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Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Remembering Louis Riel

Riel ca. 1885 (source)
All I can suggest or advise you is to prepare to meet your end, that is all the advice or suggestion I can offer.  It is not my painful duty to pass the sentence of the court upon you, and that is,  that you be taken now from here to the police guard-room at Regina, which is the goal and the place from whence you came, and that you be kept there till the 18th of September next, that on the 18th of September next you be taken to the place appointed for you execution, and there be hanged by the neck till you are dead, and may God have mercy on your soul. 

Justice Hugh Richardson, July 31, 1885 (source)

It was 125 years ago today, (not September 18th as indicated at sentencing), that Louis David Riel went to the gallows.

Despite the years, Riel is still a polarizing figure. Often showing that split between the East and the West.

There are some great on-line resources, many that include recently discovered primary sources, that give us insight beyond the 'crazy half-breed' persona that the government and much of the media labeled him with over a century ago.
Riel

Links:
Louis Riel Collection Peel's Prairie Province
The Trial of Louis Riel University of Missouri-Kansas School of Law
The Birth of Manitoba Manitobia
The Day Louis Riel Hanged Manitoba Historical Society

Other Resources:
Rethinking Riel CBC Archives
Louis David Riel Manitoba Historical Society
Louis Riel Historica Minute Video
Louis Riel Image Album  University of Manitoba

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