Trial of Louis Riel

thumb|upright=0.75|Riel at the time of his trial in 1885

The trial of Louis Riel took place in Regina, Canada, in 1885. Louis Riel had been a leader of a resistance movement by the Métis and First Nations people of western Canada against the Government of Canada in what is now the province of Saskatchewan. Known as the North-West Rebellion, this resistance was suppressed by the Canadian military, which led to Riel's surrender and trial for treason. The trial, which took place in July 1885 and lasted five days, resulted in a guilty verdict. He was also given a choice to plead guilty or insanity. Riel was subsequently executed by hanging, an outcome which has had a lasting negative impact on relations between Anglophone Canadians and the Riel supporters among French Canadians.

North-West Rebellion

The North-West Rebellion occurred in the winter and spring of 1885. Louis Riel, a Métis from Red River in what is now Manitoba, had been one of the primary leaders of the Red River Rebellion in 1870. One of the divisive events of the Red River Rebellion had been the execution of Thomas Scott, who had opposed the provisional government which Riel had been instrumental in creating.

The Red River Rebellion had resulted in the creation of Manitoba, but the Métis of Manitoba had found themselves marginalised as Canadian settlers moved into the new province. Many of the Métis had moved to the North-West Territories, settling along the South Saskatchewan River.thumb|right|Riel kept prisoner at Batoche As for Riel, he had been living in exile in Montana since 1875. In the spring of 1884, a delegation of four Métis, led by Gabriel Dumont, visited Riel in Montana and urged him to come to the North-West, to help the Métis, First Nations, and other settlers to express their grievances to the Canadian government. The grievances included the need for security of land titles, and the lack of democratic institutions in the Territories. Riel returned to Canada and became one of the acknowledged leaders of the Métis in the North-West Territories, as well as other groups in the North-West.

After the breakdown of initial parleys with representatives of the territorial and federal governments, the Métis and some First Nations took up arms, in March, 1885. The Canadian government sent troops west, which culminated in a battle at Batoche, where the Métis forces were defeated in mid-May. Following the defeat at Batoche, Riel surrendered himself to the government forces on May 15, 1885. He was taken to Regina, the capital of the North-West Territories, where he was imprisoned awaiting trial. He was manacled with a ball and chain. and Thomas Chase-Casgrain, who eventually became the Attorney General of Quebec. Chase-Casgrain was the lone French-Canadian in the prosecution. The defence was led by Charles Fitzpatrick, a notable lawyer from Quebec who subsequently became Chief Justice of Canada. He was joined in the defence by François-Xavier Lemieux, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec and future chief justice of the Superior Court of Quebec;

thumb|right|300px|Riel speaks at his trial

Riel then delivered the first of two lengthy speeches, defending his own actions and affirming the rights of the Métis people. He rejected his lawyer's attempt to argue that he was not guilty by reason of insanity, asserting,

:"Life, without the dignity of an intelligent being, is not worth having."

Riel defended his use of religious themes, but insisted that all his political actions were aimed at practical results. He denounced the Government of Canada for its complete lack of regard for the peoples and interests of the West. "Although the Province of Ontario is great", he said, "it is not as great as the North-West."

Robinson then gave the closing address for the Crown. It was brief and low-key. His main point was that the defence and Riel were offering two contradictory accounts: "My learned friends must make their choice between their defences. They cannot claim for their client what is called a niche in the temple of fame and at the same time assert that he is entitled to a place in a lunatic asylum." The defence then applied for leave to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Britain (at that time the highest court of appeal for the British Empire). The Judicial Committee denied leave to appeal.

Political appeals

There were also numerous political appeals to the federal government for clemency. Prime Minister Macdonald was flooded with letters and petitions from sympathetic Québécois, who saw in Riel the French Catholic minority being oppressed by English Protestants. Macdonald refused to intervene to commute the sentence because of political pressure, and stated that Riel would hang "...though every dog in Quebec shall bark in his favour."

Execution

The execution took place November 16, 1885, at what is now the RCMP training academy, near the modern-day RCMP Heritage Centre.

"We tried Riel for treason," one juror said fifty years later, "and he was hanged for the murder of Scott." and to the obvious rift between the lawyers and the accused. Throughout the trial Riel's lawyers ignored his advice and refused his requests (including the request to cross-examine the witnesses himself), and they threatened to abandon him halfway through the trial.

George Goulet asserts that there are lingering issues about the trial in terms of:<blockquote>"- The 534 year-old English Statute under which Riel was convicted and executed.<br /> - Riel’s mistreatment at the hands of his own counsel and the serious deficiencies exhibited by these same counsel [sic].<br />- Correspondence from Justice Minister Alexander Campbell to Prime Minister John A. Macdonald disclosing judicial and political meddling in the Riel trial of an improper nature.<br />- The manner in which the unanimous recommendation of the jury for mercy was handled by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald and rejected.<br />- The appointment of a medical commission to examine Riel prior to his execution and Macdonald’s blatant attempts of manipulation, deception, and mendacity within the commission’s reports."</blockquote>

In support of the unfairness of the trial, Salhany argues: "The fact that his speech from the dock was a disavowal of his insanity was probably the strongest evidence of his insanity."

Legacy

thumb|Commemorative plaque, close to the location of the trial

The Trial of Louis Riel is a play written by John Coulter in 1967 as a Canadian Centennial project. Commissioned by the Regina Chamber of Commerce and based on the trial transcripts, it has been played annually ever since in Regina in the summer, most recently in 2021, the 55th annual production and thus North America's longest-running historical dramatic production.

In the spring of 2008, Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Christine Tell proclaimed in Duck Lake, that "the 125th commemoration, in 2010, of the 1885 Northwest Rebellion is an excellent opportunity to tell the story of the prairie Métis and First Nations peoples' struggle with Government forces and how it has shaped Canada today."

Perhaps most significantly, over 135 years after his trial, Riel is recognized as one of the most popular and written-about Canadian historical figures, "easily eclipsing" that of his nemesis, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald; also, Riel's trial "continues today with competing cultural stories and icons."

References

External links

The Trial of Louis Riel, announcement archive of 2021 production hosted by RCMP Heritage Centre, Regina