The Myth of Louis: Douglas Owram

DOUGLAS OWRAM
https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/CHR-063-03-01 - Friday, November 19, 2021 11:18:11 PM - University of British Columbia IP Address:69.172.173.234
TheMyth of LouisRiel
IN RECENT YEARS Louis Riel has become somewhat of a Canadian folk

hero. At the official,scholarly,and popular levelsthe rebelhangedin
•885 has become the subject of much attention. Manitoba and
Saskatchewan, the siteof histwo uprisings,havecommemoratedhim
in statuewhilethe federalgovernmentwhichallowedhisexecutionto
takeplacein the •88oshas,in the •98os,designatedBatochea national
historicsite. Canadiangovernmentmoney has alsoprovideda half
milliondollargrant designedto allowthe compilationand publication
of all of Riel'swritings.Suchscholarlyand officialinterestis comple-
mentedby popularinterest.Plays,poems,television dramas,andeven
an opera have been written about him. Riel has assumedmythical
stature.
Such attention is a relatively recent phenomenon.In fact, the

evolvinghistoriography of LouisRiel mightwell serveasyet another
illustrationof Voltaire'sdictumthat historyis a packof tricksplayed
uponthe dead.For the moodin mostof Canadain x885 wasto treat
Riel asanythingbut a hero. Much of the nationthen demandedand
eventuallysecuredthe executionof this notoriousrebel in spite of
vociferousobjections from manyFrenchCanadians.If the generation
of • 885 had beenableto nominateheroesfor perpetuityit wouldnot
havebeen the rebel who went to the scaffoldbut the young'citizen
soldiers' who marched out to subdue rebellion on the frontier. Yet a
centurylaterthe militiahavebeenreducedto a supportingroleandthe
rebelof • 885 hasbecomethe mythicalfigure.
Suchchangesin historicalmythologydo notoccurbyaccident.They
developbecausethey fulfil a perceivedneed in the minds of the
My thanksto the Universityof Calgaryfor the opportunityto presentan earlier
versionof this paper.
CanadianHistoricalReview,LxiII, 3, • 982
øøø8-3755/8•/ø9øø-ø3
• 5 $o• .25/o¸ Universityof TorontoPress
316 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW
communityor becausethey are thoughtusefulto thosecreatingthe

myth.•Asonewriter hasput it, 'theidentificationof an historicalevent
(or historicalindividual) and, conversely,the transmutationof an
historicalevent into an historicalideal' restsat the basisof myth-
making.• The identificationof Jacksonwith the Americalfrontier,of
Wellingtonwiththegloriesof theBritishempire,of Napoleonwiththe
destinyand power of Franceall serveas examplesof this sort of
identificationof the individualwith theidealor thelargercommunity.•
If Riel is a hero, then the questionmightlegitimatelybe asked:What
communityvaluesdoeshe representfor Canadiansandwhathistorical
idealsare his actionsthought to represent?Why hasthis individual,
hangedfor his activitiesagainstthe nation,becomesucha national
figurein recentyears?
Giventhe controversysurroundingRiel,sucha questionisnot easy
to answer.In general,however,LouisRielhasbeeninterpretedwithin
two broad frameworks. One framework has stressed the idea of
culturalconflict,whether as a part of the French-Englishdualityof
Canadaor as part of the frontier experience.The alternativehas
emphasizednot the clashof culturesbut the clashof regions.This
interpretationhasseenthe real significanceof Riel in hispositionasa
westernerdefendinghisregionand itspeoplefrom thearroganceand
indifference of the East. Writers have drawn on these themes to
varyingdegreesand combinations to explainthe significance of Riel's
life until he hascometo belookedat 'in a seemingly infinitenumberof
ways. '4The resulthasbeena verycomplexmythor seriesof myths.In
order to sorttheseout it isnecessary
to tracetheir evolution,for, aswill
be argued,the myth hasdevelopedlayerby layer.Only by lookingat
the historiography and folkloresurroundingRiel throughthe years
will the Riel myth becomeunderstandable.
Giventhe importantrole whichRiel hasassumed in recentyears,the

moststrikingaspectof late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century
writingon the rebellionsis the lackof interestin Riel himself.There
were,of course,a flurry of accounts,governmentreports,and other
SeeJosephCampbell,TheHerowitha Thousand Faces(New York •949); Dixon
Wecter, TheHeroin AmericaSociety (New York •94•).
J. T. Marcus,'The World Impactof the West:the Mystiqueand the Senseof
Participationin History,'in Henry Murray,ed.,MythandMythmaking (NewYork
•96o), 222
See'The Myth of Napoleon,'YaleFrenchStudies, xxvI; PieterGeyl,Napoleon:
For
andAgainst (New Haven• 949),chap.3. WilliamWard,Andrew Jackson:Symbol
for an
Age(New York •953)
DonaldSwainson,
'RielianaandtheStructure
of CanadianHistory,'
JournalofPop-
ular Culture,xIv, 2, fall • 98o, 2o
THE MYTH OF LOUIS RIEL 317
materialflowingfrom the eventsof •869-•87o and •885. Once the

investigationshadbeenmade,however,andthecontroversy allowedto
die down somewhat,Riel faded very much into the backgroundof
Canadianhistory.While, for example,there were someseventy-five
different itemspublishedon him between• 885 and • 887, practically
nothingappearedon the rebellionsor theirleaderbythe early • 89os.5
This tendencywas to continue,especiallyin EnglishCanada, and
when, for example, the Chroniclesof Canadaserieswas published
duringWorld War •, no volumewasthoughtnecessary on Riel or his
rebellions.6
This is not to saythat Riel disappearedcompletely.The eventsin
whichhe wasinvolvedwere importantpartsof Canadianhistoryand
he wasdiscussed in worksdealingwiththe RedRiverinsurrectionand
the Northwest rebellion. He was, however, not considered a dominant
or evenmajor figure in Canadianhistory.Evenin the contextof the
CanadianWesthe wouldseemto haverankedasonlyonethreadin a
variedtapestryof history.He wasneitherhero nor anti-herosomuch
as non-hero.
Evenhad he beenmore important,Riel wouldnot havedeveloped
intoa mythin theseyears.AmongEnglishCanadiansRiel wassimply
not thoughtto symbolizeanythingpositivefor Canada.Neither the
man nor the activities in which he was involved were considered
deservingof commendationfrom thosewho wroteon the subjectin
lateryears.In fact,in EnglishCanadatherewouldseemto havebeena
remarkabledegreeof unanimity,if one canjudge from the writings,
concerningthe nature of Riel and the eventsof hislife. From the late
•88osthroughto the later •93osthis unanimityremainedgenerally
unbroken.
First,with regardto the Red Riverresistance, or rebellionasit was
thencommonlycalled,a fairly clearchainof argumentwasdeveloped.
This argument, interestingly,did not rest on the assumptionthat
Canadianinvolvementin Red Riverhad beentotallybeneficent.It was
generallyadmitted,asone historianput it, that there were 'blunders'
onthepartof Canada.7WritersagreedthattheCanadiangovernment
should have been aware of the concerns that existed in Red River and
haveworkedto calmthembeforetheevent.Equally,the Canadaparty
isoftenseenasa turbulentgroup,andit isgenerallyacceptedthat the
5 The mainsoursefor bibliographicreferenceson Riel hasbeenBrucePeel,A
Bibliography
of thePrairieProvinces,
•nd ed. (Toronto• 973).
6 The Chroniclesof Canadaserieswaseditedby G.M. Wrong and H.H. Langton
andappearedbetween•9•4-•9•6. SeeCarl Berger,TheWritingofCanadian History
(Toronto •976), •4.
7 F.H. Schofield,TheStoryofManitoba,vol.z (Winnipeg•9•3), •7
people in Red River had reason for complaintas the transfer

approached.It is,however,onethingto be upsetandquiteanotherto
use armed force. Only the M6tis, thesewriters point out, of all the
groupsin Red River, thought it necessaryto threaten force and
violence to resolve their concerns. Whether this was attributed, as in a
x9o5work,to their'fierydisposition
'8or blamedon thepresence
of
variousindividualswith influence,suchasthe Catholicpriest,Father
Richot,the importantfactremainedthat the M6tiswereseenasacting
alone?
Moreover, these English-languagewriters argued, the M6tis re-
mained alone, for they were never able to broaden their baseof
supportin anysignificant wayamongthe settlersof RedRiver.There
may have been timeswhen they camecloseto an agreement,as in
November x869 and February x87o, but, for variousreasons,such
agreementfailedto materializeor lastedfor onlythebriefestperiodsof
time.Eventsthroughthe winter of • 869-7o led writersto the unvaried
conclusion that Riel'sprovisionalgovernmentwasneverthelegitimate
authority in Red River. The referencestalked of the 'so-called
ProvisionalGovernment'or 'ProvisionalGovernment'in quotation
marks. Some writers argued that whatever the possibilitiesof a
provisionalgovernmentin constitutionalterms,it failed to eventuate
whenRiellostthe supportof the English-speaking settlers.Fromthat
pointon Rielwasthoughtto headnota government, evena temporary
one,but 'a dictatorshipof the M6tis.'xø
The refusalto seethe provisionalgovernmentas legitimateor as
supportedby a wide segmentof the populationis importantto the
overall assessment of the rebellion and its leader. For without the
legitimacyof government,evenprovisional government, Riel'scapture
of Fort Garry, seizureof Hudson'sBayCompanyfunds,and imprison-
ment of individualsall becomeillegalacts.The mostseverecriticism,
however,camefor a deed'for whichnothingcanbe saidin condona-
tion, extenuation,excuseor apologyfor its enormity.'xxThis was,of
course,the executionor, asthesewritersunanimouslyconcluded,the
'wantonmurder' of ThomasScott.x2Tried by a mockcourtmartialin a
languagehedid notunderstand,'thebrutalmurderof Scottarousedas
muchhorror and indignationamongthe majorityof the Frenchand
R.G. MacBeth,TheMakingoftheCanadianWest(Toronto •9o5), 3o-x

ChesterMartin, 'The RedRiverSettlement,'in CanadaanditsProvinces,
vol. • 9,
ThePrairieProvinces,
• (Toronto •9•4), 69-7o, 72-3
E.E. Kreutzweiser, The Red River Insurrection:its Causesand Events(Garden Vale,
Que x936), • oo
Ibid., •3 e
MacBeth,TheMakingof theCanadianWest,8 •
M•tis settlersas it did amongthoseof Englishblood.'•"Quite aside

from thequestions of procedureor thereactionamongthe population,
thecondemnation of Scott'sexecutionflowednaturallyfrom thedenial
of the legitimacyof the provisionalgovernment.For if the government
was illegal, then so too was its use of sovereignpower. Riel had
committedmurder and as a criminalhe thusfled the countrywhen
Wolseley's troopsapproached.Thosetroopsmarkednot the angerof
Ontario Orangeismbut 'peaceand order' beingbroughtto 'the little
prairieprovince.'•4
The interpretationof the eventsof • 885 by thesewriterswaseven
more critical. Riel was seen as the cause of the rebellion at least in the
sense that without him there would not have been violence. 'Riel
himselfcoulddoubtlesshavepreventedthe outbreak,'H.A. Kennedy
concludedin • 928, but he did not.•5In the mindsof English-Canadian
historicalwriters,Riel'smotivesalsodistinguished the •885 rebellion
from that of •869-7 o. Lookingat the eventsof •869, they had been
forcedto concedethat Riel'smotivesmayhavebeensincere,at leastin
part. In •885, however,he wasseento be a 'wretchedmalefactor'
actuatedby personalambitionand by a delusorymissionleadinga
peopleintoa rebellionagainsttheir,by now,undoubtedconstitutional
government.
•0
In addition,no doubtwasexpressed in anyof thewritingssurveyed
that Riel was insane by •885. The insanitysimply confirmed the
accusations of thosewho felt that Riel wasnot only to blamefor the
rebellionbut that the veryreasoningthat laybehindthe rebellionwas
irrationalor distorted.There mayhavebeengrievances, but to turn to
violenceonlymademattersworsefor the M•tis. AsR.G. MacBethsaid,
'rebellionwasrampant with a madmanat its head.'•7 Madman,or for
that mattercoldbloodedmurderers,do not makefor mythichistory.
In the late nineteenthand first third of the twentiethcentury,
English-Canadian historiansand chroniclersthusrejectedLouisRiel
asa possible herofor Canadiansor symbolto them.Bothin the lackof
attentiongivenhim and the wayin whichhisactionsweredescribed
they sawhim as their predecessors had seenhim at the time of the
rebellions.
EnglishCanadiansdid haveheroesin the West,and in work after
worknamesdo appearwhichwereobviously thoughtmoreappropri-
Schofield,StoryofManitoba,274
Ibid. SeealsoG.M. Wrong,Canada:a ShortHistory(Toronto2922),3 • 2.
Howard AngusKennedy,'LouisRiel and the North-WestRebellion,'in
F.W. Howay,BuildersoftheWest(Toronto 2929),47
SirJosephPope,TheDayofSirJohnMacdonald (Toronto2925),• 28
MacBeth,Makingof theCanadianWest,244
ate than Riel to portray the significanceof the West in Canadian

history.This pantheonof heroesrangesfrom early explorerslike La
V•rendrye to Sir AlexanderMackenzieand Sir GeorgeSimpson.The
tradersandexplorersof the North-Westand Hudson'sBaycompanies
seemedto representthe spiritof earlyCanadain their effortsto open
the continent. The most dominant of Canadian mythic figures,
however,wasan organizationrather thanan individual.In workslike
E.J. Chambers, The Royal NorthwestMountedPolice (•9o6), A.L.
Haydon,Ridersof thePlains(• 9 • o), R.G. MacBeth,PolicingthePlains
(•9 2 x), and in numerousmemoirsand worksof fictionthe Northwest
MountedPolice,the men whofoughtRielat DuckLake,wereglorified
asthetruestexamples
of theCanadian
historical
epic.•8
A collectionof mythswhich rangesfrom early French explorers
through fur traders and the NorthwestMounted Policemay seem
rather discursive.There was, however, a certain continuity in the
Canadianchoiceof heroesin theseyears.The men and the organiza-
tionstreatedwith suchsympathyby thesehistorianswere all, in some
fashion,involvedin openingthe Westto civilization.Explorers,fur
traders,leadersof settlement,andthe menwhobroughtBritishlawto
the Westexemplifieda myth of developmentand expansion.Civiliza-
tion's spread under the trusteeshipof Canada was, in an age of
imperial expansionand glorification,the real focus of Canadian
writersin theseyears.A man who stoodin the wayof that expansion,
even if with somereason,was not the sort of figure to becomea
Canadian folk hero.
Behind this glorificationof the spreadof civilizationwasanother
very deeplyheld assumption.EnglishCanadians,even aslate as the
interwarperiod, generallylookedto the Britishempireasa positive
forcein history.Mistakeshadbeenmadebut, thisWhig viewof history
argued,generallythe expansionof Britishsystems or Britishinstitu-
tionswasalsothe expansionof an enlightenedform of government
andsocialconduct.Ashasbeenreasonedwithregardto the Northwest
MountedPolice,theyweremaintainingnotjust thelawbut the'right.'•9
Equally,asa part of thisprocess,CanadianexpansionintotheWestwas
thought fundamentallycorrect. The truly important story was the
orderly expansionof just and civilizedinstitutions.Such errors as
existedwereunintentionaland the controversy surroundingthemwas
onlya secondaryaspectof the more importantprocessof expansion.
LouisRiel wasultimatelyon the wrongsideof historynot because he
•8 See,on the Mounties,twoarticlesin Hugh Dempsey,ed., Menin Scarlet (Calgary
•973); Dick Harrison,'The MountedPolicein Fiction,'•63-74, and Henry Klassen,
'The Mountiesand the Historians,'• 75-86.
•9 Harrison, 'The Mounted Policein Fiction,' •65
lost but because he had misunderstood the forces around him. The
forcesrepresentedby the citizensoldiersof • 885 remainedimportant
in an agewhichstill gloriedin the conquestof the frontier by British
civilizationandjustice.
Whilethe English-Canadian viewof Riel remainedconsistent, sotoo
did the minority dissentfrom that view. By x885 FrenchCanadians
had alreadyto a greatdegreeadoptedthe MEtisLouisRiel asone of
theirown.2øThe halfcenturythatfollowedsawthattraditioncemented
byaneraof French-English confrontationoversuchissues asimperial
relations,education,and conscription.In particularthree men, all of
whomhad lived in Manitoba,workedhard to preservethe memoryof
an heroic Louis Riel. The assessments of his life by Auguste-Henri
Tr•maudan (x874-x9•9), GeorgesDugas (•833-x9•8), and A.G.
Morice(x859-x938) reflectedthe beliefthat Riel wasa martyr to their
raceand religionand,thus,deservednotonlyto be rememberedbut to
be celebrated.And where the MEtis were interpreted by English
Canadiansin the context of imperial expansion,French-Canadian
writers dealt with events in Red River and after in the context of the
long-standingcontroversybetweenProtestantEnglishand French
Catholic in North America.
From this perspectivethere wasno reasonto doubtthe necessity for
M•tis resistanceat RedRiver.After all, did not morerecentexperience
confirmthe intoleranceof the EnglishProtestantcommunity? 'In view
of what we know of the illegal abolitionof the separateschoolsof
Manitoba,'wrote Moricein •935, 'and especially whenwe remember
the brazenlies and broken promiseswhichmade abolitionpossible,'
therewasno reasonto doubtthe necessity of Riel'sstand.2• It wasnot
the turbulenceof the MEtisbut the fanaticismof the Englishthat
created the troubles at Red River.
Further, that English fanaticismwas thought to have emanated
from a smallgroup of troublemakingCanadiansfor, it wasargued,
Riel quicklygained the supportof mostlong-timeEnglish-speaking
residentsof Red River.• Even the Hudson'sBay Companywhich
'connaissant la bonne foi et l'honn•tet• des MEtis et redoutant au
contrairela sournoiserie
et l'ambitiondu Dr. Schultzet de sespartisans'
wasthoughtsecretivelysupportiveof the M•tis movement.•3Giventhe
turbulence in the settlement and the need to establish order, this
2o SeeArthur Silver,'FrenchQuebecand the M•tis Question,'in R. Cookand C.

Berger, eds., TheWestandtheNation(Toronto • 976).
2• A.G. Morice,A CriticalHistoryof theRedRiverInsurrection
(Winnipeg•935), 63-4
22 Ibid., 243-4; seealsoA.H. Tr•maudan, Histoiredela nationm•tisse
dansl'ouest
cana-
d/en(np •935), 2•3-•4.
23 Tr•maudan, Histoiredela nationm•tisse,• 8 •
interpretationwouldhaveit thatRielhad no realchoicebutto imposea

provisionalgovernment.The settlerswere supportiveof the action
becausesome step was necessaryto prevent anarchy. Governor
McTavishrecognizedasmuchasRielthatthe rule of the Hudson'sBay
Companywasfinished.'La coloniene pouvaitrestersansgouverne-
ment dans une situation confinant h l'anarchie; elle se donna donc une
administrationcompl/•te,r/•guli/•re, bien que provisoire,tout en
maintenantsonall/•geanceh la CouronneBritannique.'24This claimof
legitimacyfor the provisionalgovernmentwas as central to the
French-Canadianinterpretationof Riel as wasits denial to English-
Canadianwriters.As Moriceconcluded,'the legalityof Scott'sexecu-
tion dependson the legitimacyof the ProvisionalGovernment.'Both
Englishand FrenchCanadianswouldhaveagreedwiththisstatement,
but only the French tradition acceptedMorice'snext statementthat
'thislegitimacyhasbeenabundantlyproven.'25The deathof Thomas
Scottwas,whetherpoliticallywiseor not,an executionat thehandsof a
governmentafter a fair trial. Wolseley'sexpeditionwasunnecessary
and Riel should never have had to flee into exile as a result of events at
Red River.
The historiesof the • 885 rebellionwere more ambiguous in their
interpretationsthough they remainedmore charitablethan their
Englishcounterparts.The ambiguityresultedfrom the role of
religionin the interpretationof Riel amongFrench-Catholic writers.
Riel wasconsidereda martyr not only to his French languageand
culturebut as well to the Catholicreligion. He was,in other words,
fighting not only againstEnglishvindictiveness but also against
Protestant bigotry.The heresiesof Riel in • 885 thuscreatedveryreal
difficultiesfor thosewhowouldpicturehim astheheroof Catholicism.
Tr/•maudan showed one approach to the problem by simply
ignoring
theheresies
andcontroversies
withthepriests.26
Mostwriters,
however,felt it necessaryto deal with the subjectof Riel'sreligious
delusions.The favouritemeansof reconcilingRiel'sactionswith his
mythwasto depicthim asthevictimof temporaryinsanityin thehectic
monthsof the • 885 rebellion.This insanityis further seenashaving
beenbroughton specificallybythepressures of hisattemptstohelphis
people.With the end of the rebellionthe pressureeased,the insanity
disappeared,andLouisRiel,faithfulCatholic,returnedto thebosom
24 SceurSt L•andre, L'a•uvrev•ridique
deLouisRiel (MontrEal•934), 49- S. Puch-
niak,'Riel'sRed RiverGovernment:a Legislative Government'(MA thesis,Univer-
sityof Ottawa,•933), 38
25 Morice, CriticalHistory,298
26 Tr•maudan, Historie de la nation m•tisse,• 8 •
of motherchurch.27Nevertheless, oneis left with the impression

that
the religiousactivitiesof Riel in • 885 distinctlytarnishedhisotherwise
strongreputationin the mindsof French-Catholicwriters,and it is
instructivethat at leastone writer practicallyignoredthe activitiesof
Riel during thesemonthswhileconcentratinginsteadon the mission-
ariesof theregion?
In sum,then,thosewritingon Riel tendedto refightthebattlesand
controversies of the • 88os.English-Protestant writerslargelyignored
him,asbefitteda criminal,or whentheydid discuss him portrayedhim
as'a little Napoleon.'•9 French-Catholicwriters,in contrast,adopted
him asa faithful,if slightlyunstable,sonof thechurchandprotectorof
the culture. As a result Louis Riel the M•tis became Louis Riel the
French-Catholic and his cause a defence of the true faith and of the
minoritylanguagerather than a defenceof a wayof life or a frontier
people.In fact,the religiousimplications
of the Red River resistance
and of Riel'slife may have been one of the mostimportant factors
dividing writers in these years.Many of thosewriting in both the
Englishand Frenchtraditionswereordainedmembersof a church•ø
and they tended to expand the issuesbeyond the immediateand
obviousto a more fundamentalattemptto condemnthe ethics,goals,
and proceduresof the opposingdenomination.
The natureof Canadianhistoriography on Riel underwentimportant

changesin the later •93os, especiallyin English Canada. These
changeswere largelythe resultsof the work of a new generationof
professional and more secularly-oriented historiansseekingto intro-
duce English-Canadianreadersto a balancedand more thoroughly
researcheddiscussionof Riel. The mostimportant work in this new
traditionwasG.F.G.Stanley's BirthofWesternCanadapublishedin • 936
andstillperhapsthebestgeneralworkon theera.Alsoworthnotingas
reflectiveof this new tradition wereA.S. Morton'smassiveA Historyof
the CanadianWestto •87o-7x, a doctoral thesis done at Stanford
Universityby JonasJonasson,'The Riel Rebellions'(•933), and, in
French, Marcel Giraud's Le M•tis canadien( • 945).
These works constitutean important contribution to Canadian
historicalwriting and mark a distinctphasein the interpretationof
St Leandre,L'veuvreveridique,
•29-34, •69
Ibid., 132- 5 •
A.C. Garrioch,FirstFurrows:a HistoryoftheEarlySettlement
of theRedRiverCountry
(Winnipeg1932), 2o5
The ReverendMorice,Tr•maudan, MacBeth,and GeorgeBryceserveasexam-
pies,asdoesSoeurSt L•andre.
Riel. It would be a mistake,however,to seethem as beginningthe

mythificationof Riel in EnglishCanadaor asmarkingthe reconcilia-
tion of the two viewsof Riel. Riel wasfar from a hero in any of the
English-language workswhileGiraud continuedthe French-language
traditionof highpraisefor the M•tis leader.$• Evenmoreimportantly,
thesewerethe worksof a scholarly•lite and thereisno indicationthat
the reinterpretationsreflected a parallel shift in popular English-
Canadianperceptions of Riel. None of the writingshada majorimpact
on the public or, for that matter, on the averagecollegestudent.
Jonasson's thesis,exceptfor a brief article? did not reachpublication,
while Morton'smassivetome of more than 9oo pageswasobviously
designedfor the specialistaudienceand his careful narrative was
hardlydesignedto createmyths.Stanley's experiences withtheBirthof
WesternCanadaare even more revealing.Publishedin the United
Kingdomin the middleof the Depressionthe book,in Stanley's words,
'wasvirtuallyignored'in Canadain the firstyearsafter.publication-
the lack of interest itself indicative of the indifference to Riel. Then,
withlargenumbersof copiesunsold,the warehousein whichthe stock
wasstoredwasdestroyedin the Londonblitz.$$Not until •96o wasit
thoughtworthwhileto reissuethe work. For the twentyintervening
yearsthere were no more than three to four hundred copiesof the
bookin existence. The later • 93osarethusimportantin thattheysawa
newviewpointtowardRieldevelopamongEnglish-Canadian scholars.
There was,however,no parallelshiftin generalpublicopinion.Louis
Riel stillremainedfar from a mythicalfigure.
Yet even if the •93os are looked at purely in the contextof the
eventualevolutionof the mythof Riel, the scholarlyre-evaluations of
the decadeare of tremendoussignificance.Until that time LouisRiel
had been interpreted solelywithin the contextof the debateover
French-Englishrelations. His rejection by EnglishCanadiansand
acceptance by FrenchCanadianshad left no room for a generalized
Canadian myth. In the •93os, however,a variationon the cultural
conflictthesiswasdevelopedbyStanley,andlaterpursuedbyGiraud.$4
This variationsawat leastpart of the reasonfor thetroublesof the Riel
period as stemmingnot from languageor religionbut from his
3 • G.F.G.Stanley,TheBirthof Western Canada(London•936), 68. MarcelGiraud,Le
Mttis canadien
(Paris•945), • •oo, • •o3
32 JonasJonasson, 'The Backgroundof the Riel Rebellions,'
PacificHistorical
Review,
hi, 3, •934, 27ø-9
33 Riel ProjectBulletinno 5, April • 98 •. The lossof stockis mentionedin the fore-
word to the Universityof Toronto Pressedition (• 96o).
34 This emphasisis probablyconnectedto the then prevalentinterestin socialand
economicforcesin history.SeeBerger, TheWritingof Canadian History,• 37.
leadershipof a semi-nomadic'nation'caughtbetweentwo ancestries

and facedwith an uncertainfuture. It was,asStanleysaid,the storyof a
clashbetween'primitive and civilizedpeoples.'" Giraud argued in a
similar vein that 'sans principe cultural solide' the Mi•tis faced
disintegration
in thewakeof rapidchange.
" Thisnewemphasis
did
not replace,or even contradict,earlier viewsof the Red River and
Northwestrebellionsasexamplesof conflictbetweenthe Frenchand
EnglishCanadians.It did, however,openthe wayfor reinterpretations
of Riel,especially on the part of EnglishCanadians. Onceremoved,at
leastin part from Ontario-Quebeccontroversies, LouisRiel beganto
be viewedby writerswho sawhis importanceasderivingfrom other
factorsin his leadershipof the M•tis. In their scholarlymanner, the
worksof Stanley,A.S. Morton, and Giraud had preparedthe wayfor
Riel'smythification.
It wasnot until after World War ii that popularopinionappearsto
havebeenreceptiveto majorchangesin the interpretationof Riel.The
war itselfhad createda newawareness of the dangersof racialinjustice
and had madethe former casualassumptions aboutracelessaccepta-
ble. Equally, the previousorientationtoward the expansionof the
mightof theBritishempireasa perspective for thewritingof Canadian
historybeganto seemlessrelevantas the Commonwealthfaded in
importancerelative to Canada'sbilateral relationswith the United
States.Finally, Canadianswere absorbingmore and more of their
cultural standardsand imagesfrom south of the border. Radio,
newspapers,magazines,and even comic books brought home to
Canadiansthe relative abundanceof American heroes like Davey
Crockett,StonewallJackson,and, of course,the ubiquitousAmerican
cowboy.
In suchan atmosphereit is not surprisingthat the imageof Louis
Riel should have been reconsiderednot by a Canadian but by an
American. For the publicationin •952 of StrangeEmpire:theStor•of
LouisRiel byJosephKinseyHoward marksthe real beginningof the
mythificationof Riel for EnglishCanadians.Howard wrote of Riel in
termsof hisfrontier, culturalmilieu,and Indian ancestryand did soin
a way designedto have an appeal far beyond the communityof
professional historians.'Here,' saidBernardde Voto in an Introduc-
tion,'areprimitiveemotionandprimitivedream.Here istheAmerican
primitive,his participationas a personand a societyin the eventsof
history,and hisworldreachingitsfinalcollapse.In the wholeexpanse
of American historiographythere is very little writing about the
35 Stanley,Birthof Western
Canada,vii
36 Giraud, LeM•tis canadien,• •oo
Indiansof qualitycomparablewith this.'•7 LouisRiel had, in a quite

literal sense, been Americanized. He had been transformed from a
CatholicFrenchCanadianinto a representative of the North American
Indian'sstruggleagainstEuropeandomination.Howard had turned
the themeof primitiveversuscivilizedsocieties
into an epicstruggleof
innocence versuscorruption,goodversusevil.Stanleyhad alsoviewed
the M•tis with sympathyand regrettedthe passingof their civilization,
but at the same time he retained elements of the older Canadian
traditionand sensedthe importanceof the expansionaryprocessto
Canadaasa whole.For him it wasthusa matterof tryingto reconcile
two conflictinggoals.Howard felt no need for such reconciliation.
Canadianexpansionand the treatmentof minoritiesin the Westwere,
to him, negative aspectsof history and, in fact, recalled more
contemporaryhorrors.'There wereno gaschambersthen,'he writesin
his Introduction,'but there wasmalevolentintention.'•8
Howard'sstoryisthusa veryblack-and-white treatment.To him the
M•tis are the perfectexamplesof romanticprimitivism,'a newpeople,
wild and free and in love with their land. '•ø As for Louis Riel, he wasthe
symbolof that spirit:'... he wastheir voice:the onlymantheyhadever
producedwhocouldfashiona philosophyfrom the crudematerialsof
their semi-primitivewayof life, the onlyonewhoseeloquencewould
become a sort of alchemy, transmutingfrontier expedientsinto
eternalhuman values,shapingstandardsout of habits... Out of the
strugglethe M•tis heroemerged:LouisRiel,symbolandspokesman of
the oppressedbut gallantminority;revolutionist,leader and lord.'4ø
PatrickHenry had cometo Red River.
In fashioningthe story of the rebellions,Howard makes Riel's
missiona democraticone, portrayingRed River ascontaininga 'new
ideal of socialequality.' Riel's actionsin stoppingMcDougall, in
capturingFortGarry,andin establishing a provisional
government are
all seenasthe effortsof the peopleto protecttheir rightsin the faceof
totalitarianimperialism.Their aim, he argues,wasmerely to obtain
better termsfrom Canadaand guaranteesof their own rightsin the
future.Howardalsoportraysa grander,ifunrealized,dream.Rielisat
one point depictedaslooking'out over the shiveringthousand,over
the snowand the greatbuffaloplain ... He glancedat the fort andthe
flag he had designed:the goldensymbolof medievalFranceon the
purewhitebannerwhichhadbeenbornewestwardby Champlain.He
37 JosephKinseyHoward,StrangeEmpire(NewYork 2952),Introductionby Ber-
nard de Voto, 9-2o
38 Howard, Strange Empire,23
39 Ibid., 85
4ø Ibid., 233
thoughtof the newnationwhoseflagit mighthavebeen:havenfor the

wanderers of the wilderness, red or brown or white - the Cree who
watchthe ghostdancersin the winter night, a dainty and dauntless
grandmother,Marie Lagimodiere,the huntersand voyageurs,and
dustywagonmen.4• This wasthe materialof mythologyindeed.
Howard'sportrayalof M•tis actionsaspart of the larger panorama
of the fightof the nativepeoplefor freedommeansthat it isconsistent
for him to continuethe heroictraditionthroughthe •885 rebellion.It
doesnotreallymatterthatthe Canadiangovernmentisnowtheclearly
constitutional governmentof the regionfor that statuswasobtainedin
Howard'seyesthrough theft and wasthus owed no respectby the
nativepopulation.'The War for the West,begunfifteenyearsagoon
Red River,had entereditsfinal desperatephase.'42
Nevertheless, the questionof Riel'ssanitystillhad to beconfronted,
and it is his handling of that subjectthat most clearly revealsthe
mythmakerat work. Howardwasquitewillingto protraythe eccentric-
ities of Riel'scharacterin sucha way as to make the man appear
unbalanced,especiallyin religiousmatter. However, unlike French-
Catholicwriters, Howard is under no compulsionto portray these
religiousdelusionsascentralto the man'spurposeor rolein •885. He
may havehad religiousdelusionsbut this,in Howard'seyes,did not
affectthe natureof the causeor hisheroismin defendinghispeople.
Louis Riel becamethe 'John Brown of the Half-Breeds,'and like
Brownthejustnessof the causewasmoreimportantthanthe mental
problemsthat plaguedhim?
What Howard did, in essence,
wasadaptthe thesisfirstpresentedby
Stanleyand popularizeit, removingthe shadesof greyin favourof a
black-and-white treatment. It is a theme which has since become a
constantin the writingson Riel. Mostobviously,the M•tis themselves
beganin the • 96osto write their own interpretationof Riel'slife and
career. Not surprisingly,Louis Riel is to them a symbolof both the
wrongsof the Canadiangovernmentand a meansof defendingtheir
claimto recognitionasa distinctgroupin Canadiansociety. Rielwasan
unqualifiedhero.44 Riel'scloseassociation with native concernshas
seena reinterpretationof hisreligiousheresiesand hisactionsduring
the rebellionin termsof nativecustomsand traditions.Mostrecently,a
4a Ibid., •5a-:•
4:• Ibid., 3:•9-3 o
43 Ibid. This is the tide of Chapter • 7.
44 SeeTerry Lusty,LouisRiel;Humanitarian (Edmontona975);Association of
M•tis and Non-StatusIndiansof Saskatchewan, JusticeMustbeDone(Winnipeg
• 979); Duke Redbird, WeareM•tis: a Mt•tisViewof theDevelopment
of theCanadian
People(Toronto x98o).
scholarlywork by Thomas Flanaganhas developedthis theme by

emphasizingthe tiesof Riel'smessianic
thoughtsto nativereligion.45If
this argument is accepted,then Riel may have been thought insane
largelybecausehe wasnot ascompletelyEuropeanizedasmanyhad
assumed.
A variantof thisthemeof Riel asa defenderof hisprimitivepeople
wasdevelopedin the politicallyconscious • 96os.In essence
thesymbol
of Rielwasgeneralizeduntil skincolourand the non-industrialstateof
his followersbecamemore important than the specifichistorical
setting.As one playwrightput it, 'I seethe leaderand the rebellions
whichhe led asprecursorsof later and presentuprisingsall overthe
world,particularly
theso-called
ThirdWorld.'46Rielbecame
impor-
tant to somebecausehe wasan anti-imperialist.His activitiescould
evenbe seenasa resistance to Americancapitalismandcontinentalism:
'The aspirations of the peopleof the newlandfor self-government,for
an identitydistinctfrom thatof"the States,"for materialadvanceanda
partnershipof the nationalcommunitiesfounded on equality:these
cameinto collisionwith the entrenchedinterestsof greatpropertyin
power.'47Riel hadbecomea sortof northernCheGueverasearching
for thepeople's
socialist
utopiaonthenorthernplains?
The developmentof the conceptof a clashbetweenfrontier and
civilizationby writersin the •93os and its subsequentextensionand
popularizationby Howard illustratesone branchof the evolvingRiel
myth.Anotherbranchmaybe shownby lookingat an importantwork
publishedin •956. W.L. Morton'sexcellentstudyof the Red River
resistanceis especiallyinteresting in that it remains within the
mainstreamof English-Canadian writingon Riel whilesimultaneously
avoidingthe obviousbiasand anger which marked so many earlier
writings.Morton'soveralltoneisoneof scholarlydetachmentbut he is
ableto givethe reader a senseof sympathyfor the nervousM•tis and
for theiryoungleader.Nevertheless, hecontinuallystresses
twopoints
whichbring into questionthe rationalefor the resistance.First, he
pointsout that therewereno evildesignsemanatingfrom Ottawaand
that the M•tis were mistakenin manyof their fears.49Secondly,while
he admitsthat the governmentof the Northwestwasin a stateof near
45 ThomasFlanagan,LouisDavidRiel:'Prophet' of theNewWorld(Toronto 1979)

46 JohnCoulter,TheCrimeofLouisRiel (Toronto 1976), Foreword
47 StanleyRyerson,'Rielvs.Anglo-CanadianImperialism,'Canadian Dimension,
v•, •,
July •97o, and his Unequal
Union(Toronto •973)
48 SeealsoL•andre Bergeron,Petitmanueld'histoiredu Quebec
(EditionsQu•b•coises),
who combines the radical view with a focus on cultural dualism.
49 W.L. Morton, ed., Alexander
Begg's
RedRiverJournal(Toronto 1956), Introduction,
3, 44
collapse,he neverthelessfeels the actionsof the MEtisto have been

illegalandrebellious?Moreover,hefurtherdivorces himselffromthe
French-Catholic traditionby remainingconspicuously aloof from the
basicaim of the MEtiswhichhe seesasobtaininga positionin the West
'similarto that whichthe Frenchof Quebechad won for themselves in
Canada.'5• Louis Riel emergesneither as hero nor villain but as a
capable,if erraticand naive,individualcaughtup in eventswhichhe
understoodonlya little betterthanhisfollowersand whichcontrolled
him as much as he controlled them: 'It would seem then that the
patternof Resistance wasa commonone, the leader an enthusiastic,
partiallyeducated,unemployedyoungpatriot, the followinga mass
movementof simpleand easilypersuadedmen, accustomed to tough
waysin disputeandto bearingarms.And thereareindicationsthatthe
rougherelementof the MEtisformedthe backboneof Riel'sforces,
menwho mightbe persuadedbut couldnot be disciplinedexceptby
superiorforce.'5•PatrickHenry mayindeedhavecometo RedRiver,as
Howard imagined,but the conservative from Gladstone,Manitoba,
had a different view of such an event.
While Morton does reassert some of the traditional English-
Canadian views challenged by Howard, there are also points of
sympathywith Riel, especiallyin his anger with arrogant Upper
Canadianattitudes.In one instance,for example,Morton expresses
sympathywith the priestsin their concernwith Upper Canadian
attitudes.
• The implicitargumentcontainedin thesepassages, how-
ever, wasonly made explicitin a separatearticlepublishedthe year
before. In his 'Bias of Prairie Politics,' Morton identified Riel with a
westernpoliticaltraditionof grievanceagainstthe east.LouisRiel,the
argumentwent,wasthe firstin a longline of westernleadersof protest
movements. 'In his aims,' he concluded, 'Louis Riel was a more
conventionalpoliticianthan William Aberhart, but both were prairie
politicians.
,54
The link Morton madewasan importantone for therewasa strong
potentialfor myth in his association
of Riel with westerngrievance.
There are also indicationsthat Morton was elevatinga popular
viewpointto scholarlyrespectabilityrather than initiating a new
interpretation.Riel seemsto have been a part of westernfolklore
beforehewaseithera westernheroor a nationalfigure.G.F.G.Stanley
5ø Ibid., 48, 68, 77
51 Ibid., 3 l
52 Ibid., 53
53 Ibid., 143-4, 43
54 W.L. Morton,'The Biasof PrairiePolitics,'Transactions
oftheRoyalSociety
ofCanada,
xLix, June 1955, 57
hasindicatedthat his interestin the rebel grew in part from stories

heardat hisgrandmother'sknee.55The memoryof theNorthwestfield
forceremainedstrongand localhistoricalassociations kept alivethe
storyof •885,evenif fromtheexpeditionary
force's
pointofview.
5aIn
otherwords,Riel had longbeenseenasa part of the westernstory.
Riel was not yet a part of the westernmythology,however.Two
preconditions were necessary, it would seem,beforeLouisRiel could
emergeasa symbolto westerners. First,the Westitselfhadto developa
senseof regionalidentitywhichwould make it viewthe expansionist
process in a regionalmanner.Althoughthat process wasbegunin the
laternineteenthcenturyandbythe •92oswasforcefullyexpressed in a
seriesof politicalprotestmovements,Riel wasfar from a hero in the
West.This may havebeenbecausethe secondconditionwasabsent.
While the Westhad a regionalperspectiveon Canadianhistory,it was
also a region in which the societyconsidereditself predominantly
Englishand Protestant.SolongasLouisRielwasthoughtof in termsof
a defenceof FrenchCatholicism, westernwriterswouldnotadopthim
asoneof their own.Only asprofessional and secularscholars suchas
Stanleybegan to reassess Riel as a symbolof native rather than of
French-Catholicresistance wasRiel likely to be acceptable to western
Canadians.The declineof religiouscontroversyin the yearsafter
WorldWar n further relegatedtraditionalconcerns to a lessimportant
position.The denominationalissues whichhadseemedsoimportantto
earlier generationsbecamelessrelevant in an increasinglysecular
nation.Riel asa westernerwasthusableto supplantRielasCatholic.
Certainlythe •95os markedthe beginningof a seriesof publica-
tions,statues, speeches,
and politicalrhetoricwhichcontinues unabated
to the presentday.The sameyear that sawthe appearanceof 'Biasof
PrairiePolitics'broughtthe publicationof workactuallywrittenduring
the protest-filledyears of the •92os but unpublisheduntil •955.
William Davidson'sportrayal of Riel heartily scornsthe 'Upper
Canadians'who 'aspiredto own a Crown Colonyof their own.'•7 In
•96• E.B. Osiercombinedthe viewthat Riel wasdefendingthe native
populationwith the westernregionalviewin a romanticization of the
oldorderoftheWestanditsdefence
against
intruders?Morerecently
55 Rid ProjectBulletinno 5, April •98•, 4
56 Asidefrom the recountingof • 885 in the variouspolicehistories,therewerea
numberof memoirsand storiesof the militiaunitsand specifichistoriesof the
rebellionfrom themilitaryperspective. See,asexamples, GeorgeDunlop,Tales
oftheNorth-West Rebellion(Edmonton• 934); Neil Brodie, TwelveDayswiththeIndians
(Battleford • 93a); and PrinceAlbert Old Timers, Reminiscences
of theRielRebel-
lionof •885 (PrinceAlbert •935).
57 W.M. Davidson,LouisRiel, •844-•885 (Calgary•955), a6
58 E.B. Osier, TheMan WhoHad toHang (Toronto •96•)
a workconcernedwith westerngrievancesdescribedthe • 885 uprising

as'the mostviolentexpression
of westernalienation.'59
Riel hasgone
from being a piece of western folklore to a symbol of western
grievance.
aø
Emphaseson westernregionalismand nativerightsthus became
importantpartsof the writingson Riel by the •96os.LouisRiel had
become,to varyingdegrees,a symbolof Canada'sunjusttreatmentof
its nativepeoples,man'sinjusticeto hisfellowman, and the mistreat-
ment of the West at the handsof the East.Yet the mostimportant
addition to the symbolismbehind Riel came not becausea new
meaningwasassignedto him but becausethere wasa reassessment of
an older interpretation.It wasthe adoptionand adaptationby many
EnglishCanadiansof the long-standingFrench-Canadianbelief that
Riel had beendefendinghiscultureand language.As hasbeennoted,
thissortof argumenthadbeenviewedwith littlesympathyin English
Canada through much of the century.In the •96os, however,new
currentsof thoughtcausedmany in EnglishCanadato reassess their
attitudes.The electionofJeanLesage's Liberalsin Quebecin • 96o,the
beginningof the Quiet Revolution,and the riseof terroristgroupsled
to commissions on bilingualismandbiculturalismanda newsensitivity
on the part of manyEnglishCanadiansto the factthat eitherQuebec
and FrenchCanadagenerallywould have to be treateddifferently or
Canada might not survive. At the same time, however, there was
resistance to thisidea from other EnglishCanadianswhosawfamiliar
societiesbeingsweptawayby the vastchangestakingplaceor expected
to takeplace.In thisatmosphereLouisRielbecamea weapon.His story
couldbe usedas a messageby thosewho urged reform to remind
othersof the previousinjustices againstFrenchCanada.Acceptance of
Rielwas,in a way,a deliberaterejectionof the'imperialist'and ]ingoist'
aspects of Canada'spastwhichseemed,to the degreetheysurvived,to
threaten the necessaryreforms. As such his symbolismbecame
nationalin scope:whileeasterners maynot havehadmuchinterestin
LouisRiel'smeaningasa westerner,they were very muchconcerned
with the implicationsof his lessonto French-Englishrelationsin
Canada as a whole. The new concern with Riel as a French Canadian is
clearlyillustratedin a • 965 editionof Howard'swork.In an introduc-
tion by Hartwell Bowsfield,de Voto'sconcernis replacedwith a more
Canadianpreoccupation: '... theeffectof hiscareerwasof significance,
59 OwenAnderson,'The UnfinishedRevolt,'in Anderson,ed., TheUnfinished
Revolt(Toronto • 97 •), 36
6o This writer'sfavouriteuseof the Rielmythcameduringthe Ottawa-Alberta
energywarswhena politician,onewhowill remainunnamed,arguedthatRiel's
fighthad beenonefor the provincialownershipof naturalresources.
for the resistance

of the m•tis peopleat RedRiverproveda stimulusto
FrenchCanadiannationalismwhichto thisdaystillgivesthe Canadian
politicalexperienceitsuniqueandchallengingaspect.Rielwouldhave
understoodand thrived in the current debateas to the meaningof
Canadian federalism.
This reattachment of Riel to the concernsof French-English
relationsin Canada has continued. It has also proved extremely
adaptable.In • 979, for instance,the CanadianBroadcasting Corpora-
tion portrayedRiel'sfight for justiceas an alternativeto an Ontario
fanaticismthat wouldbreed separatism.Bilingualism,it wasurgedby
oneactor,wastheultimatesolution?LouisRiel,oneis tempted
to
comment,had ceasedto be PatrickHenry andhadbecomeinsteadan
officiallanguagescommissioner.
This interpretationof Riel meant that for the first time since• 869
Frenchand EnglishCanadiansheld essentially similarviews.For in
FrenchCanadaRiel had remaineda standardand sympathetically
treatedfigurein school
texts,historical
works,andnovels.
63Generally,
however,there has been very little original scholarshipon Riel in
Frenchsince• 95o. French-Canadian historians,
it wouldappear,have
becomeincreasinglypreoccupiedwith the historyof Quebec.Louis
Rielremainsa symbolof injustice,it istrue,butthe geographiclocation
of that injusticemakes him somewhatirrelevant to an intellectual
communitybeginningto discuss the ideaof a separateQuebecnation.
Thus, ironically,EnglishCanada'sconcernwith cultural duality has
tendedto make Riel more an English-Canadian hero than a French
one.64
Through the later •95os and into the •96os two thingsbecame
apparent.First, there wasa growinginterestin Riel. In •957 R.E.
Lamb's Thunder in the North and G.H. Needler's Louis Riel furthered
interestin the subject,while in • 96o the Universityof Toronto Press
gaverecognitionto the new importanceof Riel by reissuingStanley's
BirthofWestern Canada,thistime in paperback.It hasremainedin print
eversince.In • 963 Stanleypublishedhisfull biography,LouisRiel.A.I.
Silver and Marie-France Valleur's North-West Rebellion followed in
6• Howard, Strange Empire

62 'Riel,'GeorgeBloomfielddirector,screenplay by RayMoore
63 Jean-Jules Richard,LouisRiel,Exovide (Montreal•972), servesasan exampleof a
recentnovel.RecenttextsincludeJ. Lacoursi•re,J. Provencher,and D. Vau-
geois,Canada/Quebec synth•se
historique(Montreal• 978),4o9- • o, 437-9, andP.A.
Linteau,Ren• Durocher,etJ.C. Robert,HistoireduQuebec (Quebec• 979). The
latter,interestingly,adoptsa frontieristapproach.
64 BothOsier(•964) and Bowsfield's biography(•973) havebeentranslatedinto
French.
•967 and two yearslater Hartwell Bowsfield'sLouisRiel: Rebelof the

Western
Frontier
orVictim
ofPolitics?
appeared.
a5WhileRielgainedin
importancethoseearlier heroes,La V•rendrye, Selkirk,and Simpson
fadedinto the background.Eventhe NorthwestMountedPolicewere
notthe dominantfigurestheyhad oncebeen.In fact, •95o sawthe last
publication
ofafull-length
history
ofthepolice
fortwenty
years.
aaThe
storyof theopeningofthe CanadianWesthadbeenreplacedwiththat
of the defenceof the older order. EnglishCanadianshad identified
with Riel'scauseand he wasthus,whateverhisflaws,on the right side
of history.Like Mackenzieand Papineaubeforehim, and the Loyalists
beforethem, he had becomeone of Canada'sspeciallosers.
Secondly,by the •96os there was a similar outlook in both the
scholarlyand popularwritingson Riel.The former,it wastrue, tended
to be morequalifiedin their praisefor Riel and morecautiousin their
judgmentsgenerally.For the most part, however,scholarsreadily
acceptedthe elevationof Riel to historicalstatus,perhapsthankfulto
haveat leastone portion of Canadianhistoryviewedwith interestby
thegeneralpublicand students.Manyworks,in fact,soughtto bridge
the traditionalgapbetweenacademicand public.HartwellBowsfield's
briefandreadable
biography
of Rielprovides
onesuchexample
and
even G.F.G. Stanley'sfull-length biographyof Riel was popular
enoughto go throughsix printingsin six years.
a7 More recently
Thomas Flanagan'sstudyof Riel has receivedwidespreadpublicity
andhasbeenputonthelistsofamajorbookclub?Riel,it wouldseem,
hasbecomenot onlya symbolto Canadiansbut a subjectof fascination
for them.
With hisreputationsecurein the annalsof scholarlywritings,Louis
Riel becamea subjectfor repeated popular historicaland fictional
treatmentin the yearsafter • 96o. The workspublishedin responseto
this publicinterest,whether fictionalor historical,varied greatlyin
qualityand style.There were, nevertheless,certainrecurrent themes
whichrevealedthe existence of a Rielmythaswellasanyof thespecific
historiographicinterpretationswhich have been discussed.For in
thesewritingsLouis Riel'scharacter,career, and motiveshave been
interpretedwith an eyeto hislegend.He hasbecomean almostclassic
hero, possessedof great nobility and, as in the Greek tragedy,
65 Hartwell Bowsfield,LouisRiel (Toronto a969);G.F.G. Stanley,LouisRiel

(Toronto a963)
66 J. Turner, TheNorth-WestMountedPolice,•873-•893 (Ottawaa95o)
67 HartwellBowsfield,LouisRiel:theRebelandtheHero(Toronto •97a); Stanley,
Louis Riel
68 Flanagan,Louis'David'Riel
belabouredby tragicflaws.In theirjudgmentson him, recentwritings

revealmuchof thenatureof theRielmyth.69
The firstjudgment madeof Riel in muchof the literatureisthat of
motive.Earlier workshavedebatedwhat mixtureof egoism,insanity,
and altruismshapedRiel'sactivities.More recentpopularworkshave
continuedthe debatebut haveshiftedthe emphasis.Riel'smotivesin
leadinghis peopleare seenasessentially sincere.The mythseemsto
havedemandedthat Rielbe freed of anytaint of personalambitionin
hisdecisionto leadthe M•tis. His leadershiptendsto be portrayedasa
reluctantone in whichhe is imposedupon, in both • 869 and • 885, to
takeup theburdenof hispeople.Givensuchreluctance,Riel'sreputed
offer to leave the countryin • 885 if paid enoughby the Canadian
government iseitherdismissed or viewedin a lightfavourable
toRiel.7ø
Finally,the 'right' of Riel to lead his peopleis emphasizedand his
leadershipseenasspringingfrom the peoplethemselves. LouisRiel,
the reader is continuallyreminded,wasone of thosehe led and his
selectionwas a popularly demanded one as befitted a hero in a
democraticage.
With Riel'smotivesestablished, the next stepfor mostwritersis to
vindicatehis cause.This is relativelyeasyas historianshave always
acceptedthe factthat the Canadiangovernmenthad madeerrorsand
that the Canada party in Red River had createdtensionswithin the
settlement.Scholarlyworks,suchas thoseby Stanleyand Morton,
hadcarefullydocumented thesedifficultiesandthepopularizers really
had to do little new to explain the reasonfor the M•tis resistance.
Nevertheless, thereisa tendencyamongsomepopularizersto simplify
issuesand to makethe Canadiansmore villainousthan wasactuallythe
case. All the Canadians involved in the Red River and Northwest
rebellionshavehad their reputationssuffer with the exceptionof the
seeminglyinvulnerableMacdonald.The Canadian party has been
portrayedas 'bullyboys,'7• 'bigotedintellectuals,
'72and 'rowdies,'7•
while Thomas Scott,William McDougall,and John ChristianSchultz
69 The followingparagraphsare drawnfrom a seriesof post-•960 works:Pierre

Berton,TheNationalDream(Toronto • 97o); CanadianBroadcasting Corporation,
'Riel'; Peter Charlebois,TheLife ofLouisRiel (sc Press•975); Association
of
M•tis and Non-StatusIndiansof Saskatchewan, Justice
MustbeDone;Harry Somers,
LouisRiel:MusicDonein ThreeActs;Lusty,LouisRiel:Humanitarian; George
Woodcock,GabrielDumont(Edmonton• 975); Osier,TheMan WhoHad toHang;
R.W. Robertson,TheExecution of Thomas Scott(Toronto •968); FrankRasky,The
Tamingof theCanadianWest(Toronto • 967).
7ø For sucha favourableinterpretationseeCharlebois,Life ofLouisRiel.
7 • Osier,TheMan WhoHad toHang,9
7• Charlebois,Life ofLouisRiel, 3•
73 Rasky,Tamingof theCanadianWest(Toronto •967), •o•
havetendedto becomecardboardcaricaturesof everythingthat was

wrongwithEnglishCanada.TMIt isnotenough,it wouldappear,to have
Rielin oppositionto indifferenceand ignorance.The heromustfight
positivelyevil forces for only then can his struggletake on the
symbolism demanded.
A third essentialattributefor mythicalstatusisusefulness.This does
not mean that Riel had to be seenas succeeding for, after all, many
heroicfiguresfailed.Rather,it meantthat Riel musthavecontributed
to the causewhichhe led and, at the veryleast,not havemadethings
worse.Interestingly,this seemsto be the mostvulnerablespotin the
Riel legend.Most writersassertthat Riel made positivegainsfor the
M•tis in obtainingthe provincialstatusfor Manitobain • 869-7o andat
leastmadethe governmentawareof the problemsthat existedalong
the North Saskatchewan in • 885. There remains,however,a nagging
doubt about Riel's decisionto begin a rebellion initially and then,
havingdone so, failing to utilize the M•tis forcesto bestadvantage.
Louis Riel's military tacticscan be seen as the positive act of a
peace-loving
manTM
buttheyalsotendtobeseen
aseither'naivet•
'76or,
worseyet,a signthathismindwaslosingitsgriponreality.The resultis
that in recentyearsan alternatehero hasshownsignsof emergingto
complementRiel. GabrielDumont,plainsfighterand militarystrateg-
ist,hasbeenthe subjectof a full-lengthand admiringwork recently,
whilevariousworkshavetakenlibertieswith factby makingDumonta
majorfigureat Red Riveraswellasin the • 885 rebellion. TM
Finally,in the classictradition of heroes,LouisRiel died for his
cause.This is important for unlike two other rebelsin Canadian
history,William Lyon Mackenzieand Louis-Joseph Papineau,Riel's
reputationwasnot to suffer becauselater yearswereto makehim an
irrelevant figure. He died at the height of his power and with
controversyswirlingaround him. The debateover the trial hassimply
addedto the imageryand accentuatedthe senseof martyrdomwhich
pervadeshisexecution.The decisionof Macdonaldto allowthe lawto
take itscourseat Reginainadvertentlycontributedto the myth of the
man who causedhim somuch difficultyin life.
Collectively,the writingsof the last two decades,while assigning
74 Goodexamplesof thisincludeHarry Somers,Riel,•, 5o; Osler,TheMan Who

Had toHang;and RudyWiebe,TheScorched-Wood People(Toronto•977). One
exceptionisthe shortstudyby R. Robertson,TheExecution ofThomas Scott(Toronto
• 968),whichportraysScottin a ratherkindlylight.
75 Association of M•tis and Non-StatusIndians,Justice
MustBeDone,48
76 Rasky,TheTamingof theCanadianWest,•3•
77 Woodcock,GabrielDumont.Seealsothe revealingcommentsof MargaretLaurence
in her reviewof Woodcock's Dumontin Canadian Forum,Dec. •975, •8-9.
certainheroicattitudesto Riel,donotyielda straightforward

answerto
thequestionposedat thebeginningof thepaper:What nationalidealis
Riel thoughtto represent.Indeed, the evolutionof the myth and the
natureof itsappealwouldindicatethat Riel'slegendarystatusrestson
the different meaningswhich he hasassumedin the eyesof various
communities withinCanada.As a defenderof French-Catholic rights,
M•tis culture, or westernidentity Riel would appealto only a small
portion of Canada.By being portrayedas a defender of all these
things,however,he appealsto a great number of Canadians.In fact,
given the complexnature of the Riel myth, with variousgroups
adoptinghim for different reasons,it is temptingto arguethat Riel
givesus one more pieceof evidencethat Canadais a land of 'limited
identities.
'?sRiel,in otherwords,hasbecome
a nationalmythonly
becausehe hasevolvedasa pluralisticsymbol.
The particularsignificanceattachedto Rielby variouscommunities
wouldseemto reinforcethisargument.RielisascloseasCanadacomes
to a nationalmyth yet the symbolismthat has evolvedis extremely
divisive.The lessonsemphasizedare those of historicalinjustice;
French againstEnglish,East againstWest, Anglo-Saxoncivilization
againsta nomadicpeople.LouisRiel maynot be a symbolof Canadian
valuessomuchasa form of nationalpenitencefor our shortcomings.
PerhapsLous'David'Riel, the unstableprophetof the newworld,has
beenvindicatedin his myth - martyredfor the sinsof society.As one
writer said,'LouisRiel is Canada'sJoanof Arc.'79
Yet the myth of Riel as it has evolvedis not merely a complex
religiousallegoryof sinand martyrdom.The martyristoo flawedand
his religiousdelusionsremain, in mostworks,the tragic flaw in the
hero'scharacter.Rather, the storyof Riel is alsoa civicslessonof a
peculiarlyCanadiannature. The writingson him are both a reminder
of the continuous frictions within Canadian life and of the delicate
natureof the Canadiannation.Thosewho wouldforgetthe necessity
for compromisewithin Canada,as the Canadiangovernmentdid in
• 869or asRieldid in • 885, invitedisaster.Riel's'insane'pretensions
of
foundinga new nation along the North Saskatchewan and Macdon-
ald'sfailure to showmercyafter Riel wasdefeatedled to disasterfor
bothof them.'Where,in Riel'sactionsat thistimewasthe harmonyor
the proportion he had shownon occasionbefore, the harmony and
proportion that distinguish reasonableambition from the blind
compulsion
of a madman?
'søThe celebration
of rebellion
isnota part
of the myth of the peaceablekingdom.
78 J.M.S. Careless,'"Limited Identities"in Canada,'CanadianHiatorical
Review,
•969, •-•o
79 HectorCoutu,Lagimodi•re andtheirDescendants(Edmonton• 98o),63
8o Osier,TheMan WhoHad toHang,

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DOUGLAS OWRAM

IN RECENT YEARS Louis Riel has become somewhat of a Canadian folk

Such attention is a relatively recent phenomenon.In fact, the

communityor becausethey are thoughtusefulto thosecreatingthe

Giventhe importantrole whichRiel hasassumed in recentyears,the

materialflowingfrom the eventsof •869-•87o and •885. Once the

people in Red River had reason for complaintas the transfer

R.G. MacBeth,TheMakingoftheCanadianWest(Toronto •9o5), 3o-x

M•tis settlersas it did amongthoseof Englishblood.'•"Quite aside

ate than Riel to portray the significanceof the West in Canadian

2o SeeArthur Silver,'FrenchQuebecand the M•tis Question,'in R. Cookand C.

interpretationwouldhaveit thatRielhad no realchoicebutto imposea

of motherchurch.27Nevertheless, oneis left with the impression

The natureof Canadianhistoriography on Riel underwentimportant

Riel. It would be a mistake,however,to seethem as beginningthe

leadershipof a semi-nomadic'nation'caughtbetweentwo ancestries

Indiansof qualitycomparablewith this.'•7 LouisRiel had, in a quite

thoughtof the newnationwhoseflagit mighthavebeen:havenfor the

scholarlywork by Thomas Flanaganhas developedthis theme by

45 ThomasFlanagan,LouisDavidRiel:'Prophet' of theNewWorld(Toronto 1979)

collapse,he neverthelessfeels the actionsof the MEtisto have been

hasindicatedthat his interestin the rebel grew in part from stories

a workconcernedwith westerngrievancesdescribedthe • 885 uprising

for the resistance

6• Howard, Strange Empire

•967 and two yearslater Hartwell Bowsfield'sLouisRiel: Rebelof the

65 Hartwell Bowsfield,LouisRiel (Toronto a969);G.F.G. Stanley,LouisRiel

belabouredby tragicflaws.In theirjudgmentson him, recentwritings

69 The followingparagraphsare drawnfrom a seriesof post-•960 works:Pierre

havetendedto becomecardboardcaricaturesof everythingthat was

74 Goodexamplesof thisincludeHarry Somers,Riel,•, 5o; Osler,TheMan Who

certainheroicattitudesto Riel,donotyielda straightforward

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