Hanged for the crime of high treason in 1885, Riel was loyal to his people, the Metis.
Louis Riel was born in 1844, near St. Boniface, which was under the rule of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Raised in a religious home, he was sent to study to become one of the first Metis priests with Daniel McDougal and Louis Schmidt at the College de Montreal, in 1858.
For six years he studied, but left the College when he was 21 to delve into the world of law and politics. His first job was with Rodolophe La Flamme, an anti-Confederate and anti-cleric lawyer in the hub of Canadian Confederate debates.