Why was riel exiled

At his trial, Riel gave two long speeches which demonstrated his powerful rhetorical abilities. He personally rejected attempts by his defence counsel to prove he was not guilty by reason of insanity. On 1 August , a jury of six English-speaking Protestants found Riel guilty but recommended mercy. Judge Hugh Richardson sentenced him to death. Attempted appeals were dismissed and a special re-examination of Riel's mental state by government appointed doctors found him sane.

He was hanged in Regina on 16 November, His execution was widely opposed in Quebec and had lasting political ramifications. He had been plagued by religious delusions in the past and now his visions and militancy were becoming stronger. The North West Rebellion had begun. Rebellion on the Plains Violence erupts on the prairies and Canadian soldiers go west read more The Fate of Louis Riel Madman or hero? The trial of the Metis leader read more Courtesy of the National Archives of Canada.

Last Topic: Anger in the West. Current Topic: Return From Exile. Next Topic: Rebellion on the Plains. Anger in the West. Riel enjoyed teaching, but the job paid poorly and the work hours were too long to allow him to pursue his true interests in religion, poetry, and politics. Back in Saskatchewan, things were not going well for the Metis. Following their custom, Metis settlers had claimed long, narrow lots, almost all with river footage. It allowed the Metis to cluster together in homes close to the riverfront.

Problems arose when Canadian government surveyors working in the area, redrawing plots on which the Metis had settled. The surveyors employed the English system of square lots, plotted without regard to river access.

When Gabriel Dumont requested the area be resurveyed to conform to Metis notions of workable lots, the Government Lands Office dismissed the idea, citing the great cost of conducting a second survey. In addition to complaints about the shape of lots, Metis expressed frustration over having to wait three or more years to receive title to land and argued that they were entitled to land grants similar to those provided in the Manitoba Act. Anger among the Metis simmered until the summer of when a delegation, led by Gabriel Dumont, traveled to St.

Peter's Mission, Montana. The reason for the delegation's visit to the United States was to recruit Louis Riel to assist them in their struggle with the Canadian government. Riel was not surprised when the knock came to his door.

A month earlier, he had received a letter from Metis friends that said, "The whole race is calling on you. By March , after having found little success in petitioning Ottawa for a redress of grievances, Riel took the radical step of calling a meeting in a local church where he called for a vote on setting up a provisional government, which Riel called "the Exovedate" from Latin, meaning "out of the flock" , and taking up arms against the Canadian government.

He had another announcement as well. Riel said that he would establish a new church under a new pope, Bishop Bourget of Montreal. He assured followers that God will help the members of his flock as his new chosen people.

Riel then performed a ritual in which he breathed the "Holy Spirit" into each person declaring support for his cause. The first violence of the North-West Rebellion erupted on March 26 when a party led by Gabriel Dumont, on a mission to a general store by Duck Lake, encountered two mounties.

The Metis rebels chased the mounties as they raced to rejoin a larger group of CMP. As Dumont and his band fired shots over their heads, the mounties retreated to Fort Carlton. More recruits joined the rebels in time for a second enounter with Mounties near Duck Lake. When the rebels met the mounties, the mounties drew their sleighs into a defensive circle.

Two rebels approached the mounties under a white flag, but fighting erupted and the mounties shot both men. The killing of the two rebels led to a fire fight that left twelve mounties and five rebels dead, with others on both sides seriously wounded. With casualties on both sides, Riel and the rebels had crossed a line.

Whatever small hope there might have been to achieve compromise and concessions was gone. When word of the Duck Lake violence reached Prime Minister Macdonald, he ordered that 2, Canadian troops be sent west over the still-uncompleted rail lines of the Canadian Pacific. In , there were still large gaps in the railroad between Toronto and the Canadian West.

The troops sent by Macdonald traveled by foot and sleigh from one segment to another. The crisis helped build support to finish the railroad line. Some people have even suggested that Macdonald's non-responsiveness to Metis complaints was part of a plot to build support for the project. Support the troops! Build the railroad! For people who buy this conspiracy theory, Riel died to save a railroad--a railroad that now stretches from sea to shining sea.

The arrival of the troops came after a massacre of nine whites at Frog Lake earlier in the month had dramatically increased tensions in the area. The troops encountered their first fighting on April 24 near Fish Creek, as Middleton was leading the men north toward Batoche.

Dumont and about rebels had hid above a ravine looking down on Fish Creek, hoping to ambush the Canadian soldiers. A scout foiled the plan when he spotted the rebels in the woods.

Before long, the Canadian troops were commanding the higher ground firing down into the woods where the rebels had sought refuge. By the end of the day, six Canadian soldiers lay dead and another forty-nine wounded. The rebels lost four men--and forty-five horses. The climactic battle between the badly-outnumbered rebels and Middleton's troops began on May 9 near Batoche.

As a gunboat carrying troops steamed up the Saskatchewan River, other troops marched over land to the rebel-held town. Knowing the rebels were pinned down and low on ammunition, Middleton was content to led the fighting drag on for several days. By May 12, when it became apparent that the rebels ammunition was all but gone, the troops charged.

Many rebels, including Riel, fled into the woods north of town in the face of the advancing troops. Three days later, understanding his cause to be hopeless and believing that a public trial might draw attention to the struggle of the Metis people for justice, Riel surrendered to Canadian troops. Meeting his enemy captive for the first time, Middleton described Riel as "a mild-spoken and mild-looking man, with a short brown beard and an uneasy frightened look about his eyes which gradually disappeared as I talked to him.

An escort of sixteen soldiers transported Riel to the police barracks at Regina. Inspector Richard Deane, concerned about a flood of journalists and Metis sympathizers showing up at his barracks, ordered that no one could visit Riel without a letter from the Prime Minister.

He also ordered that Riel carry a ball and chain whenever he entered the barrack yard for fresh air or exercise. In the eight weeks before his trial, Riel occupied himself writing religious poetry, letters to relatives and friends, and notes about his religious and political movement.

On July 20, Riel plead "not guilty" to "wickedly, maliciously, and traitorously" making "war against our lady the Queen" and "maliciously and traitorously" attempting to "by force and arms subvert and destroy the constitution and government of this realm. Impressive teams of lawyers were assembled for both sides. A sixty-year-old Toronto barrister named Christopher Robinson led the prosecution for the Crown. The defense was headed by a thirty-five-year-old Quebec criminal attorney, Francois-Xavier Lemieux, who later would become the Chief Justice of Quebec.

Given their client's central role in the rebellion, defense lawyers had little choice but to adopt an insanity strategy. There was plenty of evidence showing Riel to be a psychologically troubled megalomaniac. Riel, after all, told anyone who would listen that he was the New World's prophet. The problem for the defense in an insanity case is proving to jurors that the defendant's mental condition was such that he could not appreciate the wrongfulness of his illegal conduct.

While the government rounded up dozens of witnesses who could testify as to the instigating and central role Riel played in the uprising, defense lawyers Lemieux and Fitzpatrick began to identify religious leaders in Saskatchewan and medical experts elsewhere in Canada that might be able to offer compelling testimony in support of an insanity plea.

The defense also prepared a long brief arguing that Canadian law did not allow a capital case to be decided by a mere six jurors, as plans called for. On July 28, , the trial began in a makeshift courtroom created in the rented offices of a Regina land company.

After Judge Hugh Richardson rejected each of the contentions in the defense brief, including the argument based on the six-person jury, the prosecution opened its case. A series of government witnesses described Riel's responsibility for events in the ill-fated rebellion. John Willoughby testified concerning Riel's vision of a new government of god-fearing citizens. Thomas McKay told jurors that Riel described the Hudson's Bay Company and the Canadian government as "curses" and urged that arms be taken up.

George Ness testified that Riel claimed a power to predict the future and announced that "Rome had tumbled.