Louis riel biography timeline maker
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Biography of Louis Riel, 1844-1885
Born in 1844, Louis Riel was the eldest son of a prominent St. Boniface Métis family. At 14, he was sent to Montreal to train for priesthood. By 1868, he had left school and was back in St. Boniface supporting his recently widowed mother and siblings.
Riel found the Red River Métis distressed by Canada’s plans to annex Hudson’s Bay Company lands. They feared losing traditional lands and livelihoods. An 1869 land survey by the Government of Canada stirred Riel into action. He formed a militia, turned back surveyors, took possession of Upper Fort Garry and began the Red River Resistance.
During the winter of 1869-1870, Riel, just 25 years old, formed a provisional government and presented Canada with a Bill of Rights that, on May 12, became the Manitoba Act, 1870. Riel’s provisional government approved it on June 24 and the act came into effect on July 15.
Unfortunately, while his provisional government negotiated with Canada during the winter of 1870, Riel allowed an agitator to be tried and executed for insubordination. Vilified in eastern Canada for the execution, Riel feared lynching by the approaching Wolseley expedition and fled to the U.S. in August 1870.
In following years, Riel was elected to th
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RIEL, LOUIS, Métis spokesman, regarded as the founder of Manitoba, teacher, and leader of the North-West rebellion; b. 22 Oct. 1844 in the Red River Settlement (Man.), eldest child of Louis Riel* and Julie Lagimonière, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Lagimonière* and Marie-Anne Gaboury*; m. in 1881 Marguerite Monet, dit Bellehumeur, and they had three children, the youngest of whom died while Riel was awaiting execution; d. 16 Nov. 1885 by hanging at Regina (Sask.).
Louis Riel is one of the most controversial figures in Canadian history. To the Métis he is a hero, an eloquent spokesman for their aspirations. In the Canadian west in 1885 the majority of the settlers regarded him as a villain; today he is seen there as the founder of those movements which have protested central Canadian political and economic power. French Canadians have always thought him a victim of Ontario religious and racial bigotry, and by no means deserving of the death penalty. Biographers and historians over the years since Riel’s death have been influenced by one or other of these attitudes. He remains a mysterious figure in death as in life.
Riel was the eldest of 11 children in a close-knit, devoutly religious, and affectionate family. Both his parents were westerners, a
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