Louis Riel

Louis David Riel  (22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885,  (Loo-EE Ree-EL) in English) was a Canadian politician who helped found Manitoba and was a leader of the Métis people in the Canadian Prairies. He led two resistance movements against the Canadian government, led by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald. 

Riel tried to preserve Métis rights and culture. However, he was until recently usually regarded as an outlaw since he fought the Canadian government in 1870, when his people took prisoners.

One of the prisoners was a man named Thomas Scott, who disobeyed and disrespected Riel's men by assaulting one of them.

Riel had enough, and Scott was put on trial to a jury that contained several of Riel's most trusted men including Elzéar Goulet, a Métis leader who supported Riel. The court found Scott annoying, and he was sentenced to death by firing squad. 

Riel fled to the United States but in 1885 returned to fight against the Canadian government again. 

English-speaking Canadians, especially in Ontario, considered Riel a murderer of Scott. That caused a war party, the Wolsely Expedition, to be sent to put the resistance and eventually captured Riel. He was put on trial and then hanged in Regina, which is now in Saskatchewan.

French-speaking Canadians caused a riot in Montreal, Quebec, after his execution and still consider him as a hero.

References

Category:Canadian politicians
Category:First Nations people
Category:People executed by hanging
Category:Canadian Roman Catholics
Category:1844 births
Category:1885 deaths
Category:Indigenous rights activists