By BEN SWANKEY

. \

The memory of Louis Riel, champion
of the Métis and the earliest settlers of
the west in their/ struggles against a
colonial-minded Ottawa administration,
lives on in the minds and hearts of the
Métis, the Indias people and all pro-
gressive Canadians.

His execution 84 years ago lies heav-
ily on the conscience of our country.
The desceridants of the Métis and the

‘ Indian-people continue to live in pover-
ty, ill health and joblessness, the victims
of a persisting cruel discrimination. The
people of French Canada, who suppor-
ted Riel and the Métis with such ardor,
Still struggle to be masters in their own

The basic issue involved in both the
Red ‘River “rebellion” of 1869-70 and
“the Saskatchewan “rebellion” of 1885
. Was the question of how the west was
to be opened up. The new commercial
, and industrial interests of eastern Can-
/ ada were determined to seize the land
and its wealth for themselves, .in com-
| plete disregard of the rights of its in-
: habitants. They were quite prepared to
,futhlessly suppress any opposition by

joer ree

| . The Métis and white settlers, on the
; other hand, were equally determined to

’ fight for the right of possession to lands ©

, they already occupied. They demanded
| participation. in decisions about, their
, future through elective and democratic
institutions.

The position of the Indian people was
particularly. desperate. The buffalo had
been deliberately exterminated to
starve them into submission, and now
they were faced with being interned
“a reservations, prisoners in their own
‘land.

Riel’s dramatic career and tragic _

death was closely linked with this early
history of the west.

In: 1869 negotiations for the sale of
the west to Canada by the Hudson’s
Bay Company were still in progress be-
tween the British and Canadian govern-
ments and the company. Before agree-
ment was reached the Canadian govern-
ment sent out a party to survey the
lands occupied by the settlers on the
banks of the Red River. It was a clearly
illegal act. Fearing expropriation of
their lands, the Métis took the law into
their own hands and stopped the sur-
vey. In another illegal act, the Cana-
dian government appointed William Mc-
Dougall as lieutenant-governor and sent
him via the United States to take con-
trol of the colony. An armed party of
Métis stopped him at the U.S. border
and there he remained. When the au-
thority of ‘the Hudson’s Bay Company
broke down, the Métis, under the lead-
ership of the 24-year-old Riel, took the
initiative in establishing a provisional
government.

Under Riel’s leadership the French
and Scotch Métis and the white settlers
were quickly united. Although the
French-speaking Métis outnumbered the
English-speaking population, Riel prac-
ticed the policy of equal representa-
tion from both groups.

With wide popular backing, the pro-
visional government proceeded to draw
up a List of Rights embodying the peo-
ple’s demands and outlining the terms
on which they were prepared to enter’
Confederation. Negotiations with a hos-
tile Canadian government were difficult.

Prime Minister John A. Macdonald and —

his personal representatives, Donald A.
Smith of the Hudson’s Bay Company
and Bishop Taché, used every manner
of duplicity but were unable to under-
mine the unity of the people. Grudging-
ly, the prime minister accepted the List
of Rights and included them in the

. Manitoba Act of 1870, forming the pro-

vince of Manitoba.

Then followed a series of events, poli-
tically bizarre in the extreme.

The government of Ontario put a
price of $5,000 on the head of Louis
Riel.

While Riel was in hiding the lieuten-
ant-governor of Manitoba asked for his
help to repel a Fenian invasion expect-
ed from across the line. Though they
were bitter and disillusioned with their
treatment at the hands of the Macdon-’
ald government, Riel and the Métis res-
ponded with an armed force of 500 arm-
ed men. For this patriotic act they were
publicly thanked by the lieutenant-
governor. :

Twice Riel was elected to the House
of Commons, once by acclamation.

Riel with his Red River Council of 1869-1870. In front are Bob O’Lane, Paul

Proulx. Seated: Pierre Poitras, John Bruce, Louis Riel, O'Donoghue, Francois
Dauphinais. Standing: Guilmette, Pierre Delorme, Thomas Bunn,. Xavier, Page, .An-

dre Beauchemin, Baptiste Tourond, Thomas Spence.

POROASEEELEERTE

a oe '

Threats against his life by reactionary no time in uniting the Métis and whil
elements dominating Ontario politics settlers behind a List of Rights emb?
prevented him from taking his seat. : ing their grievances and demand |
Time and again Prime Minister Mac- These included titles to the lands th;
donald promised amnesty to Riel and already occupied, the needs of the fart
his aides, but the promise was never ers, an elective form of governmél |
kept. and better treatment for the Indians
Finally, in 1875 Riel was exiled from The answer of the Canadian gover |
his native land by an Act of Parliament. ment was to send a special force? |
Broken in health but never wavering in police to arrest the leaders of the
hi; principles, he moved to the United form movement and to hastily mobili2# 4
States, eventually settling in Montana an army of 8,000 men to suppress it

where he married and took out U.S. force. ee
citizenship. Under the brilliant guerilla lead)
e Gabriel Dumont, the Métis twice def

In 1884 the Métis from the banks of
the Saskatchewan together with white
settlers again asked Riel to help them.
He agreed. Returning on July 1, he lost

ted superior forces sent against thes
once at Duck Lake and again at FS

Creek. In the final battle at Batoch®,
some 200-300 Métis held at bay "|

re a a oe

. ar aN j fg ’
+n hd ; De

The Batoche Church and rectory today, with the graves of Métis killed in the
battle of Batoche in the foreground.

Among the fighte’

and English — and the Indian W
riors hurled back the Yankee im
ders in 1812. P
The popular struggles for demo’.
tic self-government in the Mariti
--where the name of Joseph Howe
still remembered— and Upper i
ada and Lower Canada in the i
1800's culminated in the firmly unit
and coordinated popular uprising® 4 |
1837 in what are now Quebec %

By JOHN WEIR

As we enter the 1970's, history -is
knocking at our doors. Canadians re-
fuse to meekly submit to their ills and
in a fast-changing world they demand
social change in-Canada. The wrongs
suffered for generations demand to
be righted, the crimes of the past to
be avenged, the promise that was
withheld to be realized at long last.

History is knocking .. . |
Candia Stone = not as it is Ontario, led by Louis Joseph Fy |
taught in the schools, but as it was neau and William Lyon Macké™ |.

which were brutally suppresse® ;/
British troops. Canada’s struggl@ ae
. democratic self-government, our! |
pient war of independence,
throttled by foreign arms. he
That defeat set its stamp on A
kind of self-governing Canada ye
finally emerged, through the Bald. 4
Lafontaine government in 1848 10
final formation through the Brit,
North America Act in 1867—n0% yt
revolutionary democratic republic: ae

fashioned by the sweat and blood of
the people—from its very first pages
is replete with valorous deeds of the
common folk and the names of heroes
and martyrs in the cause of liberty.
Our native peoples never gave up
the inspiring fight for their rights as
peoples and as human beings. French
soldiers and settlers died on the gib-
‘bet in New France for challenging
the Bourbon monarchy, feudal seig-
neurs, and princes of the fur trade :
and the Church. After the British Con- a Confederation that retained ™ 4
quest the French Canadians ‘never colonialist chains and placed Pp? at
bowed before the conqueror. The in the hands of the big mere
monopolists of the Hudson's Bay. monopolists, railroad promoters, “it
Company again and again faced the jobbers and rising manufact?
people’s ire in the north and west. capitalists of Toronto and Mont
Canadian people's militia — French with the Orange Order in On

i enuasneauesnvanenueavenssusnuntatevuacnencesucaonsuesguant cuendvianeuivoeasriria tab ta iaeaririiimanrniaaintt