Riel House is Canada Strong

The Canada Strong Pass encourages Canadians and travellers alike to explore the treasured places that contribute to our national identity. Exemplified in every national park and national historic site is the strength of Canada, from legacies of resilience, the power in community, forces of nature, the fortitude of architecture and even physical feats. Parks Canada invites you to celebrate the significance of these places through sharing stories of strength, respecting the wild beauty of nature and using the Canada Strong Pass to the fullest.

Resilience is strength and Parks Canada is proud to say that Riel House National Historic Site is Canada Strong.

Riel House is located in the heart of the homeland of the Red River Métis Nation and bore witness to the resilience that embodies the strength of this site. Built in 1881, it is often remembered as the home where Louis Riel’s body lay in state for two days following his execution. Mischaracterized as a traitor by the Canadian government, Louis Riel is now recognized as the first Premier of Manitoba, a title he earned in part through his tireless dedication to defending and uplifting the Métis political voice.

Riel’s death in 1885, although a deeply painful and defining moment in both Métis and Canadian history, was neither the end nor the beginning of the Métis Nation. Some say that the Battle of Frog Plain of 1816 birthed the Nation. An overwhelming victory for the Métis, following the battle this newly formed peoplehood rallied to exercise their strength in other ways, including within the political sphere.

Rules and voting structures were established in large-scale, organized buffalo hunts that not only physically sustained the Métis families that participated but were also a crucial piece of the prairie economy. This democratic system, with its chief captain, chain of command and collective responsibility, informed the way the Métis structured their political pursuits. By placing an emphasis on community, freedom and democracy, the fledging Métis Nation set the tone for their future.

In the coming years their way of life and connection to the land, a pillar of their Nation, was threatened through actions such as the Hudson Bay Company’s increasing demands to solely control ownership and distribution of furs, or borders that felt arbitrary to the Métis who followed the paths of the bison. They fought back with protests, petitions and legal action, demanding free trade and political independence.

Following the confederation of Canada, these threats became more imminent, and the Métis worried about the further silencing of their assertion of rights, leading to the Red River Resistance. In 1869 and 1870, vowing to protect their rights, the Métis resisted the encroachment of Canada by taking up arms, codifying their laws and creating a provisional government called the Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia. This chorus of Métis political voices gave them the power to negotiate the eventual confederation of Manitoba as a province of Canada.

Riel, a major influence in the resistance, was forced to flee. However, as his Nation struggled under Canadian rule, he returned. In this time, he drafted petitions, spoke at meetings, and upheld their assertion of rights, culminating in The Revolutionary Bill of Rights. This bill was met with violent animosity from the government, sparking another armed resistance. The North-West Resistance of 1885 lasted five months, ending with the execution of Riel.

A place to mourn Louis Riel would not be the only time that that Riel House became an amphitheatre for the relentless resilience of the Métis Nation. In 1909, 24 years after the North-West Resistance and death of Louis Riel, 39 years after the Red River Resistance and 93 years after the Battle of Frog Plain, the leaders of the Métis Nation debated, discussed and defined the future of the Nation. Within the walls of Riel House, these men and women faced the weight of previous and ongoing attempts to silence the Métis Nation and they knew they needed to share their history in their own words.

A historical committee was created by the group, committed to the work of reversing anti-Métis sentiments, such as the categorization of their resistance within their homeland as “rebellions”. They published a book in 1935, Histoire de la Nation Métisse dans l’Ouest Canadien (“History of the Métis Nation in Western Canada”), that pulled together stories from Métis survivors of these resistances, codifying stories that were traditionally passed down orally.

As the Métis political voice has continued to make itself heard, Riel House has continued to be an important place to hear it. In this home, the Louis Riel Institute shares the story of Louis Riel’s life, death and his struggle to defend Métis rights, the house still furnished to mourn him. In 2017, the house became host to his descendants, and the parlour came alive with the sound of familial chatter. Here, Jean Teillet, a descendant herself, shared a reading of an early draft of what would become The North-West is Our Mother. A fulsome history of the Métis Nation, this book informed this blog post.

These voices, past and present, echo in Riel House, solidifying the resilience that makes this site Canada Strong.