LOUIS RIEL, FROM HERETIC TO HERO: A NEW HISTORICAL SYNTHESIS
By
Wesley Brent Bilsky
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS
Supervisor: Gregg Finley, PhD
Second Reader: Aloysius Balawyder, PhD
Copy Editor: Judith L. Davids, M.C.S.
This Thesis Is Accepted By: ______Academic Dean ST. STEPHEN’S UNIVERSITY April 16, 2011
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CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………………………………...…...... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………………………………..…….... iii
PREFACE ……………………………………………………………………………………………....…. iv
INTRODUCTION: ALMOST A HERO ………………………………………………………………….... 1
CHAPTER I HISTORICAL REVISIONISM: PURPOSE VERSUS PERCEPTION ….….…………..…... 6 Purpose ……………………………….………………………………………………………………... 6 Perception ……………………………….…………………………………………….……………… 12 Closing the Gap ……………………………….……………………………………...... ….… 15 The Historical Window ……………………….……………………………………………………… 18
CHAPTER II REVISING RIEL: FROM REBEL TO MARTYR …………………………..…………..... 21 A Rebel is Born ………………………………………………………….…………………………… 21 A Captivity Narrative ………………………………………………………….……………………... 26 Early Influences ………………………………………………………….………...... 28 The Metamorphosis Begins – 1869 ……………………………………………………….…….……. 30 Building on Stanley and Morton ………………………………………………….………………….. 36 The Birth of a Martyr – 1885 ………………………………………………….……………...….…... 40 The Charges Challenged …………………………………………………...... 46 A Collaborative Future ……………………………………………………………………...…….…. 49
CHAPTER III RIEL: NATIONAL DIVISIONS, RECONCILIATIONS AND FUTURE HEALING ….. 51 Embedded Dichotomies ………………………………………………………...……….…………… 52 Violent Beginnings …………………………………………………………………………………... 60 Colonial Oppression …………………………………………………………...... 62 Founding Myths ………………………………………………………………….………………...… 63 Reaching Maturity …………………………………………………………………………………… 66 Historical Reconciliation Begins …………………………………………………………………….. 67 The Domino Effect …………………………………………………………………………………... 69 The Role of Trauma ……………………………………………………………….……………...... 72
CONCLUSION: A HISTORY AS OF YET UNTOLD AND A FUTURE YET UNMADE …………..... 75
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………………………... 81
i Bilsky
ABSTRACT
This year marks the 125th anniversary of the execution of the infamous Métis leader Louis Riel for high treason against the Dominion of Canada. In Alexander Begg’s
1871CE account of the Red River Rebellion, Riel was depicted as a heretical, power- hungry, murderous womanizer who tried to overthrow the Dominion. This early account of Riel’s uprising has evolved and has been revised countless times during the past century. Riel has been labeled everything from a heretic to a hero; and currently politicians are working at not only having Riel pardoned, but also ensuring that his conviction is overturned altogether. This type of historical revisionism has traditionally created a strong division among Canadians. Critics fear that the memory of our nation’s time-honored founders and military heroes could be irrevocably despoiled. Whereas supporters are encouraged as minority figures like Riel are finally recognized for their contributions to our nation. As communities all across the nation gather to mark Riel’s anniversary and celebrate this federally mandated ‘Year of the Métis,’ the conflicting sides of this historical dichotomy are closer than ever to agreeing upon a common history. This thesis will define and discuss historical revisionism, which will include how it is utilized in the academic and public spheres. The discussion will include how this historiographical theory is important to the Riel story and what the consequences of its implementation for our nation might be. Then this study will track the evolution of Riel’s legacy found within a wide selection of both academic and fictional works from 1871 to the present to demonstrate the role and legitimacy of the several key amendments. The last chapter will consider the role of trauma, as it is seen from the perspective of psychohistory, on the past present and future development of Canadian national identity/memory. Finally, the thesis will explain the importance of a new historical synthesis for national reconciliation. Moreover, because Riel’s story encompasses the European/Indian, French/English, Protestant/Catholic and East/West national fault-lines it has the potential of leading the way to establishing an overall synthesis of the country‘s past. The work will conclude by arguing that because of the apparent willingness of the Canadian government to reconcile a number of minority grievances following the 1992 federal recognition of Riel as a founder of Manitoba, that a further amendment of Riel’s 1885 legacy may bring Canadians further healing.
ii Bilsky
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In my third term at St. Stephen’s University I began a project on Louis Riel with the intent to investigate the inner workings of the man and his poetry. For various reasons the project was put aside for another time. I did not return to it until my sixth term when I had a BA thesis in mind. During this term, I was introduced to the world of historiography (HIST 380) and pre-confederation Canadian history (HIST 371). These courses led me to widen my focus from Riel as a man to one of regional and then national importance. During this period of broader study I began to make many of the connections found within this thesis—connections that ultimately stem from the SSU curriculum. Here I am thinking of the theories of history (HIST 380), ideas on minority voice and oppression (PHIL 300), postcolonial theory (LIT 375), the importance of a self- defined narrative (HIST 365), paradigm shifts (PHIL 100) and ideas on apartheid (LIT 365). Without the diverse liberal arts curriculum here at SSU, I would not have recognized the multifaceted nature of Riel’s story, nor would I have understood the complex process of how one man’s life has come to represent so much for so many. In other words, this project owes its inspiration to the commitment of SSU and its faculty to provide an atmosphere and curriculum that fosters not only the conveyance of knowledge but also the creation of knowledge. Of course, the research and writing of this thesis was made possible through the support of many. First and foremost, my thanks go out to the unending support of my very longsuffering wife, Gwen. She essentially played the role of a single parent for weeks, even months, on end while I sequestered myself in my office to work. As well, she gave me endless hours of attention as I verbally worked through my thoughts. As always, without her I would be lost. To my three sons, Nate, Ben and Jo-Jo, who sacrificed their much-valued ‘Daddy-time,’ I also say thank you. As a dyslexic person, I would not have accomplished this without the tireless efforts of my copy editor, Judy Davids. I am certain that her ‘red pen’ is nearly out of ink! She has excellent grammar skills and the sharpest of editorial eyes. I would also like to give many thanks to my supervisor, mentor and friend, Dr. Gregg Finley for his sage guidance and for allowing me to utilize his vast historiographical knowledge. My thanks also go out to my great- great-uncle, Dr. Aloysius Balawyder for his encouragement and support as my second reader. Finally, I would like to thank my wife’s parents, Peter and Judy Davids and my parents, Ralph and Mary Bilsky for their encouragement and financial support throughout my degree. Last but not least, I give thanks to God for upholding me during this process.
iii Bilsky
PREFACE
Every historian sets out to write a dispassionate and objective account of his/her topic; yet nothing is without a degree of subjectivity. As a Métis person with a distant Red River heritage, I will endeavor to remain particularly vigilant in this pursuit and attempt to turn my proximity to this subject into a drive for excellence and accuracy. However, I do not foresee this as being much of a problem; because whereas this thesis does indeed deal with the life and legacy of Louis Riel to some degree, that is not its sole focus. For, I am also wrestling with the larger historiographical question: How does the correlation between the theories of revisionist history, psychohistory, the revision of Riel’s legacy and the recent surge of reconciliatory gestures towards Canadian minorities by Parliament indicate that the nation is undergoing a new historical synthesis? In essence Louis Riel’s life and legacy serve as the central example of these larger themes within the present state of Canadian history. Thus, the main body of text within this thesis will not include the usual contextual and biographical details one would expect when reading a work on an historical individual. Rather, I presuppose that my reader’s interests likely include Riel’s story (after all the title bears his name) and that as part of that interest the reader will bring a general knowledge of Riel and his era. However, so as not to leave anyone in the dark, I have provided many explanatory footnotes to either explain various contexts and terms or to point the reader in the direction of works which focus more heavily on the events within Riel’s life. Of course, one is also welcome to consult the somewhat lengthy annotated bibliography found at the end of this thesis for further suggested readings. Also, it must be said that while every endeavor has been made to avoid and correct any errors or biases found within this thesis by myself and my readers/editors, I, the author, humbly bare all responsibility for any remaining inaccuracies.
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Bilsky 1
INTRODUCTION: ALMOST A HERO
The year 2010 marked the 125th anniversary of the execution of Louis Riel for high treason against the Dominion of Canada.1, 2 Riel was a man of ‘almosts:’ he almost became a priest, he almost became a lawyer, he almost became a politician and now he has almost become a national hero. The year 2010 also marked a century and a quarter of dispute among Canadians over Louis Riel’s life and legacy. There are those who despise
Riel, describing him as a traitor, heretic, power-hungry rabble-rouser, womanizer, leader of two rebellions and even as a cold-blooded murderer. There are also those who, upon hearing the same name, beam with pride. These people think of Riel as a hero, priest, prophet, martyr, leader, defender of minority rights and the founder of Manitoba. They even consider him one of the Fathers of Canadian Confederation. Why do such contradictions exist? Whose interpretations are correct? One might think that this age- old dispute could be laid to rest by simply referencing a history textbook. However, this has not been the case.
Both Riel’s critics and supporters have cited numerous publications as evidence of their respective positions; positions that, at one time or another, have contained faulty myths and/or faulty collective memories. The critics have their traditional accounts of
Riel forcibly establishing his provisional government after taking over Fort Garry at gun point in 1869 and of the Métis troublemaker leading his people against Canadian troops
1 To aid the overall literary flow of the introduction, all normally footnoted material found within this introductory chapter will be properly footnoted in subsequent chapters upon its first appearance therein. 2 All dates throughout this thesis are in the Common Era unless otherwise stated.
Bilsky 2 in a number of armed battles during the 1885 North-West Rebellion. Riel supporters rely on more modern accounts of the same events, which claim that Riel’s 1869 ‘rebellion’ was a not a rebellion at all; but rather, the legal maneuvering of Manitoba into Canadian
Confederation and that regardless of Riel’s role in the 1885 rebellion, he was not afforded a fair trial.
Riel’s critics argue that history cannot be rewritten—they insist ‘once a traitor always a traitor.’ They fear that if Riel’s story is rewritten, the memory of our nation’s time-honored founders and military heroes could be irrevocably despoiled. His supporters say, ‘not so!’ They argue that Riel was betrayed, deceived and railroaded by a corrupted racist and oppressive system.
Numerous historians and biographers have spilled ink trying to argue for one side or the other. Many claim that Riel was delusional or insane, while others say he was simply a mystic. Some have combed through pages upon pages of detail in Riel’s own writings in an attempt to find the ‘real Riel.’ Some have chosen a wider approach and put
Riel into his historical context. Yet others have selected a more narrow focus, such as the legality of Riel’s trial. What has not been done, as far as this author is aware, is to look at the phenomenon of Louis Riel and his legacy from an historiographical perspective.
The term historiography is often broadly used to mean the body of literature dealing with historical matters or collective histories or particular genres of history, like
Canadian History3 or Women’s History. However, historiography can also be used to refer to the study of the body of techniques, methods, theories, and principles of historical research and scholarship. It is this second usage that is being employed here; even more
3 Throughout this thesis the word History with an upper case ‘H’ will either denote a genre within the study of History or the field itself. All cases where history is used with a lower case ‘h’ refer to the general history of the past.
Bilsky 3 specifically, in this case, looking at the body of historical writing on Riel and its influence on Canadians’ collective identity through the lens and role of the theories of historical revisionism and psychohistory.
To revise or not to revise, that is the question. With no disrespect to Shakespeare and his older and more metaphysical question, the validity and benefits of historical revisionism is at the heart of the Riel phenomenon. In order to understand Louis Riel’s legacy and what it means to the course of Canadian history, one must first understand the historiographical meaning and role of revisionist History. However, before a definition and discussion of this theory and its practice can get underway a deeper question needs to be asked and answered. That ever important question is one that all historians must put to their research: “So what?” That is, of what importance is the legacy of a man who was hung 125 years ago? Why should Canadians even care?
In short, Canada has always been, and still is to some degree, less-than-whole due to a number of ethnically, religiously, linguistically and geographically inflicted wounds.
Since Confederation hundreds of thousands of Canadian man-hours and tax-dollars have been spent to address the divisions between Euro-Canadians and Aboriginals, English and French, Protestants and Catholics and the paternal policies of Eastern Canada toward the West. Deep historical divisions like these have hampered Canadians’ ability to focus on their present and future possibilities.
Louis Riel is one of the rare figures in Canadian history that represents many of the country’s major fault lines. As a French-Catholic-Métis westerner who travelled to, was educated in and worked in Eastern Canada, Louis Riel’s story encompasses to some degree each of these traditional dichotomies. And, as such, his life has profoundly
Bilsky 4 affected the course of Canadian history. But, equally so, in his role as an intermediary between these groups, the reassessment of his legacy may have the potential to bring the next step of healing that the country needs in order to move past these divisions.
Psychohistorians or historians that specialize in personal/corporate inner motives and experiences like trauma argue that opposing sides like these cannot move forward, because a common past has not been established. Here is where the process of historical revisionism can make a significant contribution. When a nation has competing ethnic, linguistic, religious or regional groups, it is common for each to have its own version of the events that led to the present state of affairs; or more simply put, to have their own version of the past. Most often the ‘official past,’ the one that gets recorded as history in the textbooks, is the winner’s version. In Canada’s case, this has generally been the
English-Protestant-European eastern version of how Canada was founded. Of course, there are numerous competing versions, which are propagated and even published within the various Canadian minority groups; for instance in Quebec, Acadia and many First
Nations tribes. However, national circulation and validation of these versions has traditionally been overshadowed or entirely eclipsed by the dominant English-Protestant-
European eastern version. For any of the opposing minority versions to be considered, there would have to be a reinterpretation of that dominant version. Here is where the reform of Louis Riel’s legacy can play a role.
Psychohistorians who specialize in the effects of trauma on a society also argue that for a divided nation to get past a legacy of woundedness, the various competing versions of the past need to be reconciled and a new synthesis established. Then, and only then, they argue is it possible for a divided nation like Canada to move forward
Bilsky 5 together as a whole. Therefore, this thesis is designed to assist Canadians in understanding the theory and methodologies of historical revisionism, the reasons for the various Riel amendments from a historiographical perspective, and the debilitating effects of traumatic divisions on Canada’s past, present and future. In other words, its purpose is not to argue on behalf of one side or the other. The intent is to encourage lobbyists on both sides to pause long enough to recognize the value and potential of a balanced reinterpretation and to work toward a more nuanced and collaborative adjustment of the Riel story in order to help heal Canadians’ collective memory/identity.
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CHAPTER I
HISTORICAL REVISIONISM: PURPOSE VERSUS PERCEPTION
This first chapter will begin by defining and discussing historical revisionism.4 It
will then elucidate the differences between revisionism as it is utilized in the field of
History and its more popular usage in the public and political arenas, suggesting methods
with which one can close the gap between the two. Finally, the chapter will end with an
explanation of why the practice of revising history is important to both the story of Louis
Riel and that of our nation.
PURPOSE
Perhaps the biggest challenge that the general public faces when trying to
reconcile the much-contested legacy of Louis Riel is that it is couched in revisionist
history. The feedback sections that follow many of the countless online news articles on
Riel’s legacy reveal comments like the following: “Why are these people trying to re-
write history?”5 “You cannot just erase history!”6 or, “How can Riel be a traitor one day
4 Historical revisionism is also called revisionist history or just revisionism. Those who practice it or advocate for it are called revisionists. 5 Andrew de Souza, "All Nations Gather In Prince Albert Again," Prince Albert Daily Herald, September 8 2010, sec. C, 1, http://www.paherald.sk.ca/News/Local/2010-09-08/article-1733607/All- nations-gather-in-Prince-Albert-again/1/ (Accessed Sep. 26, 2010). User name: Steve133. 6 Brian Norris, "Letter of the Day: Riel’s Legacy Unclear," Winnipeg Free Press, September 3, 2010, sec. C, http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/letters_to_the_ editor/riels-legacy-unclear- 102134669.html. (Accessed Sep. 26, 2010). User name: Justsayin.
Bilsky 7 and a hero the next?”7 Therefore, one would be remiss to conduct an investigation of the significance of Monsieur Riel’s8 story without first considering the public’s aversion to its controversial nature.
What exactly is revisionist history and why does the general public reject it?
Historical revisionism is quite literally the practice of either updating, reinterpreting or correcting biased/inaccurate history. However, to fully appreciate why one would want to amend history, one must understand the nature of History itself. In Theogony, while detailing the genealogy of the gods, the Greek poet Hesiod explained that Clio the daughter of Mnemosyne, the god of memory, is the muse of history.9 Historians have not overlooked Hesiod’s proclaimed relationship between memory and history. In the 1931
Cornell University Presidential Address, historian Carl Becker argued that History in its simplest form is “the memory of things said and done.”10
Becker uses the term memory where others might be tempted to use a word like
‘knowledge.’ Yet knowledge brings with it a number of scientific associations: it sounds absolute or encyclopedic—objective. There was a time, in the twentieth-century, when historians believed that history could be recounted objectively.11 They argued that historians should let the facts of history speak for themselves, unfettered by personal bias or political perspectives. But it is impossible to record all the facts and even if it were
7 Chris Shelly, "National Post Editorial Board: The Unpardonable Louis Riel," National Post, July 19 2010, sec. A,, http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/07/19/national-post-editorial-board-the- unpardonable-louis-riel// (Accessed September 26, 2010). User name: TO483. 8 Out of respect for Louis Riel's French heritage I have chosen to use Monsieur. 9 Hesiod, Theogony; Works and Days; Shield, trans. Apostolos N. Athanassakis (Baltimore, Maryland: The John Hopkins University Press, 2004), ix. 10 Carl Becker, “Everyman His Own Historian.” The Modern Historiography Reader: Western Sources, ed. Adam Budd (New York: Routledge, 2009), 20. 11 Margaret Conrad, “How Historians Complicate Things: A Brief Survey Of Canadian Historiography,” Historica Dominion Institute, http://www.histori.ca/prodev/article.do?id=11635/ (Accessed Sept. 26, 2010). 1.
Bilsky 8 possible, this would likely only confuse the matter in question. Consequently, only the relevant facts are required. The question then remains: Is it not historians who choose which facts are relevant? This very choosing begs a bias. As a result, as Becker points out, History becomes a blend of “fact and interpretation.”12 Furthermore, no one would advocate that a historian should choose these facts by the virtue of scientific disinterest instead of by the virtue of his or her own intelligence.13
Within today’s postmodern mindset historians rarely claim absolute objectivity; rather, they admit to varying degrees that there is a “complex relationship between their personal background, memories, experiences, and hierarchies, and the production of historiographical knowledge.”14 It is important to note that the ‘historiographical knowledge’ spoken of above is not inherent but produced. What this means is that once an event (a war, a speech, a person’s life, and etcetera) has passed, the historian cannot bring to his or her reader the actual or ‘real’ event.15 In its place is a representation or
‘shadow’ of that event, whether it is in the form of text, audio, video or an artifact.
Even a recorded speech is not the actual speech, but a representation of what the real speech sounded like. A sound recording or video is missing the atmosphere, the energy and effects that one experiences when one is actually present at an event. If these effects were not missing, then viewers would all suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome or the debilitating effects of chemical warfare after having watched a
12 Becker, 26. 13 Ibid., 24. 14 Antoniou Giorgos. “The Lost Atlantis of Objectivity: the Revisionist Struggles Between the Academic and Public Spheres.” History and Theory, Theme, no. 46 (December 2007): 92-112. 93. 15 This idea has its roots in Plato's Cave allegory, where the escaped prisoner sees 'real' things once outside the cave, whereas those still inside see only 'shadows' of the real things. The Allegory of the Cave can be found in Book VII of Plato's best-known work, The Republic, within a lengthy dialogue on the nature of justice or in the following online article: Steven Kries, "Plato: The Allegory Of The Cave," The History Guide: Lectures On Modern European Intellectual History, May 13, 2004, http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html. (Accessed Sept. 26, 2010). 1.
Bilsky 9 documentary on the First World War. Something is always lost. Even artifacts have been affected by time, weather, use and abuse. Furthermore, they rarely exist in their natural context, but instead are usually found in the display cases of museums. Thus, the role of professional historians is to minimize the influences of religious and non- religious, regional and national, social and political and individual and institutional contexts when “transferring representations” of the memory of the things said and done
“to future generations.”16
Whether historians admit it or not, to a greater or lesser extent, interpretive biases affect the historical writing process. Whereas this phenomenon is somewhat recognized today; and thus, held in check, this has not always been the case. Much of Canada’s early history was interpreted through a strong Anglo-Saxon, Protestant and colonial/nationalist bias.17 Examples are William Kingsford’s eccentric History of Canada in ten volumes
(1887-1898) or the twenty-volume Makers of Canada series (1902-1908).18 Some of
Canada’s early history is racist, sexist, elitist and partisan, like the first account of the
Red River Rebellion19 by Alexander Begg, The Creation of Manitoba: A History of the
Red River Troubles (1871). Amateur historians, lawyers, journalists or politicians penned
16 Antoniou, 93. 17 Conrad, 2. 18 Ibid., 2. 19 The Red River Rebellion(1869-70) occurred when the Hudson’s Bay Company of England tried to sell Rupert’s Land (a region which encompassed the settlement at Red River, present day Winnipeg, Manitoba) to the newly established Canadian Confederation, The Dominion of Canada, without consulting the settlement’s inhabitants. It has also been called the Red River Rebellion and the Red River Troubles. In line with many historians, I have chosen Uprising or Resistance throughout in place of Rebellion in recognition of the fact that the settlers had a legal right to represent themselves and that Canada did not yet own the territory at the time of the resistance.
Bilsky 10 most of Canada’s early history.20 University-trained historians only became the norm in
Canada in the early twentieth century.21
This increase in university-trained historians throughout the first half of the twentieth century led to a new environmental determinant—that of diversity. With increases in enrollment and the accessibility of smaller universities in smaller centers throughout the country, the arena of Canadian history suddenly had many fresh new voices. These young historians came armed with new methodologies, practices and interests.22 Many challenged the national theories of the Frontier Thesis,23 Staples
Thesis,24 Laurentian Thesis25 and the Francophone Differential Thesis.26, 27 These were replaced with inquiries into “Canada’s limited identities of region, class and ethnicity.
20 Ibid., 2. 21 Ibid., 2. 22 A.B McKillop, “Historiography in English,” in The Canadian Encyclopedia.com, ed, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0009244/ (accessed Sept. 26, 2010). 1. 23 As Conrad states, “the Frontier thesis was formulated in 1893, when American historian Frederick Jackson Turner theorized that the availability of unsettled land throughout much of American history was the most important factor determining national development. Frontier experiences and new opportunities forced old traditions to change, institutions to adapt and society to become more democratic as class distinctions collapsed. The result was a unique American society, distinct from the European societies from which it originated.” 24 As Conrad states, “the Staples Thesis was formulated in the 1920s by economic historians Harold A. Innis and W.A. Mackintosh. The theory asserts that the export of natural resources, or staples, from Canada to more advanced economies has a pervasive impact on the economy as well as on the social and political systems. Furthermore, different staples (fur, fish, timber, grain, oil, and etcetera) have differing impacts on rates of settlement, federal-provincial conflicts, and etcetera.” 25 As Conrad states, “the Laurentian Thesis was an influential theory of economic and national development set forth by several major English Canadian historians from the 1930s through the 1950s. The theory received its most sustained and sophisticated expression in the writings of Donald Creighton. Creighton argued that Canadian economic and national development derived fundamentally from the gradual exploitation of key staple products - fur, timber and wheat - by colonial merchants in the major metropolitan centers of the St. Lawrence River system.” 26 According to Quebec historian Ronald Rudin “the Differential Thesis came out of François- Xavier Garneau's Histoire Du Canada, the most important historiographical work ever published in French in Canada, which appeared in Québec City in 1845-48. For the French the conflict did not end with the Conquest; after 1791 it simply moved indoors to the Parliament. Garneau's argument that a perpetual struggle for survival was the central element of French Canadian history and that this struggle shaped French Canada differently than the forces shaping English Canada making the French culture a unique or distinct society” 27 Conrad, 3.
Bilsky 11
Women, African Canadians and Aboriginal peoples soon added their voices to the chorus demanding a more inclusive understanding of the past.”28 Even French Canadian historians began to challenge the role of the English conquest, positing that Quebec’s history developed in the normal western industrialized fashion.29
Revisionist historians rightly seek to alter or rehabilitate earlier interpretations that are biased, inaccurate and exclusive. These prejudices and inexactitudes are often discovered through new inclusive veins of research, which can be at first seen “as deviations from the status quo of the discipline.”30 As a result of these new lines of inquiry, new evidence or previously ignored evidence is discovered and new methodologies and data available through new technologies (such as carbon dating or
DNA testing) are utilized.31 Consequently, advocates of revisionism “propose alternative visions and a detachment” from that which is “established, unquestioned, familiar, common, or sacred.”32 They may also directly “challenge the moral, cognitive, and epistemological categories within and outside academia.”33
In his 2007 article for the journal History and Theory entitled “The Lost Atlantis of Objectivity,” historian Giorgos Antoniou also states the following:
In practice, revisionism is a way to control the scholarly field, to disqualify or reaffirm old institutions. While this might be considered primarily a scholarly issue, the successful or futile attempt is publically manifested and is connected to the wider political situation and to collective identity crises.34
28 Ibid., 4. 29 Ronald Rudin, “Revisionism and the Search for a Normal Society: A Critique of Recent Quebec Historical Writing,” Canadian Historical Review 73, no. 1 (March 1992): 31. 30 Antoniou, 96. 31 Conrad, 4. 32 Antoniou, 97. 33 Ibid., 97. 34 Antoniou, 95.
Bilsky 12
This is undoubtedly the case with Louis Riel’s modern legacy as a Métis35 hero and
Father of Confederation. For, there is a multitude of editorial articles right across the
country publically debating the validity and ramifications of the current Riel revisionism
on a weekly basis.36 Furthermore, politicians of all stripes have also publically joined in
the discourse on this topic, including the previous Governor General, the Honorable
Adrienne Clarkson and the Métis National Council President, Clément Chartier. This
tendency of the discourse on Riel’s legacy to manifest publically is the reason it is so
important to discuss public perceptions of historical revisionism.
PERCEPTION
Having defined the focus and purpose of amending history as an important and
necessary means of improving accuracy and balance within the study of History, it is now
prudent to examine the reason for the general public’s rejection of it. Of course, many
will resist an alteration of the dominant historical narrative simply because it challenges
their worldview. Psychologist Deborah Lyon has shown that a person’s worldview acts
as an “anxiety-buffer” and when it is challenged or threatened with an opposing
worldview there is a tendency to react “irrationally with fear and anger.”37 Therefore, a
modification of one’s view of the meta-narrative of their nation’s history, which
35 The Métis are a distinct culture, which is derived from the union of the French and Indian (usually Cree) races trading furs for the Montreal based Northwest Company or the Scottish/English traders working for the Hudson’s Bay Company (traditionally called half-breeds, but now included under the Métis title). For a gripping and in depth look at Métis culture from a Métis perspective one should read Maria Campbell’s: Riel’s People: How The Métis Lived, Half-Breed or Stories of the Road Allowance People. 36 For further insight into the public debate over Riel and Métis identity I have compiled a short- list of such articles in the bibliography. 37 Deborah Lyon. “Evidence for Terror Management Theory II: The Effects of Mortality Salience on Reactions to Those Who Threaten or Bolster the Cultural Worldview.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 58, No. 2 (1990). Pp. 308-318. 310.
Bilsky 13 challenges its validity by exposing inaccuracies and biases, is unlikely to be received with favor.
Another factor working against revisionist histories is the protection of personal, family and national heroes. There are those who fear that the memory of our nation’s time-honored founders and military heroes are at risk of being ruined or reversed when it comes to adjusting the nation’s history. In the case of Louis Riel, those who fought against him at Duck Lake, Fish Creek and Batoche have long been honored as heroes and received Canada’s first military medals. If the 1885 Northwest Rebellion is reinterpreted
(as some suggest it should be) as a fair resistance to the tyranny of Protestant Eastern
Canada, then what is to become of these soldiers’ legacies? Further complicating matters is the questionable role of Canada’s first Prime Minister, John A. Macdonald, during the
Red River Uprising, the Northwest Rebellion and Riel’s trial. No matter how respectfully and professionally revisionist historians treat these and other issues, the general public, and even more so those with vested interests in maintaining the status quo interpretations (like Veteran Affairs Minister Peter Goldring),38 will naturally resist and misunderstand any reassessment to some degree.
However, the main cause of public resistance to historical revisionism is found within the modern media. All too often columnists, commentators and political pundits alike use the term ‘revisionism’ as if it were an off-color four-letter word. In the political or public arena to call someone a ‘revisionist’ has become metaphorically equal to plucking your glove off and slapping them in the face. The reason for all this hostility
38 Mr. Goldring has long been outspoken against any type of Riel revisionism, stating that Riel was found directly responsible for the 1885 Northwest Rebellion and as such the deaths of dozens of Canadian soldiers. Goldring’s obvious agenda is the protection of the legacy of those fallen soldiers and their comrades who survived the battles. Several articles authored by Mr. Goldring in defense of his position are listed in the bibliography.
Bilsky 14 stems from the public’s perception of the term: a perception which is constantly being conflated by either a media desperately in search of the next big controversy or any number of politicians frantically trying to discredit an opponent. 39 Thus, readers are bombarded almost daily with headlines like “Beck’s Crash Course: Revisionist
History,”40 “DPP Lawmakers Slam ‘Revisionist’ History Curriculum,”41 “Washing Blood
Off Their Hands”42 or “Revising Offensive History is to Deny Reality.”43 The message to the general public is thus clear: ‘rewriting history is wrong, dishonest and immoral.’
As stated above, revisionist history is not bad history; rather, it is the best kind of history. The media and general public do not share the aforementioned definition of revisionism; instead they commonly use the term as if it were synonymous with negationism. Negationism, unlike revisionism, consists of the illegitimate alteration of history by utilizing false evidence, misleading text, skewed statistics and so forth for the purpose of propaganda—for example, the Holocaust denial or Soviet historiography.44
With its tenuous connection to proper historical reinterpretation and politicians’ penchant to practice it, negationism has helped swing the public’s opinion of revisionist history to one of suspicion and outrage
39 For further insight into the manner in which the media and politicians are vilifying revisionism the author has compiled a short-list of articles in the bibliography. Also, to demonstrate that this is not just a Canadian phenomenon, examples from the United States and elsewhere have been purposely included. 40Glenn Beck. “Beck’s Crash Course: Revisionist History.” Fox News: Glenn Beck Transcript. (September 9, 2010). http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,600982,00. html. (Accessed: September 26, 2010.) 1. 41 Vincent Y Chao. “DPP Lawmakers Slam ‘Revisionist’ History Curriculum.” Taipei Times. (September 14, 2010). http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/ 2010/09/14 /2003482855. (Accessed: September 26, 2010). 1. 42 Adam McDowell. “Washing Blood Off Their Hands.” National Post. (September 25, 2010). http://www.nationalpost.com/Washing+blood+their+hands/3577547/story.html. (Accessed: September 26, 2010). 1. 43 Doug Cuthand. “Revising Offensive History is to Deny Reality.” The Star Phoenix. (January 21, 2011). http://www.thestarphoenix.com/life/Revising+offensive+history+deny+reality/4143167/ story.html. (Accessed: January 22, 2011). 1. 44 Koïchiro Matsuura. World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance: Durban, South Africa. Paris: UNESCO (2001). 17.
Bilsky 15
CLOSING THE GAP
How can this grievous misunderstanding of historical revisionism be addressed?
One answer is that academia’s theory and knowledge of History needs to be disseminated
to the general public. This ‘bringing of history to the people’ is already being done to
some extent through popular media such as: Canada’s History Magazine (formerly called
The Beaver), Canadian Film Board documentaries, Canadian Broadcasting Company’s
radio and television productions and websites similar to www.historica-dominion.ca.
However, readership of popular history magazines is generally limited to professional
and amateur historians and enthusiasts.45 Furthermore, these types of media rarely focus
on the theoretical side of history; rather, they dramatize and popularize parochial stories
and events primarily for entertainment, with historical education as a secondary purpose.
If Canadians are going to benefit from the knowledge that there “is no single, eternal, and
immutable ‘truth’ about past events and their meaning,” a wider audience must be
reached.46
An obvious delivery method, which comes to mind, is the nation’s public high
school curriculum. Nearly every young person in the country attends high school,
making it an excellent venue to distribute the message that the “unending quest of
historians for understanding the past—that is, ‘revisionism’—is what makes history vital
and meaningful.”47 Admittedly, it has been a number of years since I walked the halls of
45 For instance, Canada's History Magazine's website reports that its readership base is 50,000 strong; however this is still less than one hundredth of a percent of the country's population. (Accessed: December 15, 2010) http://www.canadashistory.ca/ About-us.aspx. 46 James McPherson, “Revisionist Historians,” American Historical Association, September 2003, http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2003/0309/0309pre1.cfm/ (accessed December 17, 2010). 1. 47 McPherson, 1.
Bilsky 16
F. W. Johnson Collegiate48 (my high school); but I do recall however, a history lesson condemning the revisionist practices of the USSR. In that lesson there was no mention of negationism or of any type of respectable reinterpretation for that matter; but all modifications were simply labeled wrong. If changes have been made to lectures like these, then the public comments mentioned at the beginning of this chapter certainly do not reflect them.
Another manner of distributing knowledge would be for professional historians to reach out to the general public. The tens of thousands of members of the Canadian and
American Historical Associations49 need to share with the public their belief that revisionism “is the lifeblood of historical scholarship…” and that “[i]nterpretations of the past are subject to change in response to new evidence, new questions asked of the evidence, [and] new perspectives gained by the passage of time.”50 One way this could be done, and to some extent is being done, is through the outreach programs of the
Canadian National History Society, which provide primary and high school teachers with lesson plans and resources.51 The drawback of these programs is they are not well advertised. Teachers have to go looking for them and if, as in many cases, the teachers teaching history modules to students are not historians or enthusiasts, then they have little reason to be a member of the Canadian National History Society.
Of course, academics and professionals can and sometimes do engage the public directly. I have seen this done recently by Riel biographer and respected historian
48 F. W. Johnson Collegiate is in Regina, Saskatchewan. I attended the school between 1986 and 1990. 49 I have included the American Historical Association here because of the significant crossover of research between Canadian and American historians and the similarities in public opinion toward revisionism in the two nations. 50 McPherson, 1. 51 These can be found at the following link: http://www.canadashistory.ca/Kids.aspx
Bilsky 17
Maggie Siggins in a recent article featured in the Winnipeg Free Press, entitled
“Exonerate Riel? Certainly.”52 Other examples might include historian Jack Granastein as director of the Canadian War Museum from 1998 to 2001 or the scholars who contributed to the Canadian Broadcasting Network’s series entitled, Canada: A People’s
History (2000-01). Regardless of how it is done, the apparent grey zone between the public perceptions and academic definitions when it comes to historical revisionism needs to be addressed if the average Canadian is going to benefit from revising poor or outdated history.
For example, the first historical account of Riel’s life story was the previously mentioned and very partisan Anglo-Saxon Protestant interpretation by the journalist and future Queen’s Printer, Alexander Begg. Because, The Creation of Manitoba: A History of the Red River Troubles is based on Begg’s own journals, he makes no effort to curtail his personal/cultural opinions and biases. The next work done on Riel was by Joseph
Collins, another reporter and Orangeman, from Toronto. Collins’ The Story of Louis
Riel: the Rebel Chief came out in the year 1885, shortly after Riel was hung for high treason against the crown.53 Like Begg’s earlier book, Collins’ account is bursting with inaccuracies and racist statements; it even has its very own fictitious captivity narrative.54
52 Maggie Siggins, “Exonerate Riel? Certainly,” Winnipeg Free Press, December 4 2010, sec. A,, http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/exonerate-riel-certainly-111312224.html. (Accessed December 17, 2010). 1. Maggie Siggins is among the top three Riel scholars of this age. The other two are Gerald Friesen and Thomas Flanagan. All follow in the footsteps of perhaps the greatest Riel scholar, G. F. G. Stanley. 53 J. E. Collins. The Story of Louis Riel: the Rebel Chief. (Toronto: Collins Inc., 1885). i. 54 A captivity narrative is defined as follows: an account of capture by Native American tribes, such as those created by writers Mary Rowlandson and John Williams in colonial times. They are exaggerated versions of the truth or altogether fictitious. In the colonial period, especially during times of racial conflict, colonialist captivity tales frequently served as narratives of absolution and overwrite; these texts mask colonialism’s extensive use of technologies of capture against indigenous peoples and are typically restricted to periods where the ruling class has control of the printing press.
Bilsky 18
THE HISTORICAL WINDOW
Another problem with both of these works is that they were published too
chronologically close to their respective events. Ironically, the passage of time can have
a positive effect on the accuracy of history. If a work is written too close in time to an
event then there can be several drawbacks. The first and most common downside is a
lack of information or time to check the accuracy of the information that is available
against documented empirical evidence. How many of Riel’s own writings, journals,
poems, correspondences and etcetera had been made public or archived in the few
months that separated these accounts and their events? Considering the facts that the
National Archives of Canada were not created until the year after Begg’s book was
published and that Regina, in Collins’ time, was a three to four week journey from
Toronto, the likelihood of either of these authors having consulted many primary
documents is extremely slim.55 Another obvious weakness of history that is written too
close to its event is that there are often cultural, political, religious and economic blind
spots caused by the author’s inability to step out of his or her various contexts and
objectively consider the wider factors at play.56
With an ‘appropriate’ passage of time, all these shortcomings become neutralized.
The exact length of time that is ‘appropriate’ will vary from event to event, with one key
indicator being a political or ideological shift, which allows for freer inquiry. In some
cases access to documents will remain restricted for a number of years, as is the case with
the Department of External Affairs and the Vatican archives. Once these things begin to
55 McKillop, 2. 56 Antoniou, 95.
Bilsky 19 fall into place, an ‘historical window’ opens allowing for the best kind of history.
Normally this window only begins to close when documents or artifacts are lost or deteriorate beyond use.
Riel studies have enjoyed an open ‘historical window’ for several decades now, making it an ideal time for adjusting his story.57 And that is exactly what countless historians, biographers, novelists, graphic novelists, play wrights, classical composers, songwriters, politicians and ethnic leaders have done.58 The online bookstore
Amazon.com lists more than three hundred varied works on Louis Riel.59 This ‘window’ is significant for two very important reasons. The first reason is that Riel’s story is central to the story of the Métis. Thus, the Métis have been waiting a long time for an informed account of their history, a history that has traditionally been undervalued and whose reinterpretation is overdue.
The second reason that Riel’s story is so important is that it encapsulates, to a large degree, several of the nation’s “major fault lines – French/English,
Catholic/Protestant, Aboriginal/Euro-Canadian, and East/West.”60 Riel’s story combines all these dichotomies and according to Toronto lawyer and relative of Riel, Jean Teillet,
“[n]o other individual in our history has done that.”61 While Teillet is obviously overreaching here, Riel is surely among a select few personalities that have encompassed
57 This is evidenced by the ground swell of biographical and other works published on Riel since the 1960's. 58 Albert Braz. The False Traitor: Louis Riel in Canadian Culture. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003). 2. 59 Amazon, (Amazon.com), http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search- alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Louis+Riel&x=0&y=0/ (History Books and Biographies Retailer Database [Side Bar]; Accessed December 6, 2010). 60 Jean Teillet, “Putting history in a noose,” The Globe and Mail, November 16 2010, sec. A,, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/putting-history-in-a-noose/article1800475// (accessed December 17, 2010). 1. 61 Teillet, 1.
Bilsky 20 so many of Canada’s national divisions. Consequently, the candidacy of Riel’s story for reinterpretation is not just one of ethnic significance but also one of national importance.
For, if one rewrites Riel’s story, then by default one rewrites a portion of the “national narrative.”62 Therefore, a comprehensive look at how Monsieur Riel’s story has been treated over the last 140 years is not only in order, but also may prove essential to understanding where Canadian national identity goes from here.
62 Ibid., 1.
Bilsky 21
CHAPTER II
REVISING RIEL: FROM REBEL TO MARTYR
This second chapter will demonstrate how the previously mentioned early
accounts of Riel’s life influenced both public opinion and the subsequent works on Riel’s
Red River legacy. Inaccuracies and biases found within a selection of the body of Riel
literature published over the last 140 years will help shape this discussion.63 Finally,
through a careful examination of the extant evidence surrounding Louis Riel’s trial, and
Prime Minister Macdonald’s role therein, a case will be made for the consideration of the
recent call to revise Monsieur Riel’s North-West Rebellion legacy.64
A REBEL IS BORN
As touched upon in the previous chapter, Alexander Begg’s The Creation of
Manitoba: A History of the Red River Troubles (1871) carries the distinction of being the
first book ever to be published on Louis Riel. Begg’s book was based on his own
personal journals and was originally printed in “a series of letters to the Toronto Globe in
1869–70 under the pseudonym Justitia.”65, 66 Initially the Quebec born businessman and
journalist was supportive of the struggle by Métis and local settlers to protect their rights
63 A selection of Riel literature and cultural works are listed by category in the bibliography. 64 That is to say that an amendment is needed due to inaccuracies and misrepresented or ignored evidence only, not that the author is, or is not, supporting any particular revision. 65 D. R. Owram. “Alexander Begg.” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online: Volume XII 1891- 1900. http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=5959&interval=25&& PHPSESSID=1cp92t3vt4s18eptta8rfv7ot3 (Accessed: January 25, 2011) 1. 66 Justitia is Latin for Lady Justice, which suggests that Begg’s version is morally correct.
Bilsky 22 against the imperial forces of Canada. However, due to a strong mistrust of Riel and a disapproval of the seizure of Upper Fort Garry, 67 Begg’s loyalties shifted and his criticisms turned toward the resistance.68 The Macdonald government rewarded those loyalties shortly after Manitoba entered the Canadian Confederation when Begg received a number of public-office appointments.69 In 1877 Begg was appointed the Queen’s
Printer of Manitoba. The following year he became the Sergeant-at-Arms of the
Legislature as well as the Deputy Treasurer, posts that he held until 1884.70
Begg’s account is plagued with error and bias and his inability to separate his historical observations from not only “his political position, but also the acrimonious personal rifts that characterized Red River on the eve of its union with Canada.”71 Two examples of these inaccuracies are the following: Begg’s claim that the Portage party72 of
English settlers under the leadership of Major Boulton,73 who set out to attack the fort and
67 Oram, 1. Begg reportedly found Riel arrogant and pushy after the Métis leader had a disagreement with Begg’s business partner. Upper Fort Garry was a fortified stone structure and the Hudson Bay Company’s headquarters. Alexander Begg disapproved of usurping the authority of the English controlled Hudson’s Bay Company as they had been in good standing with the citizens of Red River for some time. 68 Owram, 1. 69 The Manitoba Act was passed in 1870 essentially bringing the territory into Confederation as a full province. However, it took a couple years to get fully established with all the typical political trimmings of other provinces. For instance, Manitoba was not initially led by a Premier, but rather by a series of Chief Ministers. There was an absence of party politics until 1888 and the province did not have responsible government until 1874 under Chief Minister Marc-Amable Girard. Thus, Begg’s appointments would be some of the earliest in the government’s history. 70 Ibid., 1. 71 Ibid., 1. 72 The Portage party was a group of English settlers stirred up by the recently released Orangeman, Thomas Scott, who had incidentally escaped from the Fort Garry prison, and led by Major Boulton. It is called the Portage party because they gathered, planned and set the attack in motion from the nearby settlement of Portage la Prairie. 73 Major Charles Arkoll Boulton was a retired Major in the Canadian militia and Orangeman who accompanied the original surveyors for Canada who started the Resistance. Boulton’s leadership resulted in arrest and imprisonment, with himself and Scott tried for treason against the provisional government and sentenced to death. Boulton was pardoned and Scott was not. Boulton somewhat redeemed himself during the 1885 Northwest Rebellion and was eventually appointed to the senate.
Bilsky 23 dispose of Riel, was in fact a peaceful group of men on their way home.74 Begg’s misguided interpretation of the intent of the Portage party, who consequently had made their resolve to take the fort quite public, encouraged his readers to follow his logic that the subsequent arrest of the Portage party was unlawful. Of course, his argument then follows that the imprisonment and execution of Thomas Scott was equally unlawful.75
With the success or failure of Riel’s government often balancing on the Scott execution,
Begg’s misjudgment influenced many peoples’ opinion of the Red River Rebellion for years to come.76
Another mistake found within the pages of Begg’s book is his claim that two lives were lost during the Portage expedition.77 In fact, the entire Resistance claimed but a single life, that of the Orangeman78 Thomas Scott.79 The low loss of human life during the Red River Rebellion has been attributed largely to Riel’s statesmanship and the preemptive arrests (and subsequent release) of dissenters to minimize the risk of civil war. Riel’s own correspondence with the Portage party the night before they marched on
Upper Fort Garry stands as evidence of his desire to maintain peace. Dated February 16,
1870, the letter reads as follows:
74 Alexander Begg. The Creation of Manitoba or A History of the Red River Troubles. (Toronto: A. V. Fovey, 1871). 286. 75 Begg, 288. 76 Many historians and political scientists see Scott’s death/murder as Riel’s only mistake during the Red River Troubles; for instance: Stanley, Morton, Siggins and Flanagan. 77 Ibid., 289. 78 The Orange Order was an anti-Catholic supremacist Protestant fraternal organization based mainly in Northern Ireland, Scotland and England, though it had lodges throughout the Colonies. It was founded in 1796 in Ireland. The name is a tribute to Dutch-born Protestant William of Orange, who defeated the army of Catholic James II in 1690. 79 This fact is unanimously recorded in numerous sources, including the Manitoba Historical Society’s webpage, the Dictionary of Canadian Biography’s entry on Louis Riel, G. F. G. Stanley’s The Birth of Western Canada: A History of the Riel Rebellions and Louis Riel, A. S. Morton’s A History of Canada West to 1870-71, D. N. Sprague’s Canada and the Métis: 1869-1885, Gerald Friesen’s The Canadian Prairies: A History, Thomas Flanagan’s Louis 'David' Riel: 'Prophet of the New World' and Maggie Siggins’ Riel: A Life of Revolution to name but a few.
Bilsky 24
Fellow Countrymen: Mr. Norquay came this morning with a message, and even he has been delayed. He will reach you time enough to tell you that for my part I understand that war, horrible civil war, is the destruction of this country; and Shultz will laugh at us, if after all, he escapes. We are ready to meet any party; but peace, our British rights, we want before all. Gentlemen, the prisoners are out—they have sworn to keep peace. We have taken the responsibility of our past acts. Mr. William MacTavish has asked you, for the sake of God, to form and complete the Provisional Government. Your representatives have joined us on that ground. Who will now come and destroy Red River Settlement? Louis Riel80
Aside from errors like these, Begg’s account also contains biases. To highlight but one account of Begg’s opinion in favor of the English settlers the following quote has been included:
“The non-release of the prisoners excited feelings amongst the English settlers not at all friendly towards Riel and his party, especially when it became known that Mr. Wm. Hallet had been put in irons for some breach of his prison discipline. We must say that, under the circumstances, it was a piece of unnecessary cruelty, placing a captive in irons when there were so many men in the Fort for the purpose of guarding the prisoners. It should have been remembered that Mr. Hallet had a family living in the Settlement, who, doubtless, would feel very anxious regarding his fate, on hearing of the extreme rigor of his position. Although (as it was reported), a few of the prisoners may have created a disturbance, and, by doing so, irritated their guards almost beyond patience, that of itself was no excuse for the harsh measures inflicted upon William Hallet.81
The above statement, which is indicative of much of the book, makes one wonder how the English Historical Review writer W. P. Morell in his review of G. F. G. Stanley’s and
A. S. Morton’s Alexander Begg's Red River Journal and Other Papers Relative in the
80 Louis Riel. The Collected Writings of Louis Riel / Les Ecrits Complets De Louis Riel - Volumes 1-5. Edited by Stanley, George F. G.; Raymond Huel; Gilles Martel; Thomas Flanagan; et al. (Edmonton, Alberta: The University of Alberta Press, 1985). Vol. 2 Pp. 259. 81 Begg, 262.
Bilsky 25
Red River Resistance of 1869-70 (1956) could claim that Begg’s book was “a document so full, graphic and yet impartial [that it] deserved publication in extenso”82
Besides the countless pamphlets and newspaper articles coming out of Orange
83 84 Ontario calling for Riel’s head in retribution for the ‘murder’ of Thomas Scott and their opposites originating in Quebec heralding Riel as a French hero, the next historical account of Riel’s life recounted his role in the 1885 Northwest Rebellion and his subsequent execution for high treason. The previously mentioned book by J. E. Collins entitled, The Story of Louis Riel: the Rebel Chief (1885) has since been classified as historical fiction. However, according to University of Alberta’s professor of comparative literature, Albert Braz, Collins’ book was received as history when it was published and many commentators, reporters and authors continued to regard it as such until as late as the 1970’s—well after Collins admitted that his book was fictional in 1886 at the launch of his second Riel novel, Annette the Métis Spy: A Heroine of the Northwest
Rebellion.85 Due to The Rebel Chief’s longevity as an influential historical narrative the novel has been included here.
Joseph Edmund Collins was a journalist and freelance writer who became the editor of the Globe in Toronto from 1881-1883. He was also responsible for fostering the birth of Canadian Literature as a distinct genre through his mentorship of the
82 W. P. Morell. “Review: Alexander Begg's Red River Journal and Other Papers Relative in the Red River Resistance of 1869-70.” The English Historical Review. (Vol. 73, No. 286: January, 1958). 178. In extenso is Latin for in its entirety or full length. 83 The term ‘Orange Ontario’ has long been used by historians to describe the ideological trend within Ontario during much of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries toward Orangism. See footnote 77 on page 22 for more on the Orange Order. 84 The most prominent example among this type of propaganda is without a doubt Ontario Premier and Orangeman, Edward Blake’s $5000.00 reward for the capture and conviction of Riel for the murder of Scott (1872). 85 Albert Braz. The False Traitor: Louis Riel in Canadian Culture. (Toronto, University of Toronto Press: 2003). 50.
Bilsky 26
‘Confederation Poets’ Charles D. G. Roberts, Archibald Lampman and William Bliss
Carman. In his early career Collins published an equally poor biography of John A.
Macdonald entitled, Life and Times of the Right Honourable Sir John A. Macdonald:
Premier of the Dominion of Canada (1883). 86 In fact, according to historian M. Brook
Taylor, Collins’ only work to achieve notoriety from his peers was his biography of
Riel—“due to its overt racism.”87
One has to read only a few pages of The Rebel Chief to recognize its racial and
political biases. The fact that Collins’ contemporaries did not react to its racist views
with the same visceral response to that of some modern readers is likely because racism
towards Métis or half-breeds was not only typical in nineteenth-century Canadian society
but also institutionalized.88 Moreover, many eastern Canadians had a distinct air of
authority and supremacy toward westerners. With these cultural norms in mind and
Collins’ numerous footnotes and references to newspaper articles or relevant
correspondences, it quickly becomes clear why his book was blindly accepted as fact—
but fact it was not!
A CAPTIVITY NARRATIVE
For instance, Collins’ entire account is centered on the friction between Louis Riel and
Thomas Scott, but not because of their obvious religious and political differences.
86 Taylor M. Brook.“Joseph Edmund Collins.” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online: Volume XII. http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id _nbr=6040&interval=25&&PHPSESSID=7ovb9jim3q785g73hvc4kkkg26 (Accessed: January 26, 2011) 1. 87 Taylor, 1. 88 Consult the Indian Act of 1876 for a snapshot of the type of legalized racism that was in place toward Indians and Métis in the 1880’s. For a cultural sample of the same views read the poetry of Duncan Campbell Scott.
Bilsky 27
Instead, the Orangeman reporter has the two adversaries fighting over a local Métisse89 girl named Marie.90 According to Collins, both men fell in love with Marie, but she chose Scott over Riel. Out of jealously and revenge Riel tried to expel Scott from the territory and put Marie and her elderly father under house arrest. Scott was eventually captured and imprisoned, at which point Riel bartered for Marie against Scott’s life.
Scott refused to leave the girl to Riel and proceeded to escape, to which Collins reports,
Riel shouted, “‘Scott has foiled me!’ and the outwitted tyrant-libertine swore the most terrible oaths, that he would be revenged.”91
After some time the handsome, brave and capable Scott saved the pair from the
“evil half-breed dog” and whisked them out of the country to a safe house in Montana.92
Scott was re-captured with the Portage party and Riel threatened his life if he would not give up the whereabouts of Marie.93 Scott responded with belligerence so Riel drummed up false charges against him and court-marshaled him in a sham trial.94 Scott was then sentenced to death by firing squad, which was consequently blundered so Riel drew a pistol and shot the injured Scott in the head from close range.95 However, Scott refused to die and was put into a coffin while he was still alive and shamelessly tossed through the ice into the Red River.96, 97
89 Métisse is the feminine version of Métis. 90 Collins, 31. 91 Ibid., 52. 92 Ibid., 20. 93 Ibid., 57. 94 Ibid., 68. 95 Ibid., 73. 96 Ibid., 74. 97 This entire section of Collins’ book is written in a popular genre of the nineteenth-century known as a ‘captivity narrative.’ A captivity narrative is defined as: an account of capture by Native American tribes, such as those created by writers Mary Rowlandson and John Williams in colonial times. They are exaggerated versions of the truth or altogether fictitious. In the colonial period, especially during time of racial conflict, colonialist captivity tales frequently served as narratives of absolution and overwrite;
Bilsky 28
In reality there was no girl. Riel and Scott had never met before the latter’s first
arrest with the Shultz party.98 Scott did escape, with several others, and was later
recaptured with the Portage party.99 Scott did not hide his Orangeman, racist, religious
and political views while incarcerated; rather he repeatedly taunted and cussed his
guards.100 On two separate occasions Scott physically attacked the guards.101 At this
point Scott was tried for two different accounts of trying to overthrow the legally
mandated and recognized provisional government, repeated disorderly conduct, escape
and two counts of attacking his guards.102 Riel was not involved or present at the trial; his
men pushed for it and conducted it while he remained reticent.103 Scott was found guilty
and sentenced to death by firing squad. Riel wanted mercy, but his men pressed him to
set an example.104 Thus, Scott was shot by firing squad and buried. The coffin was dug
up in the night and Scott’s body was never recovered; nor were the perpetrators found.105
EARLY INFLUENCES
As mentioned above, Collins’ account of Riel and the Red River Uprising was
presented as historical biography and received by many as valid for nearly ninety years.
Thus, most other late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century accounts are of a
these texts mask colonialism’s extensive use of technologies of capture against indigenous peoples and are typically restricted to periods where the ruling class has control of the printing press. 98 Dr. Shultz was an Englishman from Canada who had come to Red River to ensure the spread of Protestant Anglo-Saxon values. He organized the first attack on Upper Fort Garry, but before violence could start he and his party were all arrested and imprisoned at the fort. 99 Thomas Flanagan. Louis ‘David’ Riel: ‘Prophet of the New World.’ (Toronto: Toronto University Press Inc., 1996). 112. 100 Maggie Siggins. Riel: A Life of Revolution. (Toronto: Harper Collins, 1994). 134. 101 G. F. G. Stanley. Louis Riel. (Toronto: Ryerson, 1963). 151. 102 Gerald Friesen. The Canadian Prairies: A History. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987). 289. 103 Joseph Boydon. Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont. (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2010. 74. 104 Joseph Kinsey Howard. Strange Empire: Louis Riel and the Métis People. (Toronto: James, Lewis & Samuel, 1952). 210. 105 Flanagan, 123.
Bilsky 29 similar tone and quality. Many were published anonymously (like Collins’s was initially) or under a pseudonym. An early example would be the anonymous account published late in 1885 by the “Witness” Printing House entitled, The Riel Rebellion of 1885.106 That author’s preface states the following: “In this work, care has been taken to preserve only the romance of truth, discarding apocryphal embellishments. Substantial accuracy can be vouched for.”107 Unfortunately for History’s sake, ‘substantial accuracy’ in this case is nothing more than code for ‘substantial propaganda;’ for among other untruths, the author claims that Riel comes from Irish lineage “probably an O’Rielly” and that the rebellion erupted more unexpectedly than a volcanic eruption—with no warnings.108
Louis Riel was one-eighth Indian blood, his paternal grandmother being a Franco-
Chipewyan Métisse. His paternal grandfather was Jean-Baptiste Riel, dit L’Irlande. Dit is used primarily in France to signify a nickname attached to someone from a large family—Jean-Baptise had ten siblings, possibly some with similar names to his.
L’Irlande is French for Ireland; it is unknown how the nickname came about, but regardless, this is likely where the error stems from. That being said, the Irish were seen by English Protestants as little better than savages,109 so it may have simply been an attempt to slander Riel and have no reference to his grandfather at all. Riel’s maternal grandparents are both of French descent.
As to the other claim, the Northwest Rebellion had years of warnings. The white settlers and the Métis had voiced their concerns to Governor Dewdney and sent numerous petitions to Ottawa requesting their land claims be settled. The Plains Indians had also
106 Bruce Braden Peel; Ernest Boyce Ingles and Norman Merrill Distad. Peel's Bibliography of the Canadian Prairies to 1953. books.google.ca/books?isbn=0802048250 (Google Books, 2003). 212. 107 Anonymous. The Riel Rebellion of 1885. (Montreal: “Witness” Printing House, 1885). 1. 108 Anonymous, 1. 109 Both Collins and Begg make mention of the English settlers distaste for the Irish in Red River.
Bilsky 30
complained about starvation and failed treaty promises to the Indian Agent. The settlers
and Métis became tired of being ignored and sent for Riel to come back from Montana to
help. The local clergy and North-West Mounted Police also warned Macdonald, who did
nothing in response. Riel re-issued petitions and eventually an ultimatum; it too was
ignored and a provisional government was announced. Macdonald’s response was to
send 500 North-West Mounted Police to the region in case things got serious. This was
not the actions of a government with no idea that a rebellion was looming.
THE METAMORPHOSIS BEGINS -1869
By the end of the Second World War, Riel revisionism had gotten underway.
This was largely due to the competent scholarship of George F. G. Stanley and his book,
The Birth of Western Canada: A History of the Riel Rebellions (1936) as well as A. S.
Morton’s, A History of Canada’s West to 1870-71(1939). Stanley’s account of the
rebellions was not only a serious academic attempt at capturing these events, it was also
the first to recognize their significance in relation to Canadian Confederation and the
development of the West as a whole. Stanley picks up on the various nuances of the
French versus English,110 Catholic versus Protestant111 and West versus East struggles.112
110 This rivalry has its roots in Europe and goes back to the Norman invasion of England (1066). The French were the first to colonize Eastern Canada or New France (1534) as it was known until after the Seven’s War (1754-59 and 1762-63); which resulted in the loss of New France. Canada, now called British North America, had a French majority until the Loyalists emigrated from America after its War of Independence (1775-83). The English Protestant loyalists assumed supremacy over the now indigenous French, who have been struggling to resist English Anglicization polices ever since. 111 The divide between Catholics and Protestants also came over from the Old World. Once the British had power in Canada many anti-Catholic laws were put into place and privilege of religion was granted to the Protestant Church. Government support of both Catholic and Protestant schools in Manitoba were part of the Manitoba Act of 1970 that Riel’s government helped create. Among many other issues, the support of Catholic schools from public tax dollars is still an issue today. 112 At the time of Confederation and before (via the fur trade), Eastern Canada saw the west as its rightful source of resources. As Manifest Destiny swept both America and Canada, the west became the
Bilsky 31
Morton’s book is the first to provide a specialized focus on Western Canada and helped inaugurate a whole new field of study for Canadian historians.113
Whereas much of the partisan rhetoric that had been traditionally part of the literature on Riel has been eliminated from Stanley and Morton’s works, they are still a product of their time and culture. Thus, the bias of European supremacy remained intact as well as a general unwillingness to completely vindicate Riel or to judge the Macdonald government too harshly. This is evidenced by Stanley and Morton’s next book on Riel, which they co-authored and published in 1956—Alexander Begg's Red River Journal and
Other Papers Relative in the Red River Resistance of 1869-70. With thirty more years of consideration and investigation into Riel’s ‘rebellions’ as Stanley’s earlier book calls them, the authors now purposely chose the term ‘resistance’ in reference to the Red River
Troubles.
This change in perspective may seem slight, but to Canadian History and Riel’s legacy it is of paramount importance, because it marks the first time that a historian recognized the legality of the Red River Uprising. What changed Stanley and Morton’s minds? New evidence—evidence obtained not from Riel’s writings or that of his biographers; but instead from the newly considered nationally archived Macdonald
Papers.114, 115 Within these five-hundred volumes of “government documents,
target of English immigration as a means of securing the northern portion of the continent and ensuring Protestant values and English commerce and trade were spread from sea to sea. The west wanted equality. 113 Conrad, 1. 114 Donald G. Creighton. “Sir John Macdonald and Canadian Historians.” The Canadian Historical Review. (Vol. XXI, No. 1 Toronto: 1948). 1. 115 Sir John A. Macdonald died in 1843, following which Sir Joseph Pope spent the next twenty years collecting and compiling Macdonald’s papers for his biography of the nation’s first Prime Minister, which he published in 1917. The papers then moved to the possession of Baroness Agnes Macdonald, Macdonald’s second wife. The Baroness bequeathed them to the Public Archives in 1920. Following this the papers were organized and catalogued and made available to the public. In 1948 Macdonald
Bilsky 32 parliamentary debates, newspapers, periodicals, pamphlets, memoirs, and autobiographies” is Macdonald’s incriminating correspondence to the appointed
Lieutenant Governor, William McDougal, which clearly states that Riel’s government was not rebellious, but legally established.116 It reads as follows:
An assumption of the government by you, of course, puts an end to the Hudson’s Bay Company’s authorities, and Governor McTavish117 and his council118 would be deprived even of the semblance of legal right to interfere. There would then be, if you were not admitted into the country,119 no legal government existing and anarchy must follow. In such a case, no matter how the anarchy was produced, it is quite open by the Law of Nations for the inhabitants to form a government ex necessitate,120 for the protection of life and property, and such a Government has certain sovereign rights by the jus gentium [i.e. Law of Nations121] …122
Unfortunately for Macdonald, McDougal did not receive the letter in time and had already secretly entered the territory in question and declared himself the government
biographer, Donald Creighton, suggests that the collections remained underutilized by historians, which may explain why Stanley and others had not previously discovered the McDougal letter. 116 Creighton, 1. 117 McTavish was the Governor of Rupert’s Land for the Hudson’s Bay Company and encouraged Riel while a prisoner at the fort to establish his own government. 118 The Council of Assiniboia was, from 1821 until 1869, the appointed administrative body of Rupert's Land. 119 Macdonald is aware that Riel’s men met McDougal at the border and refused him entry—he took refuge in Montana. 120 Used in law, but typically written ex necessitate rei, which is Latin for ‘the necessity of the thing’ or under special circumstances. 121 According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, jus gentium, (Latin: “law of nations”), in legal theory, that law which natural reason establishes for all men, as distinguished from jus civile, or the civil law peculiar to one state or people. Roman lawyers and magistrates originally devised jus gentium as a system of equity applying to cases between foreigners and Roman citizens. The concept originated in the Romans’ assumption that any rule of law common to all nations must be fundamentally valid and just. They broadened the concept to refer to any rule that instinctively commended itself to their sense of justice. Eventually the term became synonymous with equity, or the praetorian law. In modern law, there is a distinction between jus gentium privatum, which denotes private international law, otherwise known as conflict of laws, and jus gentium publicum, which denotes the system of rules governing the intercourse of nations. 122 Macdonald, Sir John A. “Macdonald to McDougal, November 27, 1869: 42/648.” Macdonald Papers: National Archives of Canada. (Ottawa:1869). 29-31.
Bilsky 33 before he snuck back to the safety of the United States.123 Thus, Riel’s Provisional
Government was established within the ‘Law of Nations,’ making it a legal maneuver on the part of the Red River folk. Upon hearing of McDougal’s actions Macdonald was now legally bound to recognize Riel’s government and deal directly with them regarding their entry into Canada. This resulted in the creation of the Province of Manitoba by
Parliament’s passing of the Manitoba Act in 1870. Therefore, the discovery of this letter changed how historians viewed the Red River Resistance and shed new light on
Macdonald’s treatment of the affair.
Another document found that exposed Macdonald’s agenda toward the Métis of the newly formed Manitoba is his letter to his former Finance Minister, John Rose, in which he admits that he feared that “the longer he [Riel] remains in power, the more unwilling he will be to resign it … Under these circumstances the preparations for an expeditionary force must not be delayed.”124 Thus, the proclaimed ‘errand of peace,’
Canada’s first military expedition, under the command of Colonel Garnet Wolseley was now seen for what it really was—a mission to suppress Riel, the French settlers and the
Métis. This is further evidenced by the makeup of the 10th Royal Grenadiers of Toronto who were part of Wolseley’s command—of their 250 men a staggering 148 were
Orangemen.125
Furthermore, Macdonald’s own son, Hugh John Macdonald, was part of that expedition and in a 1911 interview published in the Winnipeg Telegram, he reported on
123 Interestingly, because Macdonald knew there would be delays with the transfer of Rupert’s Land to Canada, he had not yet issued the proclamation with the correct date to McDougal, so the one McDougal used was a fake date which he had made up and had even forged the Queen’s signature on it. 124 George Parkin, R. Sir John A. Macdonald: The Makers of Canada Series, Volume VII. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1928). 160-61. 125 Alex Rough. “Canada: the History of the Murder of Thomas Scott.” Orangenet.org. http://www.orangenet.org/canada/scott.htm (Accessed: January 26, 2011). 1.
Bilsky 34 the regiment’s first order of business upon reaching Red River: ‘that was to chase down any French or Métis supporters of the resistance and meet out justice.’ The first man they came across was Elézar Goulet, whom they chased through town to the banks of the river. In an effort to get away Goulet tried to swim to the other side while the soldiers threw stones at him—Goulet drowned and the soldiers made no effort to recover the body.126 Hugh Macdonald recalled “a large body of soldiers” chasing Goulet who made a
“record run” to the river.127 Macdonald’s son claimed they were struggling to bring him
“to justice.”128
This and other evidence made it clear to Stanley and Morton that the so called
‘rebellion’ at Red River was actually a legal resistance of a predominately French-
Catholic western community attempting to protect their rights against an imperialistic eastern English Protestant (and at the time Orange) government. Furthermore, it now appeared that the Canadian government’s first order of business was to forcibly overthrow the legally established ruling party in Red River. Moreover, a legal government (like the Provisional Government in Red River) had a right to protect the life of its people and its property, making Scott’s crimes a valid case of treason and his sentence in line with the Law of Nations. Hence Macdonald bribed Riel with $1000.00 to leave the country instead of trying to convict him of ‘murder.’129 Stanley and Morton’s work set the general tone for how the Red River Troubles would be subsequently viewed by historians.
126 George R. D. Goulet. The Trial of Louis Riel: Justice and Mercy Denied. (Calgary: FabJob.com Ltd., 1999). 29. 127 Hugh John Macdonald. “Interview with Hugh John Macdonald.” Winnipeg Telegram. (Winnipeg, July18, 1911). 1. 128 Macdonald, Hugh, 1. 129 Goulet, 31.
Bilsky 35
Regrettably, the historical revisions made by Stanley and Morton in 1959 were either not recognized by or not communicated to the general public. Thus, Canadians went on thinking of Riel’s Red River Resistance as a rebellion and of him as a jealous murderer. This cultural mindset is evidenced by the many fictional interpretations found in Canadian literature and music regarding Monsieur Riel.130 Albert Braz notes that
Collins’ caricature of Riel as nothing more than a jealous miscreant and not as the capable leader who had bested Macdonald, led to the Métis hero’s being written off in literature thereafter.131 As early as Ernest Henham’s 1897 novel entitled Menotah: A Tale of the Riel Rebellion, Monsieur Riel is depicted as never having been “the prime factor of the revolution. [But] himself a dull man of irregular habits, yet one whose mind might easily be swayed.”132 Thus, Riel, “powerless to act as a sole leader,” was nothing more than a puppet of a bright young Canadian “with the skill and flattery” needed to orchestrate the creation of Manitoba and bring it into confederation.133
This phenomenon of Riel remaining persona non grata regarding the founding of
Manitoba and as a Father of Confederation can be seen in Canadian literature as late as
Margaret Laurence’s novel The Diviners (1970). In fact, the government did not even recognize Louis Riel in this manner until “March 10, 1992 when the House of Commons passed a special resolution honouring Riel as a founder of Manitoba and recognizing his contribution to the development of western Canada.”134 Regardless of whether the
130 A selected list of cultural representations of Riel has been provided in the bibliography. 131 Braz, 51. 132 Ibid., 55. 133 Ibid., 55. 134 Ian Murray. “Bill C-297, An Act to Revoke the Conviction of Louis David Riel: Private Members’ Business” Ottawa: House Publications Parliament of Canada, 1996. http://www2.parl.gc.ca /HousePublications/Publication.aspx? DocId=2332644&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=35&Ses=2#AN ACTTOREVOKETHECONVICTIONOFLOUISDAVIDRIEL. (Accessed: January 26, 2011). 1335.
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Canadian public was listening or not, Canadian historians and political scientists
continued to research and revise Riel’s legacy.
BUILDING ON STANLEY AND MORTON
With perceptions and interpretations of the Red River Resistance reaching a
common theme among Riel scholars, they began to focus on the events of the 1885
North-West Rebellion. In the year following Stanley and Morton’s book Father R. E.
Lamb published his Thunder in the North: Conflict over the Riel Risings... 1870 and 1885
(1957). As the title suggests, Father Lamb covers both the Red River Resistance and the
North-West Rebellion. Following Stanley’s lead, he too avoids the use of the term
‘rebellion.’ Father Lamb’s purpose was not to discover anything new about the historical
events, but to focus on the conflicts arising over those events. Thus, his account follows
closely that of Stanley’s, with the only addition being some speculation as to the
culpability of the Macdonald government in both events. What Father Lamb does add is
a careful investigation of the reactions of both Ontario and Quebec—including
parliamentary debates, newspapers and public rallies. His conclusion is that the trial of
Riel was particularly influenced by politics.
Father Lamb cites one of Macdonald’s aids warning him “if Riel is spared by any
action of the government, it means the utter disruption of the Conservative party in the
province of Ontario as well as in the outlying ones. If he is punished, it means a mere
surface excitement in Quebec.”135 Whoever this aid might have been he obviously
underestimated the French reaction. For after the hanging of Louis Riel, in November
135 C. E. Lamb. Thunder in the North: Conflict over the Riel Risings... 1870 and 1885. (New York: Pageant Press Inc., 1957). 190.
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1885, the soon-to-be Premier of Quebec, Honoré Mercier, cried out, “Louis Riel, our brother, died unjustly” to a huge crowd of 50,000 people.136 Mercier rode the wave of outcry over Riel’s execution and the treatment of the French Métis in the west to a provincial victory in 1887 and started the first nationalist party in Quebec.137 Thus, Louis
Riel's death was the first post-Confederation step in what was to become and still is
Canada’s national unity crisis. 138,139
Following Father Lamb’s book, Stanley came out with a biography entitled, Louis
Riel (1963), which reflected a career’s worth of research into the life of the man whom some believe to be Canada’s most enigmatic character. Stanley was tireless in tracking down every scrap of extant evidence on Riel. Interestingly enough, before Stanley began to write this book he felt that “he knew all the answers”140 and he set out to provide his readers with all those answers as seen by this following quotation: “Playwrights, polemicists and even musicians were willing to do something about Riel; historians appeared to hold aloof.”141 Nevertheless, as he learned more “about Riel” the person, he became “less certain just what the answers were.”142 As a result the book is perhaps the most balanced and nonpartisan approach in Riel studies to date. Louis Riel is therefore a great resource of information for students and scholars looking to know more about Riel
136 Réal Menard. “Bill C-297, An Act to Revoke the Conviction of Louis David Riel: Private Members’ Business” Ottawa: House Publications Parliament of Canada, 1996. http://www2.parl.gc.ca /HousePublications/Publication.aspx? DocId=2332644&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=35&Ses=2#AN ACTTOREVOKETHECONVICTIONOFLOUISDAVIDRIEL. (Accessed: January 26, 2011). 1350. 137 Goulet, 243. 138 These various nuances of this claim will be explained in the third chapter. 139 Réal, 1350. 140 Stanley is referencing his earlier publication of a pamphlet for the Canadian Historical Society entitled Louis Riel: Patriot or Rebel? (1961), in which pamphlet he made several sweeping judgments of the Métis leader. 141 George F. G. Stanley. Louis Riel. (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1963). xi. 142 Stanley, xi.
Bilsky 38 himself. However, for a broader investigation of Riel and his era one should read the more up-to-date text by D. N. Sprague entitled, Canada and the Métis: 1869-1885(1988).
Sprague’s book benefits from Stanley’s lifetime commitment to Riel, which culminated in his exhaustive five-volume set, The Collected Writings of Louis Riel/Les
Ecrits Complets De Louis Riel (General Editor, 1985).143 With all of Riel’s writings, poems, memoirs and correspondences in one location, Sprague’s research was surely simplified. As a result he was able to focus more on the impact of Riel’s people, the
Métis, on Canada as a whole. Thus, Sprague offers the wider context that allows one to recognize the patterns and influences that shaped our nation. Through a comprehensive social-economic approach he successfully challenges the widely held view that the
Canadian state acted in good faith. By demonstrating a significant amount of duplicity within the Macdonald government and in their treatment of Métis grievances, Sprague draws conclusions, according to Stanley, that no historian has ever drawn before and posits that Macdonald purposely provoked the rebellion to finance his railroad and legacy.144
A more extensive and specific account of the prairie context can be found in
Gerald Friesen’s, The Canadian Prairies: A History (1987). At nearly twice the length of
Sprague’s book, Friesen leaves little to the imagination. Furthermore, due to the wider scope of Friesen’s book, there is less opportunity for personal opinion from the author and more material from which to highlight trends and patterns. As a result of the
143 This collection took over a decade to compile and constitutes a copy of every piece of extant writings penned by Riel and many by others. A large portion has been retained in its original French. The project was funded by a Canada Council Grant. 144 D. N. Sprague. Canada and the Métis: 1869-1885. (Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfred Laurier Press, 1988). 177. This opinion is shared by others, including George Goulet who wrote The Trial of Louis Riel: Justice and Mercy Denied (1999).
Bilsky 39 numerous calls for Riel’s exoneration in the past couple of decades,145 there has been a renewed interest in Riel biographies. Maggie Siggins, Thomas Flanagan and Joseph
Boyden have each recently written one respectively.
Maggie Siggins’ Riel: A Life of Revolution (1994) is an account that is so well written that it reads like a novel. For an entry-level book into Riel’s life that is approachable students and scholars of Riel need look no further. Joseph Boyden’s dual- biography, Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont (2010) is part of the new Extraordinary
Canadians Series, which is presumably meant as a modern version of the Makers of
Canada Series (1902-08)—a series in which Riel was not included.146 The decision to treat Riel and Gabriel Dumont together was misguided at best. Riel is the most published political figure in Canadian history;147 and his complex life cannot be remotely examined in such a concise manner. Boyden, primarily a novelist, is also not a historian, which fact will quickly become evident to readers familiar with Riel or his era. Unfortunately, it appears that this book was rushed out for the 125th anniversary of Riel’s death with little attention to its subject and his place in history.
Thomas Flanagan’s, Louis ‘David’ Riel: ‘Prophet of the New World’ (1996) is far more nuanced; so much so, that if one were not familiar with Flanagan’s work they would be hard pressed to say whether he was for or against modifying the Métis mystic’s legacy. Flanagan deeply explores the inner workings of Riel’s person, with a strong focus on his periods of insanity and his religious mysticism. Flanagan’s stance on Riel’s
145 LEGISINFO. “Bills Re-Introduced.” The Library of Parliament's research tool for finding information on legislation. The House of Commons of Canada. http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Sites/ LOP/LEGISINFO/index.asp?Language=E&Session=15&List=search (Accessed: January 27, 2011). Since 1992 there have been more than thirteen Bills or special resolutions put to the house concerning Riel’s legacy and the revocation of his conviction. 146 Lawrence B. A. Doughty. Makers of Canada Series: Index and Dictionary. (Toronto: Morang & Co., Limited, 1912). 23. 147 Stanley, Collected Writings, preface.
Bilsky 40
insanity is that Riel should not be written off as insane because he was a religious fanatic
who considered himself “a prophet, supreme pontiff or priest king;” but rather, that
modern readers need to consider the Ultramontanism148 and Millenarianism149 that was
prevalent at the time.150 Flanagan remains a Riel critic, and his purpose is to discredit the
modern celebration of Monsieur Riel by highlighting the Metis leader’s mental illness
and eccentric religious beliefs as well as to posit that Riel was an unfortunate puppet of
the Catholic Church.151
THE BIRTH OF A MARTYR - 1885
Documentary evidence has shown that Monsieur Riel was undoubtedly one of the
rightful and legal founders of Manitoba; and as such, one of the Fathers of Confederation.
The early accounts of Riel’s Red River ‘Rebellion’ have all been revised by modern
historians to reflect this reality. What about the North-West Rebellion of 1885? Many
have argued that regardless of whether Riel was sane or not at the time of the North-West
Rebellion the extant evidence shows that similar to the politically manipulated fallout of
the Red River Resistance, Riel did not receive justice in 1885 either. The final topic of
this chapter will explore this evidence and its relevance to the much-called-for revision of
Riel’s conviction for high treason (i.e. his exoneration).152
148 The Canadian Encyclopedia states, “Ultramontanism in Canada, as in Europe where it began during the French Revolution, was the theory of those who rejected any compromise by Catholicism with modern thought, and demanded the supremacy of religious over civil society. Its central tenet was an attachment to the person of the pope and belief in the doctrine of his infallibility.” 149 Webster’s dictionary defines millenarianism as a “belief in a coming ideal society and especially one created by revolutionary action.” 150 Roger O'Toole. “Review: Louis ‘David’ Riel: ‘Prophet of the New World.’” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, (Vol. 19, No. 3. Sep., 1980). 312. 151 Flanagan, 245. 152 Articles of the nature are listed in the bibliography under the section entitles, Riel Media Articles and Revisionism Media Articles.
Bilsky 41
Queen’s Council George R. D. Goulet’s lengthy and exhaustive investigation into the legality of Monsieur Riel’s trial has been published in a book entitled, The Trial of
Louis Riel: Justice and Mercy Denied (1999). However, I would be remiss not to mention the key source for Goulet’s book, The Queen vs. Louis Riel: Accused and
Convicted of the Crime of High Treason (1886). This publication by the Queen’s printer contains the transcript of the trial in Regina and the appeal to the Court of Queen’s Bench of Manitoba as well as the appeal to the Privy Council of England. Also included are the petition for a medical evaluation of the accused and a list of the petitions for commutation sent to Ottawa.153 Needless to say The Queen vs. Louis Riel is not a quick read and one should have at least some legal knowledge to begin to grasp its contents.
Well-respected historian and prolific author Desmond Morton re-published The Queen v
Louis Riel in 1974 with an extensive introduction. Nevertheless, that of Goulet’s has eclipsed the historian’s account, as impressive as it is.
At the time of publication George Goulet was a retired thirty-five year veteran
Queen’s Council who practiced law in Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver. He holds a
Bachelor of Arts degree and Bachelor of Laws degree, with first-class honors from the
University of Manitoba, as well as a Master of Laws degree from the University of
Toronto. He has published books on law and is an amateur historian. Justice and Mercy
Denied is indicative of a life of academic excellence. The book is both thorough and accessible and Goulet does a good job explaining and providing legal background to the legalese—though, admittedly this can, at times, seem tedious and dry.
153 Brown Chamberlin. The Queen vs. Louis Riel: Accused and Convicted of the Crime of High Treason. (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1886). Intro.
Bilsky 42
Before covering the charges against Louis Riel, one must put the case into context. Macdonald had gone up against Riel during the Red River Resistance and had come out the loser. Not only was he forced to deal with Riel, but also Macdonald had to bribe him to leave the country, because of political unrest in Ontario; and because
Macdonald needed the local seat of Provencher for Cartier to run in.154 This time there would be no bribe; instead, the Orangeman swore that he would see Riel “hang, though every dog in Quebec bark in his favor.”155
To ensure that Riel did indeed ‘hang,’ Macdonald asked his Minister of Justice and fellow Orangeman, Alexander Campbell, to prevent Riel from reaching Winnipeg.
Because in Macdonald’s mind if Riel were “to be tried in Manitoba, there would be a miscarriage of justice.”156 Macdonald knew that a trial in Manitoba would be before a
Court of Queen’s Bench, “an independent Superior Court Judge with the security of tenure” and a jury of twelve men, of whom half would be French-speaking.157 Whereas in
Regina Riel would go before a stipendiary magistrate and a justice of the peace, who were appointed at the pleasure of Macdonald, and a smaller jury of six men, none of whom were required to speak French.158 Furthermore, Macdonald was aware that his appointed magistrate, Hugh Richardson, had the right to personally handpick the jurors.
Thus, “Riel, a French-speaking, Roman Catholic-reared, Métis was tried by an English- speaking, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant magistrate and six males, all English-speaking,
Anglo-Saxon Protestants.”159
154 Goulet, 31. 155 Parkin, 224; also Stanley, Louis Riel, 367. 156 Macdonald Papers, Vol. 197. 82819. 157 Goulet, 48. 158 Ibid., 48. 159 Ibid., 65.
Bilsky 43
Macdonald’s interference did not stop there. The Prime Minister also selected the
Crown’s team of lawyers. He chose five men: Christopher Robinson, Britton Bath Osler,
George Weelock Burbidge, Thomas Chase Casgrain and David Lynch Scott. When asked for an opinion on whether Macdonald could have an accused tried for high treason before a magistrate court, Robinson and Osler replied that it would be “anomalous and inappropriate.”160 Regardless, they assisted Macdonald in preparing for the defense’s inevitable challenge to the jurisdiction. Thus, they advised Macdonald that the law in the
Northwest Territory made no provision for a grand jury.161
Osler then informed Macdonald of the Connor case, which was presently awaiting its appeal hearing in Winnipeg. Osler was lead counsel in the case. It was up for appeal because it was a capital punishment case that was held before a magistrate court in the
Northwest Territory.162 Coincidentally, the magistrate for the Connor case was also Hugh
Richardson. Macdonald arranged for Osler to go to Winnipeg. Then Justice Minister
Campbell wrote Chief Justice Wallbridge, who had also been appointed by Macdonald, and informed him of the importance of the case, that Osler would argue it well and that he “urged the court should give as early a decision upon the point as they can.”163 Chief
Justice Wallbridge got the message and returned a positive ruling for the Crown in record time. Of course, the Connor case was then cited by the crown and Magistrate Richardson as precedence for capital offence trials by a magistrate court in the Northwest Territory.164
A Canadian Lawyer magazine article decried that “this communication from the federal
160 Macdonald Papers, Vol. 62. File 596. 161 Goulet, 49. 162 Ibid., 81. 163 Ibid., 82. 164 Ibid., 62.
Bilsky 44 justice minister to a judge—a communication which materially affected the administration of justice in both the Connor and Riel cases—is a stunning revelation.”165
Macdonald also had a dubious connection to the lead counsel for the defense,
Charles Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick was married to the sister of Macdonald’s Minister of
Militia and Defense, Adolf Caron. Caron was responsible for the military expedition that resulted in Riel’s capture. He was also a co-partner in a Quebec law firm with crown prosecutor Casgrain and, as shocking as it may seem, the defense’s lead counsel,
Fitzpatrick. Whether this conflict of interest influenced Fitzpatrick or not is uncertain.
However, Riel sent implicit instructions to his supporters in Quebec that he wished to be tried on the merit of his actions and would not enter a plea of insanity, yet Fitzpatrick built his case on Riel’s alleged insanity.166 Fitzpatrick declared to Riel’s supporters that the Métis leader was “not of sound mind” and continued to disregard Riel’s instructions regarding his defense.167
During the trial, in an unprecedented disturbance, Riel stood up in court to ask
Magistrate Richardson if he could question the witnesses. Riel was distraught with
Fitzpatrick’s lack of ability to cross-examine witnesses and ask the right questions.
Fitzpatrick objected telling the magistrate “once he [Riel]168 has counsel he has no right to interfere.” Fitzpatrick then told the court that if Riel did not cooperate with his team they would quit the case. Magistrate Richardson then asked Riel if he wanted their counsel and he responded by saying: “I want their service but I want my cause … to be defended
165 Ronald L. Olesky. “Louis Riel and the Crown Letters.” Canadian Lawyer (February, 1998). 13. 166 Goulet, 93. 167 Ibid., 93. 168 Ibid., 122.
Bilsky 45 the best which circumstances allow.”169 He went on to complain, “they cannot follow the thread of questions. They lose more than three-quarters of opportunities to make good answers.”170
Riel was not far from the truth, for at the time the crown had bested all of the defense’s expert witnesses—even getting one of them to say he was “no expert on insanity,” which Fitzpatrick did not even address.171 When it looked as if Riel would choose to represent himself and decline the services of Fitzpatrick and his team,
Fitzpatrick objected saying that it was “too late for [Riel] to disavow or refuse” counsel.172 When questioned by the magistrate as to why they were not proceeding along the path Riel had instructed them, Fitzpatrick blurted out that they were working for
“parties …” before checking himself and continuing, “who were really our clients in this case.”173 Strangely the magistrate did not question Fitzpatrick any further and instructed
Riel that he had no choice but to sit down, be quiet and accept the better judgment of his counsel.174 Fitzpatrick never divulged who these ‘other parties’ were. Were they Riel’s financial backers in Quebec or was this the manifestations of the aforementioned conflict of interest? Regardless of the answer, it is clear that Magistrate Richardson should have declared a mistrial at this point.175 Instead, he denied Riel of that justice.
169 Ibid., 120. 170 Ibid., 122. 171 Chamberlin, 251. 172 Goulet, 223. 173 Chamberlin, 50. 174 Goulet, 223. 175 Goulet, 225.
Bilsky 46
THE CHARGES CHALLENGED
With Macdonald’s influences firmly established, it is now prudent to examine the
charges themselves. Riel was tried for high treason against the Queen on six counts.
There were three charges of high treason under the laws of ‘local allegiance’ and three
under the laws of ‘natural allegiance’—all under the 1351British Statue of Treasons.
Goulet explains, “natural allegiance was the legal obedience, which a subject owed to his
or her sovereign at all times, and in all places, so long as the relationship of the subject
and the sovereign subsisted.”176 “Local allegiance,” he goes on to state, “is the allegiance
owed by an alien while he or she is resident or continues within the dominions and the
protection of the English Crown.”177 The first three charges should never have been laid,
because Riel had become a United States citizen while in exile and the Naturalization Act
of 1870 states that the a subject of the crown ceases to be a British citizen when they
voluntarily naturalize to another country.178
The three remaining charges under local allegiance were also not legally valid,
because, as Goulet reveals, the 1351 Statute of Treasons only applied to the ‘Realm’ of
the Queen. The ‘realm’ is defined in English law as England, Wales and the adjacent
narrow seas (and in one instance Ireland).179 Canada is not, nor ever was, considered in
English law as part of the Queen’s realm; and as such, Riel’s charges should have been
dismissed on this technicality.
One might argue that the technicality under which statute Riel was charged is
insignificant, because the Crown could have had him tried under a different one.
176 Ibid., 49. 177 Ibid., 50. 178 Ibid., 51. 179 Ibid., 267.
Bilsky 47
However, with no other stated purpose by the Crown counsel and Macdonald’s intent on seeing Riel hang as evidenced by his own utterances,180 it appears that they insisted on the archaic 1351 Statute of Treasons, because it was the only remaining statute that allowed for a death sentence.181 The more appropriate statute and the one the defense assumed was being applied, until the Crown counsel corrected them, was the 1868 Canadian
Treason-Felony Statute, which did not permit the death penalty, but rather life in prison.182 If Riel had been charged with high treason under that statute he would never have hanged.
One could point out, as Goulet did in detail, how Macdonald influenced Riel’s appeal trial and the subsequent commission to establish his post-trial sanity so that the death-sentence could be carried out; but further evidence is hardly required to establish the complete lack of justice and mercy shown to Riel. In the end, it appears that
Macdonald made good on his promises that “the cold-blooded murder in 1870 [of
Thomas Scott] will never be forgotten by the whites in Manitoba or Ontario”183 and that he would see Riel “hang, though every dog in Quebec bark in his favor.”184 Thus, Riel, who in the eyes of many was first deemed a rebel, is now more often viewed as a martyr.
Now that the Macdonald Papers and The Collected Writings of Riel are being utilized by professional historians who work free from political repercussions and now that qualified legal experts have reviewed Riel’s trial, it appears that there exists overwhelming evidence in favor of the reconsideration of Riel’s 1885 legacy. Many have speculated that if Riel’s trial had not been ‘tampered with,’ he would not have been found
180 Parkin, 224; also Stanley, Louis Riel, 367. 181 Ibid., 55. 182 Ibid., 189. 183 Ibid., 26. 184 Parkin, 224; also Stanley, Louis Riel, 367.
Bilsky 48 guilty. Macdonald himself even admitted as much when he acted to ensure that the trial took place in Regina. What that outcome might have been, no one will ever know for sure; but one thing that is certain, is that there is enough evidence available to overturn the conviction on either the grounds of the above legal technicalities or gross injustice due to illegal political influence.
This does not mean, as revisionist critics claim, that Riel should be excused of responsibility for his involvement in the armed North-West Rebellion. It only suggests that Riel’s sentence and trial process were both an act of injustice. Riel supporters want this recognized, but his critics do not want to condone armed rebellions. Perhaps the middle ground would be a collaborative narrative, which states that Riel did in fact break the law and was culpable for leading an armed rebellion against Canada; but, that the
Canadian government had also failed to make good on promises to Northwest Territory settlers, Métis and Indians according to Canadian law. Thus, after exhausting all legal avenues the Northwest Territory inhabitants felt they had little choice but to declare a rebellious provisional government. After all, as Canadians they had been denied their right to the responsible government, which the rest of the nation had enjoyed. A further collaboration would be to allow that the old adage ‘it takes two to tango’ held true in
1885. That is, that the Northwest Territory parties were rebellious, but due to political agendas and federal policies the government had also forced the region’s hand and responded with guns instead of grace. Thus, responsibility for the Rebellion and the lives lost lie at the feet of both parties and those who fought on both sides were heroes in their own rights.
Bilsky 49
Of course, the 1885 North-West Rebellion is similar in many ways to that of the
1837-38 rebellions of Upper and Lower Canada. The difference was that a British
commission reviewed those events and established that the rebels were in fact being
oppressed by the state and were entitled to responsible government. The result was that
prisoners were released, property was restored and both sides shared the culpability for
the rebellion. In the end leaders were not hung, but rather, many returned to politics.
Canadians on both sides of the Riel question should acknowledge these similarities and
the collective responsibility of the rebellion of 1885.
A COLLABORATIVE FUTURE
Why should modern Canadians care about Riel’s trial though? Why should they
revisit the causes and actions of the North-West rebellion? Why should the members of
parliament have to go through the lengthy process of overturning the conviction of a man
who has been dead for 125 years? The answer to that question lies in the aforementioned
national divisions that are couched within Riel’s legacy; that is, the traditional
dichotomies of English/French, Euro-Canadian/Aboriginal, Protestant/Catholic and
East/West. Earlier, in this chapter there was mention of how historians and biographers
were presenting Riel as either a hero or a villain and that when the Macdonald Papers
began to be used, a common narrative on Riel’s Red River ‘Resistance’ arose, at which
point Stanley and Morton joined forces to tackle the North-West Rebellion. This
reconciliation of divergent Riel narratives and subsequent collaborations toward future
goals provides us with a microcosm of the possible national healing process that Riel’s
Bilsky 50 revision has the potential to unleash. This theory will be explained and explored in the next chapter.
Bilsky 51
CHAPTER III
RIEL: NATIONAL DIVISIONS, RECONCILATIONS AND FUTURE HEALING
This chapter will outline how the age-old Canadian conflicts between the French and English, the Natives and Europeans, the Catholics and Protestants and the West’s struggle against the paternal policies of Eastern Canada can all be found within Louis
Riel’s life story. It will also provide examples of how they are still being manifested today. With this correlation in mind, there will be a discussion on the common development of the public’s view toward national history. This will include a commentary on relevant themes in Canadian fictional literature and an historical overview designed to contextualize the broad legacy of power-relations among colonized peoples, beginning with Athens and Sparta and continuing up to the European settlement of North America. The discussion will then draw conclusions from that timeline and apply them to the 1992 Parliamentary revision of Riel’s Red River legacy,185 positing its effect on the subsequent stream of minority reconciliation as evidenced by the following:
The 1995 Quebec referendum versus the 2009 Angus Reid poll on separatism; the 1999 creation of Nunavut; the 2003 Royal apology to the Acadians; and the 2008 federal apology for Indian Residential Schools.186 Finally, the chapter will explain the
185 As part of Bill C-297 on March 10, 1992 “the House of Commons passed a special resolution honouring Louis Riel as a founder of Manitoba and recognizing his contribution to the development of western Canada” – Ian Murray. 186 Indian Residential Schools were off-reserve residential boarding schools designed to take the Indian children away from their communal and familial influences in order to strip the ‘Indian’ out of them and replace it with European values and culture. According to the Assembly of First Nations’ data, the first
Bilsky 52
importance of the current national discourse187 on Riel reinterpretation for both the
country and its Métis in regards to the effects of their shared traumatic past.
EMBEDDED DICHOTOMIES
Jean-Baptiste Riel, Louis Riel’s paternal grandfather, was a French voyageur188
who followed the custom of the day and married a Franco-Chipewyan Métisse woman
named Marguerite Boucher.189, 190 Although there is not a lot known about Jean-Batiste
and his wife, it is known that in 1822, after spending time working out west for the
Hudson’s Bay Company, Jean-Baptiste returned to Berthierville, Quebec to settle down
with his family.191 In 1838, following in his father’s footsteps, Jean-Baptiste’s eldest son,
Louis Riel (senior), travelled to the West in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company as
a voyageur.192 It is suspected that Jean-Baptiste and Louis were involved in the 1837-38
school opened in 1840 and the last closed in 1996. The schools were managed by the Catholic, Anglican, United and Presbyterian Churches of Canada on behalf of the government. Tens of thousands of children suffered physical, mental and sexual abuse while in the Indian Residential Schools program; and it has been reported by Scotsman reporter Lorraine Mallinder that thousands either died or went missing. The government of Canada apologized for this atrocity in June 11, 2008 and offered a $1.9 billion compensation package to survivors. 187 The word ‘national’ has been used, because over the past year there have been newspaper editorials discussing the past and currently proposed revisions of Riel’s legacy from every province in Canada. 188 A voyageur was contracted by a licensed trading company, like the Hudson’s Bay Company or their rivals, the Northwest Company, to transport supplies to interior posts, collect, trap and return furs to the relevant headquarters. They often had to travel great distances each day with 90 lb. packs on their backs. They went by canoe when possible and portaged when not. Conditions were dangerous due to harsh terrain and risk of Indian attack. See Marrie-Anne: The Extraordinary Life of Louis Riel's Grandmother. 189 W. L. Morton. “Louis Riel (1817-1864).” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Vol. IX, 1861-70. (Toronto: 2000). http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=4672&interval= 25&&PHPSESSID=h0nh4ar5d0p8q7lalhrdk47cg7. (Accessed: February 21, 2011). 1. 190 It was favorable for voyageurs to marry Indian women because they held survival skills, fur treatment skills and had tribal connections, which could help trade. Marrying a Métisse woman was one step better, because they offered all of the above, but could readily speak both French and at least one native tongue; thus eliminating the need to learn the language for one’s self or to hire an interpreter. For more on this practice read Maggie Siggins’ book, Marrie-Anne: The Extraordinary Life of Louis Riel's Grandmother. 191 Morton, W. L., 1. 192 Ibid., 1.
Bilsky 53
Rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada; because shortly after Louis’ arrival in Red River his fellow Métis began to fly the Papineau Standard—the flag of le Mouvement
Patriote—in protest over the racist and religious oppression they were suffering under
English rule. 193, 194
Jean-Baptiste Lagemodière and his wife, Marie-Anne Gaboury were Louis Riel’s maternal grandparents.195 Lagemodière was a French coureur des bois.196 During his early years as a trader he had an Indian wife à la façon du pays,197 with whom he had three daughters.198 After returning to Lower Canada he married Gaboury in 1806. At this point in time it was tradition that traders would venture into the dangerous wilds of the
193 Alexander Ross. The Red River Settlement: its Rise, Progress and Present State-with some Account of its Native races and General history to the Present Day. (London: Smith Elder and Co., 1856). 359. 194 The 1837 Rebellions comprised the Upper Canada Rebellion and the Lower Canada Rebellion, which took place in the months between October of 1837 and December of1838. Led by William Lyon Mackenzie King and Robert Baldwin, the Upper Canada Rebellion was fought over issues of British favoritism. The government was controlled by the Family Compact, which sought to ensure British dominance of government, land ownership and the economy. Another issue was the privileges given to the Anglican Church, especially land grants. The rebellion was forcibly put down by the British military and its supporters were arrested or deported. The Lower Canada Rebellion was caused by unrest over English dominance in all sectors and the oppression of the Catholic Church even though the colony was predominantly French; in short, they wanted responsible government or independence. It was led in part by Louis-Joseph Papineau and his group of rebels was called le Patriotes (the patriots), because they grew out of a movement to repatriate Lower Canada to France known as le Mouvement Patriote (the patriot movement). Their flag comprised of three horizontal stripes (from top to bottom) of green, white and red and is still seen today by supporters of an independent Quebec. 195 Siggins, 6. 196 Coureurs des bois were similar to voyageurs except they were not contracted to a single trading company like a voyageur would be. They were also excellent woodsman, adventurers and businessmen and many worked as explorers. Originally, under the control of New France, they operated illegally, but the vocation became a legitimate one after the British took over. 197 À la façon du pays is French for ‘the way of the country.’ According to historian Walter K. Miles: “When a person is desirous of taking one of the daughters of the Natives, as a companion, he makes a present to the parents of the damsel, of such articles as he supposes will be acceptable, and, among them, rum is indispensable, for of that the savages are fond, to excess. Should the parents accept the articles offered, the girl remains at the fort with her suitor, and is clothed in Canadian fashion. The greater part of these women, as I am informed, are better pleased to remain with the white people, than with their own relations. Should the couple, newly joined, not agree, they are at liberty at any time, to separate; but no part of the property, given to the parents of the girl, be refunded.” As cited in “1770's Ancestor a Fur Trader,” The Pacific Northwesterner, (Vol. 21, Winter, 1977 No. 1), 2. 198 Lynne Champagne. “Jean-Baptiste Lagimonière (1788-1855).” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Vol. VIII, 1851-1860. (Toronto:2000). http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01- e.php?&id_nbr=4014&&PHPSESSID=h0nh4ar5d0p8q7lalhrdk47cg7. (Accessed: February 21, 2011). 1.
Bilsky 54 untamed West on their own before returning to their families at the end of the season.
Unwilling to part from her new husband, Gaboury insisted on accompanying him during the harrowing journey and the grueling trading season.199 The couple never returned to
Lower Canada. Instead, after six years of life trading and hunting on the prairies, they settled in Lord Selkirk’s Settlement at Red River.200
In 1815, with tensions between the Northwest Company and the Hudson’s Bay
Company threatening the violent end of the settlement, Lagemodière was hired by the
Hudson’s Bay Company to deliver emergency dispatches to Lord Selkirk in Montreal about the fate of the settlement. He is famous for making the treacherous six-month,
1800-mile, winter journey on foot! After that journey he also returned to Red River on foot in the summer of 1816 with dispatches from Selkirk, which encouraged the settlers to stand firm; because, as he informed them, help was on the way.201 For his harrowing services to the settlement, Selkirk granted Lagemodière a plot of land on the Seine River at its juncture with the Red River, where he and his wife brought up four boys and four girls.202 Lagemodière is recorded as being one of the first French Canadians to take-up permanent residence in the Northwest.203 His wife is remembered as the first Caucasian woman to travel west of the great lakes and the first European woman to settle in the
Northwest.204
In 1844 Lagemodière’s daughter, Julie, married Jean-Baptiste Riel’s son, Louis, and settled next to her parents’ farm in Saint Boniface.205 Louis Riel (Sr.) became famous
199 Siggins, 32. 200 Champagne, 1. 201 Ibid., 1. 202 Ibid., 1. 203 Ibid., 1. 204 Siggins, Introduction. 205 Morton, W. L., 1.
Bilsky 55 in his own right in 1849 after he spoke in defense of his fellow Métis, Pierre-Guillaume
Sayer, at the trapper’s trial for illegal trading. The Hudson’s Bay Company had declared a trade monopoly on furs and other resources after their 1824 buy-out of the North West
Company.206 Riel (Sr.) argued that the company was infringing on their rights. The
Assiniboia Council still found Sayer guilty, but buckled under the immense pressure brought by Riel (Sr.) and his Métis followers, who showed up armed and in large numbers to the trial.207 Thus, they recommended mercy and freed Sayer without punishment. Riel (Sr.) interpreted the sentence as “tantamount to a surrender of the monopoly” and encouraged his countrymen to trade with whom they pleased.208 Free trade was enjoyed in the Red River region from then on. Riel (Sr.) went on to successfully pressure the courts to allow defendants the option to have trials conducted in
French.209
The respected Métis leader and his wife were devout Catholics and were very involved in the parish church at St. Boniface under the guidance of Bishop Taché. They had eleven children, and their first born, a son, was named Louis Riel.210 Louis, who was one-eighth Chipewyan and seven-eighths French, grew up with the strong French-
Catholic influence of his parents; but also learned to admire his native roots under the tutelage of his maternal grandmother who had learned to love and respect native traditions and peoples during her years on the buffalo hunt.211 Taché was so impressed with Louis’ intellectual abilities and religious devoutness that he arranged for the
206 Friesen, 43. 207 Morton, W. L., 1. 208 Ibid., 1. 209 Ibid., 1. 210 Lewis H. Thomas. “Louis Riel (1844-1885).” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Vol. XI, 1881-1890. (Toronto: 200). http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=5796&&PHP SESSID=h0nh4ar5d0p8q7lalhrdk47cg7. (Accessed: February 21, 2011). 1. 211 Siggins, Introduction.
Bilsky 56 thirteen-year-old boy to travel to Montreal to attend the Collège de Montréal and begin training to become Canada’s first Métis priest.212
Louis left for Seminary in 1858. While in college Louis was provided with a classical university education on top of his religious instruction. He studied European history, Literature, and Law as well as some Latin and Greek.213 He even began to write poetry during this time. Louis’ father died in his final year (1864) —a blow to Riel, which caused him to rethink his calling.214 Thus, Louis left school that spring and went to work as a law clerk in Montreal. He soon fell in love with a young woman in Montreal, but was refused her hand by her father who disapproved of Riel’s Métis blood.215 In
1866, after struggling in both business and romance in the English dominated Province of
Canada, the heartbroken Riel slowly made his way back to Red River.216
In 1869, the year following his arrival at home, the newly formed Dominion of
Canada had entered negotiations with England, which would see the transfer of Prince
Rupert’s Land from the British owned Hudson’s Bay Company to the Dominion of
Canada.217 Riel soon entered into a battle of words with Ontario poet Charles Mair in the
Montreal press.218 Mair, who had been overly critical of the Métis in Red River, was the
Macdonald appointed Minister of Public Works and part of a survey team sent to Red
River in anticipation of the transfer to Canada. Without much leadership among the settlers, Riel—reportedly “ambitious, well-educated, bilingual, young and energetic,
212 Thomas, 1. 213 Flannagan, 14. 214 Thomas, 1. 215 Flannagan, 34. 216 Thomas, 1. 217 Friesen, 178. 218 Thomas, 1.
Bilsky 57 eloquent, deeply religious, and the bearer of a famous name”—was a natural choice as their leader.219
Perhaps also in Riel’s favor was the fact that he had experienced firsthand the
English-Protestant Canadian disdain for the largely French-Catholic, Irish-Catholic,
Scots-Presbyterian, French-Catholic Métis and English half-breed settlers of the west.220
Furthermore, he had been exposed to Canadian notions of manifest destiny and the calls for the exploitation of western resources and land to fund and fuel the economy of
Eastern Canada, which gave him insight into the bigger picture.221 Of course, Riel had also studied the history of British North America, including le Mouvement Patriote,222 which meant that he knew that his French ancestors had been fighting for equal rights against the English since the turn of the seventeenth-century, culminating the 1837-38
Rebellions. He was most likely aware of the attempted secession of French Lower
Canada as outlined in the 1838 Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada.223 As a member of the Collège de Montréal and a confidant of Bishop Taché’s, Riel was privy to the institutionalized oppression of Catholics at the hands of the English and was influenced by a wave of Ultramontanism that swept through Quebec in the last half of the nineteenth century.224 He had also suffered English prejudice against his Indian blood. In short Riel had experience in both worlds—the French-Catholic Métis Northwest and
219 Ibid., 1. 220 Flannagan, 51. 221 Ibid., 62. 222 During the 1837-38 Rebellions Louis-Joseph Papineau and his group of rebels was called le Patriotes (the patriots), because they grew out of a movement to repatriate Lower Canada to France known as le Mouvement Patriote (the patriot movement) 223 The Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada was written by Robert Nelson in February of 1938, while in exile in the United States with other rebel leaders. The full text has been translated into English and can be found in Sir John Colborne’s, Report of the State Trials, before a general court martial held at Montreal in 1838-9:exhibiting a complete history of the late rebellion in lower Canada, Volume 2 (Montreal: Amour and Ramsey, 1839) in Appendix No. 14 on page 562. 224 Flannagan, 132.
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English Protestant Canada. Thus, Riel became a natural intermediary for east-west,
French-English, Protestant-Catholic and European-Aboriginal relations in Red River.
This brief history of Riel and the legacy left to him from both his parents demonstrates how this Métis man from Red River came to embody in some measure each of these Canadian historical fault-lines. In his story, we see the struggle between
Indians/Métis and the European establishment; the fight for cultural survival and equality of the French against the English ruling parties; the centuries old campaign for religious domination of Catholics by Protestants; and the aspirations for western economic autonomy from the control of Eastern Canada. Most of these dichotomies still exist today.
Western farmers are constantly fighting the controlling regulations of the federally run Canadian Wheat Board, calling for more freedom to plant what they see fit and the ability to trade directly within world markets.225 Protestant persecution of
Catholics, even from within the Orange Order, has been a thing of the past in Canada since the late 1960’s.226 However, according to historian Callum Beck, who specializes in
Canada’s Protestant-Catholic relations, there “are still some examples of the divide, especially in Newfoundland; and of course, some prejudice and bias, plus some concerns over inter-marriage; and you get some fights between rival gangs in Newfoundland and even in Ontario in recent years around the separate schools.”227 Métis and Indian
225 See “Farmers Oppose Tories' Wheat Board Policy And Strong-Arm Tactics” in the Vue Weekly at the following link: http://web.archive.org/web/20070928011715/http://www.vueweekly.com/articles/ default.aspx?i=5606 or “Top Court Ruling a Defeat for Canadian Wheat Board” in the Vancouver Sun at this link: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Court+ruling+defeat+Canadian+Wheat+Board/2468693/ story.html. 226 Callum Beck. “Letter between Brent Bilsky and Callum Beck Summarizing Anti-Catholicism in Modern Canada, dated February 28, 2011.” Taken from The Creation of the Protestant-Catholic Divide on P.E.I. (Doctoral Dissertation, Open University in England). 1. 227 Beck, 1.
Bilsky 59 populations across Canada are slowly seeing the crimes committed against them being recognized and dealt with by the federal government.228 The French language debate is still a relevant issue for francophone populations throughout Canada, including the recent rollback of early French immersion in New Brunswick.229 Furthermore, over the last several decades, as Riel has become more and more recognized as a symbol of these four minority groups, other modern Canadian minorities have begun identifying with him and are claiming him as a human rights hero for their own causes.230 Thus, any revision of
Riel’s legacy has the potential to profoundly affect each of these four national issues; and perhaps other significant Canadian minority issues as well.
Riel may represent each of these traditional fault lines to some degree, but has
Canada as a nation reached the level of national maturity needed to face these distasteful and divisive issues? That is, are Canadians, at a place in their history where they can begin to be critical of their own past? Before answering these questions, it is helpful to understand the wider development of national identities and the public’s perception of that development.
228 For example: The Indian Residential Schools class-action suit against the Government of Canada was recently settled in 2008 and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was given a five-year mandate to investigate, record, document and provide a process of healing and reconciliation to the victims of the Indian Residential School travesties. 229 See: “NB Students Won’t Begin French Immersion Until Grade 5: Second language Education in Early Immersion Scrapped” in CBC NEWS article dated March 14, 2008 as found at the following link: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2008/03/14/nb-french.html#ixzz1EQsKhSqu. 230 For a discussion of this phenomenon go to the following parliamentary debate link: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/riel/revokeconv.html.
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VIOLENT BEGINNINGS
231 The poleis of Athens and Sparta joined forces in 480BCE to fight off Xerxes I of
Persia.232 This alliance ended with Athens’ betrayal of Sparta and the subsequent
subjugation of the other Greek poleis by Athens to establish its domination of what would
become the nation of Greece.233 The polis of Rome did likewise with their decimation of
the Etruscans during the birth of the Roman Republic in 508BCE and the subsequent
invasion of the entire Mediterranean world—including that of Greece.234 In 768
Charlemagne became King of the Franks in Western Europe and proceeded to expand his
rule over his own people and that of his neighbors.235 By his death in 814 the Frankish
kingdom covered much of Western Europe and the roots for the nation of France had
been planted. William the Conqueror sailed from Normandy to England and defeated
that newly unified nation in 1066, disposed of the English elite and established a French-
speaking aristocracy.236 Spain and Portugal left their shores in the 15th and 16th centuries
and conquered or colonized much of South America, the Caribbean and parts of North
America, sometimes at the expense of entire races.237 My point is that, nations are rarely,
if ever, born peacefully; rather, they are most often born as a result of one race or people
group invading and dominating another.
231 A polis or poleis were the independent city-states, which existed in ancient Greece before the nation unified. 232 Anthony Snodgrass. Archaic Greece: The Age of Experiment. (Los Angles: University of California Press, 1981), 33. 233 J. B. Bury. A History of Greece: To the Death of Alexander The Great. (New York: Random House Inc., 1943), 113. 234 Simon Hornblower. Antony Spawforth ed. The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 549. 235 Jackson J. Spielvogel. Western Civilization Volume 1: To 1715. 6 ed. (Toronto: Thomson Nelson, 2006), 259. 236 David C. Douglas. William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact Upon England. (Berkley: University of California Press: 1967), 11. 237 Spielvogel, 312.
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The nation of Canada is no different, in that it too was born as a result of the violent oppression of its indigenous inhabitants. In 1534 the French explorer, Jacques
Cartier, landed on the Gaspe Peninsula and claimed it for France.238 In 1604 Samuel de
Champlain tried to begin the first permanent settlement in New France at St. Croix Island before he moved in 1605 to the more favorable location of Port Royal.239 In 1608 he established the settlement of Quebec (modern day Quebec City). Of course, North
America was already populated with a great many indigenous Indian tribes and nations.
As the French settlers at Port Royal evolved into a distinct people they came to be known as Acadiens,240 whereas the settlers of the Quebec region came to be called
Canadiens.241 Both groups mixed well with the surrounding Algonquin Indian tribes until the English and Dutch colonies to the south tried to establish dominance over the region in 1640’s during the Beaver Wars.242 The French and English, along with their various First Nations allies, would continue to fight for lasting control of the region during a series of inter-colonial wars that did not end until 1760 at the close of the Seven
Years War and the northern expansion of British North America. This ended over a century of Anglo-French military conflict, leaving the British in charge, the French subjugated and the Indians utterly decimated.
238 Spielvogel, 403. 239 J. M. Bumsted. The Peoples of Canada: A Pre-Confederation History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 67-8. 240 Acadiens and Canadiens are the original French spellings of the more common English versions (Acadians and Canadians). 241 Bumsted, 68, 77. 242 Bumsted, 79.
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COLONIAL OPPRESSION
After British victory in North America, the English turned to full-scale
colonization. This included an intentional centuries-long Anglicization policy that would
systematically replace the Indian’s ‘pagan savagery’ with European civilization and
religion.243 Initially, missions and schools were set up and credit was extended at all
Hudson’s Bay Company trading posts to encourage the use of European tools and goods.
By the turn of the nineteenth century hunting was discouraged and agriculture and
business were pushed.244 Finally, in 1910 Indian affairs minister Duncan Campbell Scott
announced that the Anglicization of the Indian was the “final solution” to Canada’s
“Indian problem” and argued that through his Indian Residential Schools program, he
would breed out the savage and breed in the European civilization.245 Of course, this was
all for the ‘benefit’ of the Indian. At least that is what Canadians were told by the
Department of Indian Affairs and/or many Canadian religious leaders; and what they
chose to believe as something historian Michael Ignatieff calls one of their conscience-
clearing founding myths.246
Colonies are often established through the destruction or oppression of the local
population. Historically, the process of colonization usually meant invading an area for
its resources, and wiping out or enslaving the indigenous population. It is not pretty or
moral or just or heroic! However, truth this harsh does not motivate the public or
soldiers to commit atrocities in the name of resources, land, wealth and progress. Thus,
243 Ibid., 326. 244 Ibid., 327. 245 Duncan Campbell Scott. “Department of Indian Affairs Minister, D.C. Scott to B.C. Indian Agent-General, Major D. McKay: April 12, 1910.” Department of Indian Affairs Archives. RG Series, (1910). 10. 246 Michael Ignatieff. “The Nightmare From Which We Are Trying To Awake.” The Modern Historiography Reader: Western Sources, ed. Budd, Adam. (New York: Routledge, 2009). 321.
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for centuries one of the ways ruling classes and governments have convinced their people
that their cause was a just cause, a moral cause—one that was their duty to carry out—
was to couch these harsh realities in heroic or moral propaganda and myths.
FOUNDING MYTHS
The Athenians sought to ‘better’ the other Greek poleis with their advanced
democratic forms of government and philosophy.247 The Romans took over the
Mediterranean to ‘ensure peace and order to the region’—the famous Pax Romana.248
Charlemagne’s offering to humanity was structure, education and the Christian
religion.249 The British Empire was convinced that, as the most industrially and morally
advanced race on the planet, it was their duty; in fact, they felt it was the “White man’s
burden,” to bring civilization and true Christian religion to the world.250 In short, just as
the crusaders of the Middle Ages went out to vanquish the infidels for the glorious moral
reason that ‘God wills it,’ the English flocked to Canada to do their part for God, country
and humanity. Of course, behind these altruistic claims laid a strong selfish desire for
land, wealth and power.
These larger-than-life goals or ideologies helped sustain many of the pioneering
settlers of Canada. It is one of the things that got them through the bitter cold winters. It
is one of the reasons that they kept risking their lives when trying to settle hostile Indian
territories. To know that those who went before them had suffered too, to know that
247 Snodgrass, 44. 248 Hornblower, 555. Pax Romana is literally translated from Latin as ‘peace be to the Roman.’ 249 Spielvogel, 260. 250 Rudyard Kipling. As quoted in “Citizen’s of the Empire.” The National Archives. (1899). http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/struggle_democracy/citizens_empire.htm. (Accessed: February 21, 2011). 1.
Bilsky 64 those who won the day on the Plains of Abraham, and defeated the Americans in 1812 had also given their blood, sweat and tears for the ‘good cause’ was motivating and uplifting. It also relieved their guilt, helping them sleep at night. One only has to look at early Canadian literature for evidence of this phenomenon.
Literature of a nation can often reflect how its population views itself; and this is arguably true for Canadian literature. Literary critic David Staines points out in his 1983
Modern Humanities Research Association article entitled, “Crouched in Dark Caves: the
Post-Colonial Narcissism of Canadian Literature,” that the focus of the early Canadian authors and Confederation Poets was commonly the vast and terrifyingly beautiful landscapes and wilderness of the Canadian frontier combined with the sad, but inevitable, decline of the Indian races.251 This made good sense; because as Staines also indicates, the taming of the wilderness was a significant problem for nation building in the New
World. Also, by propagating the theory that the Indian races throughout Canada were declining on their own, the idea of ‘saving’ them from extinction through Anglicization was all any good Christian could be expected to do.252
This myth that the Indian nations within Canada, if left to themselves, were on an irrevocable path to extinction and damnation was just one of many that Canadians told themselves to make sense of the crimes of their founding fathers and contemporary peers.
Respected and well-published psychohistorian Michael Ignatieff, in his book entitled The
Warrior’s Honor: Ethnic War and the Modern Conscience (1998), aptly points out that
“all nations depend on forgetting: on forging myths of unity and identity that allow a
251 David Staines. “Crouched in Dark Caves: the Post-Colonial Narcissism of Canadian Literature.” The Yearbook of English Studies, Colonial and Imperial Themes. Spec. Issue of Modern Humanities Research Association 13.1 (1983). 261. 252 Staines, 261.
Bilsky 65 society to forget its founding crimes, its hidden injuries and divisions, its unhealed wounds.”253
The unity and identity that Ignatieff is referring to here is the collective identity and morality of a national psyche. While he recognizes that a nation is made of many different groups, each with differing moralities, as a historian he is also aware that “we tend to vest our nations with consciences, identities, and memories as if they were individuals.”254 In a helpful metaphor that reveals the relationship between such myths and national wounds and divisions, Ignatieff describes history as a nightmare from which we are trying to awake. He explains that a “nightmare is nightmarish, because there is no saving distance between the dreamer and the dream.”255 Noting that “history becomes a nightmare, when, the past is not the past,”256 Ignatieff argues that this often happens during a “quarrel, [when] past, present, and future are ablaze together.”257
Before Stanley’s revisions, for Canada and Riel’s legacy the quarrel, as Ignatieff puts it, was whether the Métis provisional government at Red River was valid or treasonous; and now the quarrel is whether or not Riel’s actions in 1885 deserved the death sentence that he received; and whether he should be remembered as a traitor or a defender of human rights. For the Métis, the perceived victims in this dispute, and those in power (or those against any revisions), the events surrounding the 1885 Northwest
Rebellion happened in the past; but they matter in the present and affect the future all at once. It is all too close to be reconciled. Ignatieff argues that in order to awake from the nightmare and “distinguish between myth and truth” we must “recover the saving
253 Ignatieff, 321. 254 Ignatieff, 320. 255 Ibid., 320. 256 Ibid., 320. 257 Ibid., 320.
Bilsky 66
distance between past and present.”258 But, are Canadians ready to recover that distance?
Can Canadians handle the truth?
REACHING MATURITY
In his paper, David Staines argues that as the colony overcame the challenges of
the Canadian landscape, authors like Fredrick Phillip Grove, who wrote Settlers in the
Marsh (1925) began to focus on the promises of the future.259 He says that this was in
line with government rhetoric and especially important following the devastating losses
of human life after World War One. Furthermore, with the Great Depression and World
War Two now behind them, Canadian writers Adele Wiseman and Mordecai Richler
continued writing about the future possibilities of ‘the true North, strong and free.’260
Stories like these, of a future promise and hope, helped keep the Canadian public’s
morale up throughout the post-war years. They were inspiring and promising all at once.
It seems that Canadian literature was no longer focusing on the hagiography of both its
founding heroes and their ideologies.
With peace and maturity often comes a phase of retrospection. Thus, by the
nineteen-sixties the futuristic focus had declined as the nation and its writers matured and
began to look to the past—something that Staines says they had not yet done.261 He goes
on to note that this “growing orientation to the past indicates an acceptance of cultural
maturity and a consequent … examination of a history as of yet untold;” one, which
258 Ibid., 320. 259 Staines, 262. 260 Ibid., 263. 261 Ibid., 263.
Bilsky 67
might “offer some possible order that may explain the present and prepare the way for the
future.”262 Of course, these trends were not only evident in literature.
As western nations like Britain and France were releasing many of their colonies
to self-rule, Americans and Canadians also began to look at their own past actions
towards their colonized populations. The American Indian Movement was founded in
1968. “Despite a section of the 1927 Canadian Indian Act that forbade First Nations
people from forming political organizations to represent their interests” Native Canadians
also made many attempts to do the same in the seventies.263 In 1982, with the support of
Parliament, the Assembly of First Nations was formed to formally challenge the
Canadian government on Native issues, including recognition of theirs and Riel’s role in
the founding of Canada.264
By the last half of the twentieth century, Canadians were ready to look critically
at some of their founding myths. The once triumphant policies of colonization and the
Indian Act went under the microscope. Minority groups began to challenge the status-
quo national history narratives and demanded a more inclusive and critical approach to
Canadian History.265
HISTORICAL RECONCILIATION BEGINS
One of the first notable critical revisions of a Canadian historical figure of
national significance was that of Louis Riel. After a decade long effort to recognize the
262 Ibid., 263. 263 Michael Posluns and Anthony J. Hall. “Assembly of First nations” The Canadian Encyclopedia: Historica-Dominion. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE& Params=A1ARTA0000352. (Accessed: February 21, 2011). 1. 264 Posluns, 1. 265 Conrad, 3.
Bilsky 68 interpretive discoveries of Stanley and Morton on March 10, 1992 “the House of
Commons passed a special resolution honouring Louis Riel as a founder of Manitoba and recognizing his contribution to the development of western Canada.”266 This hard-fought and long-awaited acknowledgement and show of respect toward the Métis people of
Canada was an historical shift in national policy.
Furthermore, it was an unqualified success compared to the last time Parliament tried to revise its view of an historical narrative so close to Canada’s volatile
French/English division. In 1849, the French-controlled parliament of the Province of
Canada passed the Rebellion Losses Bill, which would see the government pay for damages to French citizens by government forces during the 1837-38 Rebellions.267 This infuriated the English who saw it as recognition that the Rebellions were nothing more than legal protests.268 It also resulted in the Houses of Parliament being burned to the ground during English rioting, which lasted more than a week.269 Thus, the 1992 peaceful amendment of Riel’s Red River legacy signaled to Canadians that the flag of historical reconciliation had been raised.
Louis Riel’s hanging had a profoundly negative effect in Quebec. It has even been claimed, ‘Louis Riel's death was the first post-Confederation step in what was to become Canada’s national unity crisis.’270 Lower Canada’s bid to secede in 1838 was put to rest in part by the British military and in part by the 1840 Act of Union, which
266 Murray, 1335. 267 Parliamentary Scribe. “From the 18th day of January to the 30th day of May, 1849.” Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. (1849). Archived on Early Candiana Online. http://www.canadiana.org/view/9_00952_8/151. (Accessed: February 20, 2011). 143. 268 James Moir Ferres. “The Disgrace of Britain is Accomplished!” Montreal Gazette. (Montreal: April 25, 1849). Extra. Archived on Early Canadiana Online. http://www.canadiana.org/view/63803- 11.pdf. (Accessed: February 20, 2011). 9. 269 Parliamentary Scribe, 262. 270 See Chapter II, page 31.
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provided Anglophone Canada with responsible government.271 The idea of an
independent Republic of Quebec all but disappeared from the Canadian political
landscape for the next forty-five years; that is, until the hanging of Louis Riel in 1885.
How significant was the execution of Riel for Macdonald’s provincial
conservative counterparts? Prior to the first election after Riel’s execution, which was
held in 1887, the Conservative government had held power in Quebec a formidable 19
out of 20 years since its creation.272 As outlined in chapter two, Honoré Mercier led his
Parti National to parliament on a wave of outcry over the ‘murder’ of Riel. This was the
first nationalist government in Quebec’s history.273 Aside from a five-and-a-half-year
stint of appointed Premiers following one narrow Conservative victory (1891-97) the
Conservative Party of Quebec has suffered a 114-year shutout!274 To date, the
Conservative Party has yet to win another Quebec election.275 In short, 1885 does not just
mark the year of Riel’s death, but also the beginning of the death of Conservative rule in
Quebec.
THE DOMINO EFFECT
We have just seen how enormously significant Riel’s execution was to Quebec
politics; but how significant was Parliament’s 1992 revision of his Red River legacy to
Quebec politics? While it certainly provided some measure of ‘saving distance’ from the
past, it could not stop the groundswell of separatist determination that had been building
271 S. J. Jacques Monet. “Act of Union.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. http://www.thecanadian encyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=a1ARTA0000029. (Accessed: February 20, 2011). 1. 272 Web-master. “Quebec General Elections.” Québec Politique.com. http://www.quebec politique.com/elections-et-referendums/. (Accessed: February 20, 2011). 1. 273 Goulet, 243. 274 Québec Politique.com, 1. 275 Ibid., 1.
Bilsky 70 in Quebec since the 1980 Quebec Referendum. Thus, three years after Riel had been honored by Parliament another referendum was held.
In 1995, the Quebec Referendum on separation was made possible by a strong
Party Quebecois victory in the 1994 election.276 Quebec narrowly remained part of
Canada with the ‘no’ vote victorious by 50.6% to 49.4%.277 One would like to think that the federal government’s 1992 recognition of Riel contributed to the narrow victory of the non-separatists.
Even though the separatists did not gain their independence, they did begin more than a decade of discourse with the federal government on their historical grievances and present desires. The result was that each side of the quarrel shared their perspectives, compromises were made and the past hurts moved further into the past. So much so, that in a 2009 Angus Reid poll, the separatist vote had dropped from its 49.4% high in 1995 to just 28%.278
This makes sense and speaks to the profound effect of History on a country’s future. As Ignatieff asserts, “a reckoning is possible only when a publicly sponsored discourse gives it permission to happen.”279 Since 1992, when Canada began to fly the flag of reconciliation by revisiting their “hidden injuries and divisions,” much progress has been made toward a reckoning of “unhealed wounds.”280
For instance, after a twenty-three year dialogue with the Inuit, in 1999 the federal government enacted the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act of 1993, which resulted in
276 Ibid., 1. 277 Web-master. “1995 Referendum.” Québec Politique.com. http://www.quebecpolitique.com/ elections-et-referendums/referendums-quebecois/referendum-de-1995/. (Accessed: February 20, 2011). 1. 278 Jaideep Murkerji. “Separation for Canada Unlikely for the Majority of Quebecers.” Angus Reid Strategies Quebec Public Opinion Poll. (Montreal: Angus Reid Strategies, 2009). 1. 279 Ignatieff, 325. 280 Ibid., 321.
Bilsky 71 the creation of the new Inuit Territory of Nunavut. The territory was established to address historical grievances surrounding the 1953-55 Relocation and the Inuit’s right to responsible government. The last time the Canadian map changed was in 1949 with the inclusion of the province of Newfoundland into Canadian confederation.
Another ripple from the flag of reconciliation was that of the apology to the
Acadians by the federal government and British Crown for the 1755 Acadian
Deportation. After a thirteen-year long dialogue with the Canadian government and Her
Majesty the Queen, in 2003 the Acadians received recognition of their historical mistreatment. Euclide Chiasson, head of the Société Nationale des Acadiens said that
“this recognition, this proclamation is very important for our people; it is not about the past, it is about the future.”281 Chiasson meant that by bringing healing to a past wound, the Acadian people could now focus their energies on the future. As Ignatieff pointed out, “the past continues to torment, because it is not the past.”282 By seeking recognition of their sufferings via an apology, the Acadians were trying to gain a ‘saving distance’ from the past, so that it no longer dictated their present identity.
Like a brisk breeze gaining speed over the bald prairie, the winds of historical revisionism increased in strength. During the next historic apology the metaphorical flag of reconciliation was standing straight out. This time the federal government apologized to the Indian and Métis victims of the Indian Residential Schools program. Open discussions about the human rights’ abuses at Residential Schools began in 1990 between the Assembly of First Nations and the Canadian government. A class action suit was brought against the government in 1996, which was concluded in 2008 with an official
281 Euclide Chiasson. “Royal Regrets Offered for Acadian Expulsion.” Acadian Genealogy Homepage. (2003). http://www.acadian.org/apology.html. (Accessed: February 22, 2011). 1. 282 Ignatieff, 328.
Bilsky 72
apology and a monetary settlement of $1.9 billion.283 Furthermore, the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission of Canada was given a five-year mandate to facilitate further
healing and to create an historical archive on the Indian Residential Schools atrocities.284
THE ROLE OF TRAUMA
Ignatieff explains in his book why South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation
Committee has had a degree of success at staving off a vengeful civil war and instead has
promoted national healing. He attributes Archbishop Tutu’s success to his commission’s
“promotion of national unity and reconciliation and the healing of the traumatized,
divided, wounded polarized people.”285 This has come by seeking “narratives of what
happened” as well as “narratives that attempt to explain why it happened and who was
responsible.”286 Given this informed understanding, victims felt they “did not need to
punish the transgressors in order to put the past behind them.”287 This meant that the
power block would walk away with their “legitimacy undermined, but their power in
tack.”288
In short, if the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada can manage to
convey that peace and healing does not come from vengeance; but rather, from the
admission of guilt and the recognition of wrong doing and an understanding of the
suffering caused; then perhaps it too will successfully complete its mandate. Regardless
283 Stephen Harper. “Prime Minister Harper Offers Full Apology on Behalf of Canadians for the Indian Residential Schools System.” Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. (2008). http://www.ainc- inac.gc.ca/ai/rqpi/apo/index-eng.asp. (Accessed: February 22, 2011). 1. 284 TRC. “Frequently Asked Questions.” The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (TRC: Winnipeg, 1999). 1. 285 Ignatieff, 321. 286 Ibid., 321. 287 Ibid., 321. 288 Ibid., 322.
Bilsky 73 of the outcome, the very fact that the government is committed to this process of revisiting and rewriting the Indian Residential School past with a critical eye speaks to its desire to help the victims gain that ‘saving distance’ from the past and begin to look toward the possibilities of the future. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is thus poised to benefit both the corporate and individual lives of the nation, its Indians and
Métis.
Canada’s Indians have for centuries suffered racist treatment at the hands of the
Caucasian population, as have the Métis. However, the Métis have at times also suffered ethnic rejection from full-breed Indians. Thought of as ‘half-breed mongrels,’ many
Métis have experienced oppression from both Caucasian Canadians and Native
Canadians. If one adds to this reality the Indian Residential Schools program, the mistreatment which they have historically received from the government and ruling classes for their beliefs and the suppression of their Michif languages, the Métis may be one of the most oppressed and polarized people in Canada. Their many wounds run deep; so much so that the Métis National Council has struggled to effectively articulate a
Métis identity.289
In a paper on the historiography of trauma, psychohistorian Adam Phillips says that identity and one’s past are deeply intertwined.290 Similar to Ignatieff, who also draws upon Freud’s theories, Phillips argues that without the proper distance from the past, one
289 Editorial. “Métis Identity Matters.” Winnipeg Free Press. (February 9, 2011) http://www. winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/metis-identity-matters-115625309.html. A10. So far the Métis National Council has defined being Métis as the following: a person who self- identifies as Métis (with no definition of ‘identifies’), traces his or her roots to the historic Métis ancestral homeland (note not to a Métis bloodline and the ‘ancestral homelands have yet to be defined), is distinct from other aboriginals and is accepted by the Métis nation (by what guidelines?). 290 Adam Phillips. “Close-Ups.” History Workshop Journal. Vol. 57 (2004). 143.
Bilsky 74 cannot see the past clearly.291 He likens this to the changing shapes and double images one sees when they are standing nose to nose with someone and looking into their eyes.
Clarity is impossible at this distance. Phillips also notes that the effects of trauma often lead to overload and incapacity to think and feel.292 Survivors of a “trauma,” says
Phillips, “do not have a history; there is a history, but not for them; because they are too close … and often can make nothing of their experience.”293
The Métis are undoubtedly the victims of great trauma. It is no wonder that they are struggling to articulate a cohesive cultural identity. Their past is not theirs: it has been stolen and abused. In short, it is all ablaze with the not so distant past (and often present) traumas of racism, physical abuse, sexual abuse, mental abuse, religious abuse, the loss of place, the loss of culture, the loss of language, the loss of life and the loss of livelihood.
With these facts in mind, the importance of the past and the current attempt to further revise Riel’s legacy—which is intrinsically tied to Métis history and identity— becomes even more evident. It is also essential to understand that these traumas, or ‘past wounds’ as Ignatieff calls them, are national traumas in that Canada as a nation played a role in them; and thus its collective identity is also tied up in these events. Therefore, all
Canadians stand to benefit from revisiting past wounds and divisions like Riel’s legacy with a critical eye. If Ignatieff and Phillips are correct, then as Canadians address the oppressed, conflicting and inaccurate histories within their national narrative, they will gain a saving distance from the nightmare of their colonial past and will become free to aim all their energies toward a healthier, more informed future.
291 Phillips, 143. 292 Ibid., 143. 293 Ibid., 149.
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CONCLUSION: A HISTORY AS OF YET UNTOLD & A FUTURE YET UNMADE
For most of the past century Canadian children learned an inspiring and heroic story about the nation’s first Prime Minister. It had to do with Sir John A. Macdonald accomplishing the impossible goal of unifying the diverse peoples of Canada in spite of vast geographies and two dangerous rebellions. In that story Macdonald took the highroad when confronted by Louis Riel’s 1869 illegal provisional government. By using his political prowess and statesmanship to peacefully welcome the newly formed province of Manitoba into Canadian Confederation, Macdonald skillfully protected the prairies from annexation by the United States. Fifteen years later, the now religious fanatic Riel rose again to challenge the Dominion’s claim to what would become the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. Riel and his army of Métis and Indian savages terrorized the settlers in the region and plotted to once again carve out a country for themselves. Thanks to Macdonald’s foresight the Canadian Pacific Railway was nearly half finished and provided quick transport for westward Canadian troops to quell the
North-West Rebellion. The expedience and success of the campaign led to new funding with which to complete the railroad. On November 7, 1885 the ‘last spike’ was driven to mark the completion of both Macdonald’s beloved Canadian Pacific Railway and the unification of the nation. Fittingly, Louis Riel, that ‘enemy of Canadian unity,’ was hung for his crimes the following week.
Bilsky 76
Today Canadians are taught that the story is not that simple. By the 1930s historians had uncovered secret correspondence between Macdonald and his staff, which clearly stated that the nation’s first Prime Minister was fully aware of the legality of
Riel’s position. Macdonald understood that the citizens of Red River had the legal right under the Law of Nations to form their own government; and as such, he was forced to deal with them with words instead of weapons. Further uncovered evidence revealed that
Macdonald had paid Riel a substantial bribe to leave the country and to not run for office in Manitoba. By omitting these events, early Macdonald biographers bolstered the Prime
Minister’s heroic image and sought to retain the nation’s collective memory of the significance of Macdonald’s actions in the shaping of Canada.
In spite of the critics, who feared that this kind of historical revisionism would forever tarnish the valiant and courageous memories of the nation’s founders,
Macdonald’s popularity has gone largely unscathed. He remains to this day the single most popular Prime Minister in Canadian history. 294 However, the amendments to the account of the Red River Uprising did not come easily or without challenge. They only found their way into textbooks after tireless peer review and evidential verification.
Whereas modern professional historians have come to embrace and welcome responsible and balanced interpretive history, the general public is far more skeptical.
Historian Ian Mortimer states “the public tends to view revisionist theories of well-known historical incidents tied closely to its own lineage with skepticism.”295 This helps explain, as evidenced in chapter one, why there are still those who misunderstand revisionism or feel threatened by the fluidity of History and will not give up on their traditional
294 Elizabeth J. Ballard and Peter Suedfeld, “Performance Ratings of Canadian Prime Ministers: Individual and Situational Factors,” Political Psychology 9, no. 2 (June 1988): 291, 294. 295 Ian Mortimer. “Revisionism Revisited.” History Today. Vol. 54. Issue 3. March 2004. 23.
Bilsky 77 perspectives. Newspapers right across Canada have featured editorials debating the question of Riel’s exoneration. In the comments’ sections of these online papers a significant number of readers still insist on the fixedness of History. Such parochial views obscure the authentic historical record, and thus retard the maturation of Canada.
Yet as people all across the nation gather to celebrate this ‘Year of the Métis’ and remember Riel on the 125th anniversary of his execution, it appears that Canadians and their government are closer than ever to agreeing on a further amendment of Riel’s legacy.296 These adjustments began in 1956 with Stanley and Morton’s findings and continued right up to the recent book by Goulet. Each has contributed to this gradual change in public opinion. As David Staines pointed out earlier, “a growing orientation to the past indicates an acceptance of cultural maturity and a consequent … examination of a history as of yet untold.”297 Furthermore, he posited that this examination might “offer some possible order that may explain the present and prepare the way for the future.”298
For a history to be ‘as of yet untold’ it cannot be the history commonly propagated by one side of a division or the other; but rather, it must be a fresh collaborative synthesis of the various sides. Without this willingness or ability to look critically at their past, Canadians will simply not be able to get beyond what Ignatieff calls the “forging myths of unity and identity that allow a society to forget its founding crimes, its hidden injuries and divisions, its unhealed wounds.”299 If, as psychohistorians
Ignatieff and Phillips have demonstrated, identity and history are irrevocably intertwined,
296 Joanne Villeneuve. “$55m For Metis Employment Project.” Brandon Sun. (September 12, 2010). http://www.brandonsun.com/local/55m-for-metis-employment-project-102718504.html?thx=y. Accessed: September 26, 2010. 1. 297 Staines, 263. 298 Staines, 263. 299 Ignatieff, 321.
Bilsky 78 then as long as Canadians resist this type of collaborative reinterpretation of Canada’s collective identity/history, Canada will remain a tenuous mosaic of cultural, linguistic, religious and geographical tensions.
The ‘myths’ that hide the ‘founding crimes’ of the nation also fulfill another role: the role of denial and oppression of minority histories/identities. If the reconciliatory benefits of historical revisionism are recognized by the majority of Canadians—as it presently seems they indeed have been recognized by their government—then the nation has the potential to become a cohesive mosaic of cultures, languages, religions and regions. This type of interconnection is that which comes from working together to establish a unified, balanced and critical history. Then, and only then, will competing groups of Canadians be able to begin to break free from the repetitive cycle of dispute caused by the divisive traumas of their colonial past.
Ironically, this cycle ensures that the past conflicts of culture, language, religion and region will manifest in the present and repeat in the future; which thus means, in one sense, that the future has already been determined. However, if the healing of the above divisions through a collaborative synthesis of the various competing histories helps breaks this cycle, then the future will, at least in this manner, cease to be dictated. The future, like the history that was as of yet untold before the synthesis took place, is now as of yet unmade.
This has already been somewhat evidenced by the surge of reconciliation offered to minorities by the Canadian government following the 1992 amendment of Riel’s Red
River legacy. The francophone populations of Quebec are more content and the separatist debate shows no sign of reappearing. The Inuit of Nunavut have broken a two
Bilsky 79 hundred year cycle and regained self-government. The Acadian deportation has been officially recognized for the tragedy that it was, effectively giving Acadians back their past and allowing them to create a new future after centuries of denial and rebuffs. The
Indian Residential Schools apology has begun the long journey of reconciliation between
Canada and its indigenous population; that, if done well, may help break the endless cycles of abuse in many Native communities.
As Cristen Cogner points out in her article on historical revisionism, “revisionist history is complicated by the fact that people's identities are strongly linked to their histories.”300 Therefore, because Riel’s history encompasses many of Canada’s national fault lines, it has the potential to affect the nation’s collective identity not just that of the
Métis. Métis and Riel supporters are now seeking to have his conviction for treason overturned and the injustice of his trial recognized so that they can regain a ‘saving distance’ from their past and can begin to find healing for their beleaguered identities. By working toward a balanced and fair amendment of Riel’s conviction with the Métis
Canadians may also begin to regain a ‘saving distance’ from the traumas of the atrocities of their colonial past.
Finally, by embracing a critical revisionist view of their past, in the words of the
African poet, Ben Okri, Canadians …
Ought to shine to the world And tell everyone That history, though unjust, Can yield wiser outcomes. And out of bloodiness Can come love Out of slave-trading Can come a dance of souls
300 Cristen Cogner. “How Revisionist History Works.” How History Stuff Works. (2011). http://history.howstuffworks.com/historians/revisionist-history4.htm. Accessed: March 21, 2011. 1.
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Out of division, unity; Out of chaos, fiestas. City of tradition, conquests, And variety; City of commerce and the famous river, Tell everyone that the future Is yet unmade. - Lines in Potentis301
301 Ben Okri. “Lines in Potentis.” 40 Artists, 40 Days - Online Tate. (2002). http://www. tate.org.uk/40artists40days/ben_okri.html. Accessed: March 21, 2011. 1
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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
To aid the reader in locating a particular source within a bibliography of this size and complexity the annotated bibliography, which follows has been broken up into ten sections, each with their own heading. The groupings are first by topic, beginning with sources on Louis Riel, then those on Historiography and finally the General Sources. Each section has been further divided by the type of source (i.e. primary, secondary, textbook, biography, journal article, media article and etcetera). Finally, each of these sections is organized alphabetically.
PRIMARY SOURCES ON LOUIS RIEL Begg, Alexander. The Creation of Manitoba: A History of the Red River Troubles. Toronto: Hunter Rose and King, 1871. Pp. 1-408. Print. Begg’s account of the ‘troubles’ are personal and full of biases; and as such, as the oldest source and one of the closest to its event, this book serves as a perfect example of inaccurate and partisan history. It is also one of the only books that deals solely with Red River. Chamberlin, Brown. Ed. The Queen vs. Louis Riel: Accused and Convicted of the Crime of High Treason. Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1886. 1-221. Print. This publication issued by the Queen’s Printer, Brown Chamberlin, is a collection of the transcripts from Riel’s trial and appeals to the Queen’s Bench and the Privy Council of England. This is an excellent primary source for those not intimidated by legalese. Morton, Desmond. Intro. to The Queen v Louis Riel, by Queen’s Court of Regina. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974. Pp. 1-383. Print. This transcription of Riel’s trail is another excellent source to support the need for Riel revisionism. It reveals how the crown appointed magistrate (an Orangeman) consistently hinders the defense from obtaining the legal rights of their client, which supports the call for Riel’s conviction to be overturned. Riel, Louis. The Collected Writings of Louis Riel / Les Ecrits Complets De Louis Riel - Volumes 1-5. Edited by Stanley, George F. G.; Raymond Huel; Gilles Martel; Thomas Flanagan; et al. Edmonton, Alberta: The University of Alberta Press, 1985. Pp. ix-2569. Print. Revisionist history is serious history. It aims to clarify and reveal a more accurate interpretation of the true events of the past. This collection of Riel’s writings is
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essential in that pursuit; for, if one is to sift through the pages and pages of claims concerning Riel, they must first become acquainted with the man himself.
———. Selected Poetry of Louis Riel. Translated by Paul Savoi. ed. Glen Campbell. Toronto: Exile Editions Limited, 1993. Pp. 1-60. Print. I have included Riel’s poetry because it also serves the above purpose of getting to know Riel. Furthermore, a person’s poetry, like their personal correspondence or journals, can disclose to the historian a more intimate side of the subject. Thus, it gives the historian a deep insight into their subject’s character. Stanley, G. F. G. and A. S. Morton, eds. Alexander Begg's Red River Journal and Other Papers Relative in the Red River Resistance of 1869-70. Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1956. Pp. xiii-636. Print. This edition of Begg’s journals has the best of both worlds. First, it aids the historian in understanding the contemporary biases toward Riel. It also provides readers with the fresh insights of Stanley and Morton, which reflective process is itself the beginning of the revisionist process.
HISTORY TEXTBOOKS CONCERNING LOUIS RIEL Anonymous. The Riel Rebellion of 1885. Montreal: “Witness” Printing House, 1885. Pp. 1-47. Print. This publication serves as a typical example of the type of political propaganda that was prevalent following the execution of Riel as both the French and the English fought for public opinion. Bumsted, J. M. The peoples of Canada: A Pre-Confederation History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Pp. vii-599. Print. Bumsted’s text is an admirable rendering of Pre-Confederation British North America. The inclusion of general works of this era will go a long way in delivering the essential contexts to the Riel story and prevent any conclusions from being too parochial. Conrad, Margaret, Alvin Finkle. Canada: A National History. Second Ed. Toronto: Pearson Longman, 2007. Pp.iii-489. Print. Biases are impossible to completely eradicate; and thus it is important to read many views of the same story. Conrad and Finkel’s obvious bias is that they are trying to provide minorities with a voice in this national history text. Best intentions aside, they miss the mark when it comes to the Métis. Friesen, Gerald. The Canadian Prairies: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987. Pp. xiii-534. Print. This text is solely focused on the prairies, which illustrates the immediate contexts influencing Riel’s decisions and those influencing how he was received. Especially highlighted is the East versus West economic struggle that was just beginning in Riel’s era.
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Goulet, George R. D. The Trial of Louis Riel: Justice and Mercy Denied. Calgary: FabJob.com Ltd., 1999. Pp. 1-286. Print. Goulet’s treatment of The Queen vs. Louis Riel is both detailed and extensive. His legal expertise has brought insight into the field of Riel studies previously unknown to historians. This book reveals very pertinent evidence for the revision of Riel’s conviction for high treason. Guillet, Edwin C. Early Life in Upper Canada. Toronto: Ontario Publishing Company, 1933. Pp. xiii-782. Print. Again, perspectives are everything when it comes to history. This text contributes to the overall picture of Riel’s era and Canada’s history in general with a lengthy look at the eastern Canadian (Ontario) mindset and contexts. Lamb, R. E., C.S.B. Thunder in the North: Conflict over the Riel Risings... 1870 and 1885. New York: Pageant Press Inc., 1957. Pp. 1-354. Print. The passage of time is often beneficiary to the study of the ‘things said and done.’ Thus, this text has been added for the purpose of demonstrating this theory. More than sixty years after the death of Macdonald, Lamb is freer to take a more critical look at the ‘troubles’ than those who came before him. Doughty, Lawrence B. A. Makers of Canada Series: Index and Dictionary. Toronto: Morang & Co., Limited, 1912. Pp. 1-198. Print. The index to the Makers of Canada Series as an apt resource to understanding what kinds of people were considered influential to the growth of Canada in the early twentieth century. Morton, A. S. A History of Canada West to 1870-71. London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1939. Pp. xi-334. Print. This text mirrors that of Guillet’s, but has still been included to show that Ontario’s history was for a long time seen as Canada’s history, while the West was largely ignored. It also offers yet another perspective. Ross, Alexander. The Red River Settlement: its Rise, Progress and Present State-with some Account of its Native races and General history to the Present Day. London: Smith Elder and Co., 1856. Pp. 1-416. Print. Ross provides readers with a tireless account of his recollection of life in Red River, which is slanted somewhat from his English Protestant perspective. The many details about communal and personal affairs paint a vivid picture of the settlement. Sprague, D. N. Canada and the Métis: 1869-1885, Foreword by Tomas R. Berger. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfred Laurier Press, 1988. Pp. xii-204. Print. This is the first focused look at Métis culture and history and how it influenced and was influenced by Canada as a whole. As revisionist history goes, this text begins to more accurately address the role that the Métis played in the formation of the nation.
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Stanley, George F. G. The Birth of Western Canada: A History of the Riel Rebellions. Toronto: Longmans, Green & Company, 1936. Pp. xi-526. Print. Stanley’s text is absolutely essential as an early recognition of the importance of Riel in the formation of the West—something Begg or Collins would never have considered.
BIOGRAPHIES OF LOUIS RIEL Boydon, Joseph. Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont. Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2010. Pp. 1-224. Print. It is the most recent biography on Riel; and it is by a Métis. However, due to the poor scholarship of this account and its decidedly literary nature the only significance of this book is that it is part of the Extraordinary Canadians Series, which is designed to pay tribute to the makers of Canada—a style of series which is not new, but Riel’s inclusion in one is definitely new. Collins, J. E. The Story of Louis Riel: the Rebel Chief. Toronto: Collins Inc., 1885. Pp. 1-135. Print. Collins’ novel was passed off as an historical biography for decades and subsequently influenced much of the writing on Riel in the early twentieth- century. Therefore, though it is really a novel, it is important to students of Riel if they are to understand how it shaped his legacy. Also, Collins’ use of the captivity narrative genre is fascinating. Flanagan, Thomas. Louis 'David' Riel: 'Prophet of the New World'. Toronto: University of Toronto Press Inc, 1996. Pp. 1-240. Print. Now we get into the various personas of Riel as Flanagan reveals the mystic side of the Métis leader. This book is so balanced that the reader has a hard time determining whether Flanagan is pro-Riel or against him—brilliant. Howard, Joseph Kinsey. Strange Empire: Louis Riel and the Métis People. Toronto: James, Lewis & Samuel, 1952. Pp. vi-601. Print. Following Begg’s and Collins’ footsteps, Kinsey, yet another reporter, retells the story of Riel. However, the passage of time has benefited the work as it is far more balanced than its predecessors. Siggins, Maggie. Marie-Anne: The Extraordinary Life of Louis Riel's Grandmother. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2008. Pp. xi-307. Print. Although not directly on Riel, Siggins’ book beautifully illustrates the geographical and cultural context of the early West so well that it should not be overlooked. It also gives insights into Riel’s family legacy.
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———. Riel: A Life of Revolution. Toronto: Harper Collins, 1994. Pp. xviii-507. Print. As a modern biography Siggins’ book makes available a well-researched revision of Riel’s story to historiographers and students of Riel studies that carries on Stanley’s tradition. Stanley, George F. G. Louis Riel. Toronto: Ryerson, 1963. Pp. 1-433. Print. Following Kinsey’s biography Stanley’s contribution utilizes the more scientific methods of a university-trained historian. Finally readers are treated to a biography on Riel that relies heavily on primary sources, documents and Riel’s own writings. Stanley has ushered in a new era of Riel studies.
Weibe, Rudy. Scorched Wood People. Toronto: New Canadian Library, 1977. Pp. 1- 351. Print. Wiebe is well known in the literary world for being a well-respected amateur historian, as well as one who has successfully given voice to those who have not had the opportunity to speak or be heard. Thus, I have added this selection as an early attempt to put Riel into a fully positive light by a non-indigenous author.
JOURNAL ARTICLES AND COLLECTIONS CONCERNING LOUIS RIEL Braz, Albert. “The Absent Protagonist: Louis Riel in Nineteenth-Century Canadian Literature.” Canadian Literature First Nations’ writing Series #167 (Winter 2000): Pp 45-61. Print. In this article the ever-astute Braz demonstrates to his readers that a common theme running through Riel biographies and other cultural literature centered on him is that Riel himself is missing. Rather than being so much about Riel, these works are often more about their authors than anything else. Macedo, Paul. “Effort to Recognize Riel Gains Steam.” Alberta Sweetgrass (December 31, 2001): Pp. 12-16. Print. This article denotes the near completion of Riel revisionism as Macedo posits that Riel is now recognized as a Father of Confederation and no longer a traitor. Morell, W. P. “Review: Alexander Begg's Red River Journal and Other Papers Relative in the Red River Resistance of 1869-70.” The English Historical Review. Vol. 73, No. 286 (January, 1958): Pp. 178-179. Print. Morell provides his readers with a brief overview of Stanley and Morton’s book. Unfortunately, like many other authors, Morell has wasted valuable review space with a tertiary summary of Riel’s legacy.
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O'Toole, Roger. “Review: Louis ‘David’ Riel: ‘Prophet of the New World.’” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Vol. 19, No. 3. (Sep., 1980). Pp. 310-312. Print. O’Toole offers insight into Flanagan’s underlying position as a Riel critic and reveals the possible agenda of discrediting Riel to modern readers as sane, but a religious flake. Salloum, Habeeb. “Louis Riel's Last Stand.” Military History (May 2006): pp. 22-28. Print. Salloum brings an important viewpoint to the table, that of the military legacy of the rebellions. For many people, one of the biggest encumbrances in the way of embracing Riel as a hero is the memory and honor of the fallen soldiers who fought to quell the rebellions. This is often revisionism’s biggest challenge. Stanley, G.F.G.; Paul Driben; Ken Hatt; K.S. Coates and et al. 1885 and after: Native Society in Transition. Edited by F. Laurie Barron and James B. Waldram. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, (1986): Pp. 1-306. Print. One of the ways in which the passage of time contributes to a more accurate history is that over time historians can test the validity of promises and perceived agendas by their fruit. For instance, whether the Manitoba Act and treaties were upheld can and does reveal something of those who ratified them.
CULTURAL REPRESENTIONS OF LOUIS RIEL Braz, Albert. The False Traitor: Louis Riel in Canadian Culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003. Pp. vi-245. Print. This is an expanded version of Braz’s earlier article and should be required reading for anyone hoping to understand the evolution of Riel revisionism. Charland, Maurice. "Newsworld, Riel, and the Métis: Recognition and the Limits to Reconciliation." Canadian Journal of Communication vol. 32 (Fall 2007): pp. 9-27. Print. The author explores the various reactions of the Métis people to Riel’s evolving legacy. This piece is directly relevant to the third chapter on reconciliation and identity. Langager, Ross. "History in the Gutters: A Critical Examination of Chester Brown’s Louis Riel: A Comic-strip Biography." Master Thesis, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta., 2007. Pp. 1-115. Print. Chester Brown’s Riel comic-strip biography is just one of many cultural representations of the Métis leader’s life. Cultural depictions often act as forerunners to revisionist histories because fiction traditionally has been given a longer leash when criticizing status-quo positions; hence, Langager’s review of it and its inclusion herein.
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Moss, Jane. "Playing with History: Québec Historical Plays from the Quiet Revolution to the Referendum." The French Review 63, no. 2 (December 1989): pp. 337-346. Print. This is another review of cultural works on Riel—but this time a review on one of the many stage plays portraying Riel’s life. The special importance of this one is that is focuses on French plays thus delivering a rare insight into the Francophone outlook. Reid, Jennifer. Louis Riel and the Creation of Modern Canada: Mythic Discourse and the Postcolonial State. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2008. Pp. 1-314. Print. Postcolonial theory is a great example of modern methodologies, which drive revisionism. By looking at Riel through a postcolonial lens, Ried offers insights which early, though competent, scholars like Stanley and Morton could not.
Zapf, Donna Doris Anne. "Singing History and Performing Race - An Analysis of Three Canadian Operas: Beatrice Chancy, Elsewhereless and Louis Riel." PhD diss., University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia., 2004. Pp. 1- 235. Print. If one doubts the impact of artistic representations of history, then they only have to look at the effects of Tompson Highway’s plays, novels and music about the Indian Residential School debacle to realize that art can go places historians cannot. Art often challenges societies taboos and self-censorship, helping highlight where revisions are needed.
NEWS MEDIA ARTICLES CONCERNING LOUIS RIEL
Austin, Edie. “Season Preview: So Much To Read, So Many Authors To Meet.” Montrealgazette.Com. (September 16, 2010). http://www.montrealgazette. com/news/season+preview+much+read+many+authors+meet/3535773/story. html#ixzz10floh5oi. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. This article supports my claim that Riel books are still being written and put me onto Joseph Boyden’s new biography of Riel, which is significant because it is part of a national history series recognizing the figures who contributed to the making of Canada. It is also significant because Boyd is Métis.
Bliss, Michael. “Sir John A. Macdonald: Canada’s First Prime Minister.” My Town Crier.ca (August 23, 2010). http://www.mytowncrier.ca/sir-john-a- macdonald-canadas-first-prime-minister.html. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. The importance of this article is that it points out that historians have traditionally sung the praises of Macdonald; but are now beginning to criticize him for introducing a legacy of corruption into Canadian politics. Not even the nation’s most beloved leader can hide from revisionism.
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Clarkson, Adrienne. “Governor General in Whirlwind Of Activities: Controversy Ebbs, Canada Falls In Love With Vice-Regal Couple.” Teachers.colonelby.com. (November 19, 2005). http://teachers.colonelby. com/bduncan/history/for.html. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. Integral to my claim that high-ranking Canadian leaders are weighing in on the debate surrounding Riel’s legacy is this article detailing Clarkson’s plea to Canadians to finally recognize what was really going on at Red River and in Saskatchewan. de Souza, Andrew. “All Nations Gather In Prince Albert Again.” Prince Albert Daily Herald. (September 8, 2010). http://www.paherald.sk.ca/News/Local/2010-09- 08/article-1733607/All-nations-gather-in-Prince-Albert-again/1. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. This is another example of Riel’s supporters gathering to celebrate his life and achievements, which fact supports the thesis of chapter three, that the country is closer to accepting a revised narrative of Riel.
Goldring, Peter MP. “Riel: An Anomaly, Not a Hero.” In “Human Sciences and History Unit: Revisionist History.” Teachers.colonelby.com. (September, 1999). http://teachers.colonelby.com/bduncan/history/against.html. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. Another account of a politician publically entering the debate on Riel is found in Goldring’s anti-revisionist lecture. Goldring voices many of the standard arguments against revisionism, including the besmirched-honor of our veterans.
———. “The Truth About Louis Riel.” Conservative Party of Canada Riding Newsletter: Goldring. Issue 91. (December, 2009). http://www.scribd. com/doc/27135370 /Peter-Goldring-s-Louis-Riel-pamphlet. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. A decade later Goldring is still defending the Macdonald government and its policies. However, this time his newsletter almost gets him thrown out of his parliamentary chair: this is proof of the widespread approval of Riel revisions.
Harrison, David. “Battleford ‘Siege’ Nothing More than a ‘White Man’s Truth.’” Edmonton Journal. (August 20, 2010). http://www.edmontonjournal.com/ Battleford+siege+nothing+more+than+white+truth/3421077/story.html. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. Here we have yet another article challenging the ‘old truth.’ This time it is from the Edmonton Journal, which supports my claim in chapter three that the ‘Riel Issue’ is a national issue and not just a Manitoba and Saskatchewan issue.
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Kalbfleisch, John. “What If …? Its an Enticing Game For Professional Historian and Amateur Buffs.” Montreal Gazzette.com. (September 11, 2010). http://www.montrealgazette.com/ life/What/3509380/story.html. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. Again, this article helps my ‘national theory’ for it comes from far away Montreal. Thus, we have an eastern voice and a French voice. Truly, everyone is talking about Riel.
Lawrence, Rebecca. “Actors Wanted for the Trial of Louis Riel.” Moose Jaw Times Herald. (August 23, 2010). http://www.mjtimes.sk.ca/Arts/Cultural- activities/2010-08-23/article-1691433/Actors-wanted-for-the-Trial-of-Louis- Riel/1. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. This is yet another trial re-enactment of Louis Riel. There have been countless re- enactments of Riel’s trial where the audience then votes on the verdict (overwhelmingly not guilty). This is just one of the ways in which the arts can assist the revision of bad history. Note that Saskatchewan is now represented.
MacIntyre, Hugh. “In Support of Giving Louis Riel a Pardon.” Western Standard.ca. (July 21, 2010). http://westernstandard.blogs.com/shotgun/ 2010/07/in-support-of-giving-louis-riel-a-pardon.html. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. I have included this as another article in support of Riel revisionism and a Manitoba voice.
Martin, Melissa. “Speaking Up on Bilingualism in Canada.” Winnipeg Free Press. (September 25, 2010). http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/speaking-up- on-bilingualism-in-canada-103776904.html. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. Martin details how Riel has become not just a Métis figure but also a Francophone figure, supporting my claim that in Riel’s story lies the French/English debate as well.
Mitchel, Karen. “Construction on Upper Fort Garry Project Begins.” CTV Winnipeg.ca. (September, 24 2010). http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/ CTVNews/20100924/wpg_upper_fort_garry_100924/20100924/?hub=Winnip egHome. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. This article is evidence of how far the tide has turned in Manitoba. First, a statue of Riel is commissioned for the parliament buildings in Winnipeg; then, a public holiday in his honor is announced and now the government is renovating the location of Riel’s provisional government of 1869.
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Norris, Brian. “Letter of the Day: Riel’s Legacy Unclear.” Winnipeg Free Press. (September 3, 2010). http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/letters_ to_the_editor/riels-legacy-unclear-102134669.html. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. Whereas revisionism of Riel’s story is widespread, there are still some who do not agree. I have included this article as an example of those who see revisionism as an off-color four-letter word.
Shelly, Chris. “National Post Editorial Board: The Unpardonable Louis Riel.” National Post. (July 19, 2010). http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com /2010/07/19/national-post-editorial-board-the-unpardonable-louis-riel/. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. In support of my national theory I have included this interesting article from our national newspaper, which again features the voices of those who cannot understand why it is valid to re-write history.
Siggins, Maggie. "Exonerate Riel? Certainly." Winnipeg Free Press, December 4 2010, sec. A, p. 18. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/ exonerate-riel-certainly-111312224.html. (accessed December 17, 2010). Internet. Finally, a professional historian enters the public debate on Riel’s legacy. This is the only example of academia’s reaching out to the general public that I could find and I commend Siggins for it. Teillet, Jean. "Putting history in a noose." The Globe and Mail, November 16 2010, sec. A, p. 6. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/putting- history-in-a-noose/article1800475// (accessed December 17, 2010). Internet. Jean Teillet is a Vancouver-based lawyer and great-grandniece of Riel, giving me a West Coast voice in support of my national theory. Furthermore, Teillet echoes much of the third chapter’s thesis about Riel’s story having far-reaching national significance in reconciliation and identity.
Villeneuve, Joanne. “$55m For Metis Employment Project.” Brandon Sun. (September 12, 2010). http://www.brandonsun.com/local/55m-for-metis- employment-project-102718504.html?thx=y. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. Here we have proof of the wholesale change of heart of the Canadian government toward Riel’s people, the Métis, from that of the Macdonald era. This is all part of the federally mandated ‘Year of the Métis’ inaugurated this year by an all-party unanimous vote in parliament.
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TEXTBOOKS CONCERNING HISTORIGRAPHY (Revisionism, Trauma & Development)
Bentley, Michael. Companion to Historiography. Oxon, UK: T & F Books, 2007. Pp. 1-1024. Print. This unique reference work provides a general guide to the study of the way history has been written, offering 45 substantial essays that examine the techniques, approaches, and biases that have influenced historians to the present. ———. Modern Historiography: An Introduction. London: Routledge,1999. Pp. 1- 211. Print. After a short introduction to the history of historical writing, Bently explains the broad philosophical background to the different historians and historical schools of the modern era. Budd, Adam. The modern Historiographical Reader: Western Sources. New York: Routledge, 2009. Pp. xiii-534. Print. Adam Budd guides readers through European and North American developments in history writing since the eighteenth century. I have utilized this source in both my first and third chapters, especially Michael Ignatieff’s article on reconciliation.
Cohen, Floris H. The Scientific Revolution: A Historiographical Inquiry. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 1994. Pp. 1-680. Print. Cohen critically surveys a wide range of scholarship since the nineteenth century, offering new perspectives on how the Scientific Revolution forever changed the way we understand history.
Gilderhus, Mark T. History and Historians: A Historiographical Introduction. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999. Pp. 1-140. Print. As a survey of historical thinking in the West from ancient times to the present, this accessible text focuses on historiography, philosophy of history, and historical methodology, introducing all the main issues.
Iggers, Georg G. Historiography in the 20th Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge, 2nd Ed.. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan, 2005. Pp. 1-208. Print. This a well-informed introduction to some of the key views of history adopted by professional historians over the last century, from which one can gain an understanding of historiography in general.
Jenkins, Keith. Why History? Ethics and Postmodernity. London: Routledge, 2005. Pp. 1-230. Print. Designed to provoke discussion, this book asks whether and why a good knowledge and understanding of the past is desirable. In the context of current postmodern thinking, Keith Jenkins suggests that the goal of "learning lessons from the past" actually means learning lessons from stories written by historians and others.
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Lee, Hermione. Biography: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Pp. 1-170. Print. Given the volume of biography in history and Riel studies, it is important to research just what is expected of a biography and how those expectations have changed with time.
JOURNAL ARTICLES AND COLLECTIONS ON HISTORIGRAPHY
Antoniou, Giorgos. “The Lost Atlantis of Objectivity: the Revisionist Struggles Between the Academic and Public Spheres” History and Theory, Theme Issue 46. (December 2007). Pp. 92-112. Print. Indispensible to students of revisionist history, this lengthy article explains the positives and the pitfalls of revisionism and how it relates to negationism. I have utilized it extensively in chapter one.
Becker, Carl. "Everyman His Own Historian" The Modern Historiography Reader: Western Sources. Edited by Adam Budd. New York: Routledge, 2009. Pp. xiii-534. Print. Becker relates the study of history to ‘the memory of things said and done,’ as well as introduces the fact that historians cannot be entirely scientific and objective; nor do we want them to be. I have used this in support of my arguments in chapter one.
Blackburn, Carole. “Differentiating Indigenous Citizenship: Seeking Multiplicity in Rights, Identity, and Sovereignty.” Canada American Ethnologist, Vol. 36 No. 1. (February 2009). Pp. 66-78. Print. This article will be used to support my thesis that a people’s history is integral to their identity.
Butterfield, Herbert. “The Whig Interpretation of History: The Underlying Assumption.” The Modern Historiography Reader: Western Sources, ed. Budd, Adam, New York: Routledge, 2009. Pp. xiii-534. Print. Butterfield examines the ‘whig’ biases found in the practice of history; and thus, demonstrates that historians are often partisan or bias in other ways.
Carlyle, Thomas. “The Hero as Divinity.” The Modern Historiography Reader: Western Sources, ed. Budd, Adam, New York: Routledge, 2009. Pp. xiii-534. Print. Here Carlyle discusses his theory of history utilizing the ‘Great Man’ theory, while also warning against hero-worship or hagiography. Again this is proof that many pitfalls await historian’s treasured objectivity.
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Cristen Cogner. “How Revisionist History Works.” How History Stuff Works. http://history.howstuffworks.com/historians/revisionist-history4.htm. (Accessed: March 21, 2011). Pp. 1-4. Internet. Cogner provides readers with a brief yet informative overview of the development and meaning of historical revisionism in the United States.
Conrad, Margaret. “How Historians Complicate Things: A Brief Survey of CanadianHistoriography.” http://www.histori.ca/prodev/article.do?id=1163 5. (Accessed: September 26, 2010). An expanded version of an entry on “Historiography” in W. H. New ed., Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (Forthcoming). Internet. This article by Conrad explains how the trends, methodologies, or lack thereof, and biases of historians have complicated and continue to complicate the objective telling of history.
———; Jocelyn Létourneau and David Northrup. “Canadians and Their Pasts: An Exploration in Historical Consciousness.” The Public Historian- Public History in Canada, Vol. 31, No. 1 (February, 2009): pp.15-34. Print. Here Conrad et al. review the trends in Canadian history in order to shed light on how these trends have affected the telling of Canada’s history.
Ignatieff, Michael. “The Nightmare From Which We Are Trying To Awake.” The Modern Historiography Reader: Western Sources, ed. Budd, Adam, New York: Routledge, 2009. Pp. xiii-534. Print. Ignatieff brilliantly describes how revisionist history, identity and reconciliation can work together toward a brighter future through the theoretical lens of psychohistory.
Macaulay, Thomas Babington. “History.” In The Modern Historiography Reader: Western Sources, ed. Budd, Adam, New York: Routledge, 2009. Pp. xiii-534. Print. This is another brilliant article from within Budd’s reader, which investigates what the historian’s role is and how history should be studied and recorded.
McKillop, A.B. “Historiography in English.” The Canadian Encyclopedia.com. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params= A1ARTA0009244. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. Similar to Conrad’s article on the history of historiography in Canada, this one by A. B. McKillop adds another perspective and fills out conclusions that Conrad makes.
McPherson, James. "Revisionist Historians." American Historical Association, September 2003. http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2003/0309 /0309pre1.cfm/ (accessed December 17, 2010). Internet. As president of the AHA, McPherson speaks for over 14,000 historians when he champions revisionist history in this speech.
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Mortimer, Ian. “Revisionism Revisited.” History Today. Vol. 54. Issue 3. March 2004. Pp. 20-27. Print. Mortimer looks at the theory of revisionist history from the perspective of identity trauma in this article, which adds a whole new level to understanding revisionism.
Phillips, Adam. “Close-Ups.” History Workshop Journal. Vol. 57 (2004). Pp. 142-49. Internet. Phillips’ article discusses the challenges that trauma or subjects effected by or topics surrounded by trauma pose for psychohistorians and historiographers.
Rudin, Ronald. "Revisionism and the Search for a Normal Society: A Critique of Recent Quebec Historical Writing." Canadian Historical Review 73, no. 1 (March 1992): 31-60. Print. This article marks the shift in Francophone historiography from the Differential Theory toward one of normalcy; and it therefore supports my claims that modern historians are challenging traditional views of national history.
Seltzer, Alan L. “Woodrow Wilson as ‘Corporate-Liberal:’ Toward a Reconsideration of Left Revisionist Historiography.” The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 2. (Jun., 1977). Pp. 183-212. Print. Seltzer’s article explores the validity of Leftist revisionist history in the United States’ political arena. This article should provide insight into how revisionism has been treated or mistreated.
Vargas, Manuel. “The Revisionist's Guide to Responsibility.” Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition, Vol. 125, No. 3. (Sep., 2005). Pp. 399-429. Print. Vargas examines the ethics of revisionism, discussing the responsibilities that come with revising history. This article will add to my understanding of revisionism in general.
NEWS MEDIA ARTICLES CONCERNING REVISIONIST HISTORY
Baker, Carolyn. “U.S. History Uncensored: What Your High School Textbook Didn’t Tell You.” The People’s Voice.org. (September 12, 2010). http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3 /Books.php/2010/09/12/u-s-history- uncensored-what-your-high-sc. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. Like several of the media articles that follow this one, it is one of the several examples I have included which give witness to the type of literary wars that go on in the name of or against revisionism. With a media littered with articles like these, it is no surprise that revisionism has had such a bad name.
Beck, Glenn. “Beck’s Crash Course: Revisionist History.” Fox News: Glenn Beck Transcript. (September 9, 2010). http://www.foxnews.com/story /0,2933,600982,00.html. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet.
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After reading and watching Fox News’s anchor Glenn Beck try to scare the American public by crying ‘revisionism!’ I wonder why professional historians do not defend their trade against these types of shenanigans.
Botkin, Geoffrey. “Why the Public School System Teaches Revisionist History.” AIPNEWS.COM. (January 13, 2010). http://www.aipnews.com/talk/ forums/thread-view.asp?tid=16829&posts=1. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. Here is another example of the revisionist debate in the media today. This one is in support of my assertion that revisionism should be taught in our schools.
Cuthand, Doug. “Revising Offensive History is to Deny Reality.” The Star Phoenix. (January 21, 2011). http://www.thestarphoenix.com/life/Revising+offensive+ history+deny+ reality/4143167/ story.html. Accessed: January 22, 2011. Internet. In this article Cuthand bemoans the new editions of Mark Twain’s, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which have substituted the word ‘nigger’ for a more sensitive ‘slave.’ He claims this is revising history and denying reality and relates it to the revisions that have taken place in regards to Riel.
Chao, Vincent Y. “DPP Lawmakers Slam ‘Revisionist’ History Curriculum.” Taipei Times. (September 14, 2010). http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/ archives/2010/09/14 /2003482855. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. I have included this article to demonstrate that the public revisionism scare tactics are not only prevalent in North America, but around the world.
Degan, Tom. “Rewriting History.” LA Proggressive.com. (September 11, 2010). http://www. laprogressive.com/law-and-the-justice-system/rewriting-history/. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. This is yet another article in the press about revising history! Like so many others, this is another partisan-sponsored article where one politician attacks another as a revisionist while maneuvering for power.
McDowell, Adam. “Washing Blood Off Their Hands.” National Post. (September 25, 2010). http://www.nationalpost.com/Washing+blood+their+hands/3577547/ story.html. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. This National Post article is reporting on the French’s revising the history of the FLQ crises; and states they are ‘washing blood off their hands.’ Revisionist scaremongering or valid observations aside, it supports my claims in chapter one about the media’s use of revisionism.
Shaw, Martin. “The Rwandan Genocide: A Revisionist History.” Mercator.Net. (September 20, 2010). http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/the_ rwandan_genocide_a_revisionist_ history/. Accessed: September 26, 2010. Internet. Here we have an excellent example of revisionism being blamed for negationism. It also is another global example of this phenomenon.
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GENERAL SOURCES CITED THROUGHOUT
Amazon. Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search- alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Louis+Riel&x=0&y=0/ (History Books and Biographies Retailer Database [accession number Side Bar]; accessed December 6, 2010). Internet. During a historiographical research project on how Sir John A. Macdonald has been treated by Canadian historians, I was shocked at the sheer volume of books available on Riel (Macdonald’s nemesis) when compared to those published on Macdonald. Riel’s popularity is no doubt due to his controversial legacy.
Ballard, Elizabeth J. and Peter Suedfeld. "Performance Ratings of Canadian Prime Ministers: Individual and Situational Factors." Political Psychology 9, no. 2 (June 1988): Pp. 291-302. Print. This study of the popularity and performance ratings of Canadian Prime ministers shows that regardless of the revisions to early more hagiographical works on the nation’s leaders and founders their popularity remains high. One reason stated was that Canadians recognize the need for dishonesty and double talk to be successful in politics and that there is a handicap which a strict ethic or morality can bring to the office.
Bury, J. B. A History of Greece: To the Death of Alexander The Great. New York: Random House Inc., 1943. Pp. 1-599. Print. This is an excellent resource for classical history studies.
Brook, Taylor M. “Joseph Edmund Collins.” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online: Volume XII. http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id _nbr=6040&interval=25&&PHPSESSID=7ovb9jim3q785g73hvc4kkkg26 (Accessed: January 26, 2011) 1. Internet. Brook provides an in-depth and well-organized biography of Collins’ early life and various careers. He does an excellent job at remaining balanced while reporting on such a morally ambiguous character.
Callum Beck. “Letter between Brent Bilsky and Callum Beck Summarizing Anti- Catholicism in Modern Canada, dated February 28, 2011.” Taken from The Creation of the Protestant-Catholic Divide on P.E.I. (Doctoral Dissertation, Open University in England). Pp. 1. In this letter, professor Beck summarizes the decline of Protestant persecution of Catholics in Canada. A more in depth and detailed account of this phenomenon can be found within Beck’s doctoral dissertation.
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Champagne, Lynne. “Jean-Baptiste Lagimonière (1788-1855),” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Vol. VIII, 1851-1860. Toronto: 2000. http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01- e.php?&id_nbr=4014&&PHPSESSID=h0nh4ar5d0p8q7lalhrdk47cg7. (Accessed: February 21, 2011). Internet. This is a very brief yet informative biographical entry on Louis Riel’s maternal grandfather, which provides Riel students with familial background on Louis Riel.
Chiasson, Euclide. “Royal Regrets Offered for Acadian Expulsion.” Acadian Genealogy Homepage. 2003. http://www.acadian.org/apology.html. (Accessed: February 22, 2011). Internet. This document outlines the history of the Acadian expulsion and the 1990 petition to gain recognition of the suffering it caused.
Creighton, Donald G. “Sir John Macdonald and Canadian Historians.” The Canadian Historical Review, Vol. XXI, No. 1. 1948. Pp. 1-13. Print. Creighton reviews the history of ‘History in Canada’ while positing several reasons why there have not been more works published on Macdonald. He also mentions the availability of the Macdonald Papers as an excellent but under-used source.
Douglas, David C. William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact Upon England. Berkley: University Of California Press: 1967. Pp. 1-488. Print. Douglas’ book provides readers with an articulate account of William the Conqueror’s impact on British royalty and culture.
Editorial. “Métis Identity Matters.” Winnipeg Free Press. (February 9, 2011) http://www. winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/metis-identity- matters-115625309.html. A10. This article articulates the struggle that the Métis National Council is having while trying to define Métis identity and the perceived ramifications of said definitions.
Ferres, James Moir. “The Disgrace of Britain is Accomplished!” Montreal Gazette. Montreal: April 25, 1849. Extra. Archived on Early Canadiana Online. http://www.canadiana.org/view/63803-11.pdf. (Accessed: February 20, 2011). Pp. 9. Internet. This document contains a commentary of the events surrounding the burning of Parliament in 1849, including the Gazette article outlining the outrage of the English.
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Harper, Stephen. “Prime Minister Harper Offers Full Apology on Behalf of Canadians for the Indian Residential Schools System.” Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. 2008. http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ai/rqpi/apo/index-eng.asp. (Accessed: February 22, 2011). Internet. This article outlines the history of the Indian Residential Schools case and the settlement, including excerpts from the official apology by Prime Minister Harper.
Hesiod. Theogony; Works and Days; Shield. Translated by Apostolos N. Athanassakis. Baltimore, Maryland: The John Hopkins University Press, 2004. Print. Hesiod is one of the earliest thinkers to discuss the origins of history and its attributes. Undoubtedly, his connections between memory and history have been referenced and expounded upon for centuries.
Hornblower, Simon, Antony Spawforth ed. The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Pp. 1-702. Print. This is an excellent and very in depth resource for classical History studies.
Kipling, Rudyard. As quoted in “Citizen’s of the Empire.” The National Archives. (1899). http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/struggle_ democracy/citizens_empire.htm. (Accessed: February 21, 2011). Internet. Kipling’s quote as found in this informative time provides readers with an idea of the moral motivations propagated by the elite of the Empire when it came to the colonization of the races.
Kries, Steven. "Plato: The Allegory Of The Cave." The History Guide: Lectures On Modern European Intellectual History, May 13, 2004. http://www.history guide.org/intellect/allegory.html. (Accessed Sept. 26, 2010). Internet. Plato’s thinking and philosophies have affected the history of human thought for centuries and it is still very applicable to modern thinking and historiography.
LEGISINFO. “Bills Re-Introduced.” The Library of Parliament's research tool for finding information on legislation. The House of Commons of Canada. http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Sites/ LOP/LEGISINFO/index.asp?Language= E&Session=15&List=search (Accessed: January 27, 2011). Internet. These transcripts provide insight into the views held by the various party speakers and a record of the process of re-writing Riel’s legacy in Canadian history.
Macdonald, Hugh John. “Interview with Hugh John Macdonald.” Winnipeg Telegram. Winnipeg, July18, 1911. Found at Library and Archives Canada Archival Number 7547339. Pp. 1. Print. This newspaper article offers insight into the Canadian militia’s behavior and perceived mission to quell the legally established and recognized provisional government of Red River in 1870. Furthermore, it shows that Macdonald’s views were not scandalous or morally repugnant as of 1911.
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Macdonald, Sir John A. “Macdonald to McDougal, November 27, 1869: 42/648.” Macdonald Papers: National Archives of Canada. Ottawa: 1869. Print. This is a fascinating piece of incriminating evidence. One wonders why Macdonald did not dispose of this type of correspondence.
Menard, Réal, Ian Murray, et al. “Bill C-297, An Act to Revoke the Conviction of Louis David Riel: Private Members’ Business” Ottawa: House Publications Parliament of Canada, 1996. http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/ Publication.aspx?DocId=2332644&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=35&Ses=2# ANACTTOREVOKETHECONVICTIONOFLOUISDAVIDRIEL. (Accessed: January 26, 2011). Internet. This transcript of the second reading of Bill C-297 demonstrates the cross-party support to exonerate Riel, as well as some interesting claims about the significance and effects of Riel’s hanging for Quebec politics.
Monet, S.J. Jacques. “Act of Union.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. http://www.the canadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=a1ARTA00000 29. (Accessed: February 20, 2011). Internet. This article explains the cause and results of the 1840 Act of the Union.
Morton, W. L. “Louis Riel (1817-1864).” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Vol. IX, 1861-70. Toronto: 2000. http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01- e.php?&id_nbr=4672&interval=25&&PHPSESSID=h0nh4ar5d0p8q7lalhrd k47cg7. (Accessed; February 21, 2011). Internet. This is a very brief yet informative biographical entry on Louis Riel Sr., which provides Riel students with familial background on Louis Riel.
Murkerji, Jaideep. “Separation from Canada Unlikely for the Majority of Quebecers.” Angus Reid Strategies Quebec Public Opinion Poll. Montreal: Angus Reid Strategies, 2009. Pp.1-8. Print. This poll signifies the waning support for separatism in Quebec and demonstrates that the concessions since the 1995 Quebec Referendum have helped make Quebecers feel part of Canada and its future.
Ben Okri. “Lines in Potentis.” 40 Artists, 40 Days - Online Tate. (2002). http://www. tate.org.uk/40artists40days/ben_okri.html. (Accessed: March 21, 2011). Internet. This is the Tate Online’s page featuring Ben Okri’s poem, “Lines in Potentis,” which has as its theme the fluidity of history.
Olesky, Ronald L. “Louis Riel and the Crown Letters.” Canadian Lawyer (February, 1998). Pp.1-39. Print. This article is a great entry point into the world of law for Riel scholars. Olesky highlights the injustices of Riel’s trial and Macdonald’s interference therein.
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Parkin, R. George. Sir John A. Macdonald: The Makers of Canada Series, Volume VII. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1928. Pp. 1-386. Print. This early biography on Macdonald offers some great resources in regards to his interactions with Riel, quotes, correspondence, and etcetera.
Parliamentary Scribe. “From the 18th day of January to the 30th day of May, 1849.” Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. 1849. Archived on Early Candiana Online. http://www.canadiana.org/view/9_ 00952_8/151. (Accessed: February 20, 2011). Pp. 143. Internet. This journal contains all of the Province of Canada’s Parliamentary activity during the English uprising that resulted in the burning of Parliament in 1849.
Peel, Bruce Braden; Ernest Boyce Ingles and Norman Merrill Distad. Peel's Bibliography of the Canadian Prairies to 1953. Google Books, 2003. books.google.ca/books?isbn=0802048250 (Accessed: January 26, 2011). Pp. 899. Internet. Peel’s bibliography is a massive resource for finding contemporary literature from any decade in its purview.
Posluns, Michael and Anthony J. Hall. “Assemby of First nations” The Canadian Encyclopedia: Historica-Dominion. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com /index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0000352. (Accessed: February 21, 2011). Internet. This article provides readers with a brief overview of the development of the various Indian rights movements, which culminated in the founding of the Assembly of First Nations.
Rough, Alex. “Canada: the History of the Murder of Thomas Scott.” Orangenet.org. http://www.orangenet.org/canada/scott.htm (Accessed: January 26, 2011). Pp. 1. Internet. This web page serves two purposes: it provides modern readers who may be ignorant of the phenomenon of Orangism with insight and it gives a classic example of partisan propaganda against Riel.
Scott, Duncan Campbell. “Department of Indian Affairs Minister, D.C. Scott to B.C. Indian Agent-General, Major D. McKay: April 12, 1910.” Department of Indian Affairs Archives. RG Series 10, 1910. Print. This correspondence by the British Columbian Indian Agent-General to Scott was in regards to the elevated death rate of Indian children when taken to Indian Residential Schools. Scott’s remarks are excellent evidence of the institutionalized racism toward Indians in Canada at the time.
Snodgrass, Anthony. Archaic Greece: The Age of Experiment. Los Angles: University of California Press, 1981. Pp. 1-413. Print. This is a great resource for students of Greek history.
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Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization Volume 1: To 1715. 6 ed. Toronto: Thomson Nelson, 2006. Pp. 1-389. Print. This overview of Western Civilization is well laid out, very readable and well- illustrated—a great general source. Staines, David. "Crouched in Dark Caves: the Post-Colonial Narcissism of Canadian Literature." The Yearbook of English Studies, Colonial and Imperial Themes. Spec. issue of Modern Humanities Research Association 13.1 (1983): 259-269. Print. David Staines’ article on Post-Colonial narcissism is a fascinating look at the development of Canadian literature during its history. Staines then notes a significant maturation in the 1960s, in which Canadian authors began to address the country’s past. Unfortunately, he fails to appreciate the healing effects these stories have on a personal and national level; and thus, bemoans the length of this trend and mistakes it for narcissism.
Thomas, Lewis H. “Louis Riel (1844-1885).” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Vol. XI, 1881-1890. Toronto: 200. http://www.biographi.ca/009004- 119.01e.php?&id_nbr=5796&&PHPSESSID=h0nh4ar5d0p8q7lalhrdk47cg7. (Accessed: February 21, 2011). Internet. This is a great entry-level biography of Louis Riel. It provides quick references to the major events of his life and an impressive bibliography; making it an excellent resource.
TRC. “Frequently Asked Questions.” The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. TRC: Winnipeg, 1999. Pp.1-8. Print. This brochure outlines the mandate and mission of the Truth Reconciliation Commission.
Web-master. “About” Canada's History Magazine.com. (Accessed: December 15, 2010) http://www. canadashistory.ca/ About-us.aspx. Internet. This site contains statistical resources on the magazine’s readership, but I encourage readers to utilize the many resources and links this site has to offer.
Web-master. “Quebec General Elections.” Québec Politique.com. http://www.quebec politique.com/elections-et-referendums/. (Accessed: February 20, 2011). Internet. This is a list of all Quebec Premiers since Confederation and the party affiliates.
Web-master. “1995 Referendum.” Québec Politique.com. http://www.quebecpolitique.com/ elections-et-referendums/referendums- quebecois/referendum-de-1995/. (Accessed: February 20, 2011). Internet. This document shows the results and topic of the 1995 Quebec Referendum.