sentence execution and his body was sent to rest in the cemetery at St. Boniface. Once the news of Riel's death had been spread the Metis colonies had experienced depression on many occasions. It helped fortify French Canadian nationalism in central Canada. Over all of the things Louis Riel did to help the Metis people, the things he did to harm and disorient them came in much larger numbers such as bloodshed and death. Because of the numerous times this occurred Louis David Riel has held the title of a madman for years.

Bibliography

Websites:Marsh, James H. "Riel, Louis." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Web. 09 Dec. 2010. <http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0006837>.
Demand Media. "Who Is Louis Riel?" Essortment Articles: Free Online Articles on Health, Science, Education & More.. Web. 09 Dec. 2010. <http://www.essortment.com/all/louisriel_rjrv.htm>.Louis Riel was a lunatic who fought for the rights of the Metis people, yet made many crazy decisions that put peoples lives at risk. What really defines a person insane? The definition of insane is someone who's interests are at odds with society, and their own welfare. They can also no longer differentiate from what you and I know as right and wrong. Louis Riel, born October 22nd, 1844 at St. Boniface, later grew up to be what we consider today, a madman.

Louis David Riel