August 1, 1885 - Louis Riel - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Métis leader Louis Riel found guilty of treason. Louis Riel was born in the Red River settlement of St. Boniface on October 22, 1844. The young Métis returned there in 1868 after studies in Montreal. Due to his education and determination, Riel soon found himself in a leadership position for Métis people. He headed up a provisional government in 1869 which lead to the creation of the Manitoba Act and the territory as a Canadian province. However, after his involvement with the Red River Uprising, and with a $5,000 bounty on his head, Riel went into exile in the United States in 1870. He returned to Manitoba and was elected to the Parliament of Canada in 1873 and 1874, only to be expelled from the House of Commons by his fellow MPs. He was banished from Canada in 1875 for five years. Nine years later a group of Metis from Saskatchewan asked Riel to come back to Canada to help them with their grievances with Ottawa. Riel and the Metis were mostly ignored, so Riel created a provisional government in Saskatchewan in 1885, where he and others carried out open rebellion against the government of Canada and its troops. Riel surrendered on May 15, 1885, and on August 1, 1885, a jury of six English Protestants found him guilty of treason. Although they recommended mercy, he was hanged in Regina on November 16, 1885.

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