Unhanging Riel

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Calling Louis Riel a "villain" lands conservative MP in hot water

Chinta Puxley

Winnipeg — The Canadian Press Published on Friday, Feb. 19, 2010 6:16PM EST Last updated on Friday, Feb. 19, 2010 6:31PM EST

The Prime Minister's Office is joining opposition politicians in condemning an Alberta Conservative MP for calling Manitoba founder and Métis leader Louis Riel a “villain†with blood on his hands who stood in the way of Confederation.

Edmonton East MP Peter Goldring made the remarks in a December pamphlet to “set the record straight†about Riel's actions in the late 1800s. In the newsletter, Mr. Goldring calls Riel a “villain†who is responsible for all those who died during the Northwest and Red River rebellions.

Although Louis Riel is considered to be the founder of Manitoba, Mr. Goldring argues the Métis leader doesn't deserve to be seen as a Father of Confederation.

“Riel didn't ‘Father' Confederation; he fought those who did,†reads the brochure, originally posted on Mr. Goldring's website. It was removed on Friday.

“To unhang Louis Riel and to mount a statue to him on Parliament Hill would elevate anarchy and civil disobedience to that of democratic statesmanship.â€

The brochure was apparently prompted by Winnipeg New Democrat MP Pat Martin's private member's bill, introduced in November, which would have overturned Riel's treason conviction and formally recognized him as a Father of Confederation.

Mr. Goldring did not respond to calls for comment. But the Prime Minister's Office was quick to respond, condemning the brochure and its view of Louis Riel.

“This document is absolutely not, in any way, an initiative of our government or our party,†Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said in an emailed statement.

“This is a personal initiative of MP Goldring which we strongly disapprove of. Louis Riel is a historical and controversial figure. But he played an important role in the development of Canada and in the protection of the rights and culture of the Métis and Francophones in Canada.â€

Riel led two uprisings against the Canadian government – the Red River Rebellion of 1869 and the Northwest Rebellion in 1885 – as he fought to preserve the rights and culture of the Métis.

The provisional government he established in Manitoba negotiated the terms by which the province entered Confederation.

He was elected to Parliament three times but never took his seat since he lived in exile as a fugitive. He was arrested following the Northwest Rebellion in what is now Saskatchewan before being tried for high treason.

Although he was hanged as a traitor, Riel is regarded as a folk hero by many for his defence of both French-Canadian and Métis rights. In fact Manitoba just celebrated Louis Riel Day, a provincial statutory holiday held the third Monday in February.

“So many people today appear to know little of and care less for the sacrifice of those who fought against Riel and saved our country from disintegration so long ago,†Mr. Goldring's brochure reads.

“It's a sad state of Canadian historical affairs when so many historically ill-informed persons busy themselves giving praise to Riel, naming new highways after him ... the villain who caused 80 to die while General Middleton and his veteran Canadian soldiers are insulted, ignored and marginalized.â€

David Chartrand, vice-president of the Métis National Council and head of the Manitoba Métis Federation, said those views show a complete ignorance of history. Riel not only protected the rights of the Metis but he also defended the West against raids from the United States, Mr. Chartrand said.

“I could send a Grade 6 student from Manitoba to debate with [Mr. Goldring] and they would beat him on history,†Mr. Chartrand said. “It really reflects the old stigma and old politics of the past.â€

It's time Canada recognized the contributions of “a great hero†and formally named Riel a Father of Confederation, Mr. Chartrand said.

Mr. Martin said Mr. Goldring's view just “foments racism and hatred.â€

Riel was fighting for minority rights within Confederation and Canada should right that historical injustice in much the same way as it did when the federal government apologized to aboriginal residential school survivors, Mr. Martin said.

“To paint him as a traitor is to compound a historical injustice that is crying out to be remedied,†Mr. Martin said. “Some redneck hillbilly in Alberta is not going to derail that project.â€

Winnipeg Liberal MP Anita Neville said the Conservative Party should apologize to the Métis for what she calls a “smear campaign†against the founder of Manitoba.

Other historical figures like William Lyon Mackenzie and Louis Joseph Papineau also led armed rebellions to fight for responsible government but aren't singled out by the Conservatives, she said.

Link to Pamphlet (also linked in Globe article)

Good point at the end, imo.

[SaggyBalls]

how ironic that a politician will bark about an upriser getting in the way of big Government while (most likely) voting to keep big government from really standing up for the best interests of his people...

...oh oil wealthy Alberta politicians - is there any hope for hypocrisy to end?

Cattle Drive to Parliament Hill - Amazing how his farm awareness campaign went unnoticed.

If he were truly effective and worthy of out attention maybe we'd be seeing fewer roadblocks on the provincial level demanded from Ottawa and Big Agribusiness not pushing out the little guy doing the right thing.

Aah the smell is in the air, even more than 2 years later.

But this one's a real thorn in the side of real agriculture in Canada.

Farmers don't have rights anymore...or so it seems.

[Thorgnor]

Makes sense that the C's wouldn't want to recognize much of Real's historical cointributions... he did wish for Metissage for the whole country, Alberta included. Imagine if we (as a nation) were forced to recognize that First Nations had somehow contributed to this place and that it wasn't just the colonizers that built what we recognize as Canada. It's also kind of sad that Goldring is so Eurocentric he assumes that Real must have been anarchist, there couldn't possibly be other forms of government than those developed by the Europeans.

Who's up for a little Mackenzie King effigy roast for good measure?

and lets sure we code anne of green gables as a communist plot set up by the evil eastern fisheries to steal albertan oil for their boats so they can go sailing in the caribbean... eye roll.

Real might be my "all time most worthy of celebrating" Canadian. confirm'd

[SaggyBalls]

Well T, it makes much more sense to assert that they would prefer to recognize the contributions that would polarize people and create an 'issue' that people would feel compelled to take sides upon, thus, having something to strongly believe in, and fight for/against.

After all, Goldring states that Riel should be honoured and respected for all he did but that our understanding of history not play down the loss of life to sanitize the history books.

To suggest that Goldring would simply want to sweep good things under the rug instead of bringing light to some less than favourable aspects of history is an all too common approach of which the opposite is happening more often than not.

In saying that Riel doesn't deserve to be exhonerated for his crimes - which led to 80 people's deaths - isn't really that out of line and I think that for the most part, people just want to point fingers and bitch about how the Conservatives are closed minded backwater pricks that are out of touch when it's really not the case at all.

After all, all that's being said is that the guy was convicted of a very serious set of crimes, deserved his punishment, and doesn't deserve to be exonerated. That's hardly inflammatory.

“This is a personal initiative of MP Goldring which we strongly disapprove of. Louis Riel is a historical and controversial figure. But he played an important role in the development of Canada and in the protection of the rights and culture of the Métis and Francophones in Canada.†-PM's office

Riel led two uprisings against the Canadian government – the Red River Rebellion of 1869 and the Northwest Rebellion in 1885 – as he fought to preserve the rights and culture of the Métis.

So just to clarify: Riel's fight was for the Metis and for his territory - not for Confederation.

If one thing can be gained from this exercise is that the PM won't stand up for his party members. After all, what's really all that out of line? The desire for honesty?

I suppose it also depends on what would make one a 'Father of Confederation': Fighting against Confederation and then being lumped in with the people he rebelled against? Would Riel want to be remembered in that light?

I think he deserves a certain (large) amount of respect, but perhaps not that specific nod.

It's generally understood that one can't make a great omelette without breaking some eggs, but those eggs weren't just eggs.

I don't think Goldring's too far off base for this, but if his legacy is this issue and isn't his farm focus we'll see what meant more to him.

I think it's best summed up in his closing paragraph - that we really don't need to sanitize our history and sweeten things up.

Canada is greater because of Riel. Though he was hanged for good reason he contributed greatly. Goldring's pamphlet doesn't turn this into a racist issue, nor does it call for one. It doesn't 'forment racism and hatred'. What does seem apparent is that people don't want to remember the nasty bits of history, or any view of history that's incongruent with what we're told to believe about these stories and their players and characters

If at all sinister, it's that Goldring is challenging our sensibilities to find out who really cares about history and who cares about the accepted view.

Riel deserves to be honoured but I don't think that a 'Father of Confederation' nod would be appropriate or worthy of what Riel really did for Canada.

I think he deserves something much greater.

[SaggyBalls]

(chug)

[Thorgnor]

:bonghit:

[SaggyBalls]

Not that I'm going to try to get any farther down the hole on this one, but I'm glad that you had such a laid back morning.

Puff tuff, T.

[Thorgnor]

I think we mostly agree on this one...

[SaggyBalls]

You didn't have such a laid back morning, or I shouldn't have been quite so glad?

I think we mostly agree: macro and micro.

It's mostly in the details.