# data[].attributes.body
Multiculturalism Archives. (n.d.). Retrieved June 07, 2017, from http://www.83toinfinity.com/tag/multiculturalism/

# data[].attributes.body
Louis Riel (n.d.). Retrieved June 07, 2017, from http://library.usask.ca/northwest/background/riel.htm

# data[].attributes.body
Independent Historic Métis Community. (n.d.). Retrieved June 07, 2017, from http://saugeenmetis.com/

# data[].attributes.body
Canada, L. A. (2015, May 05). Louis Riel. Retrieved June 07, 2017, from http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/aboriginal-heritage/metis/Pages/louis-riel.aspx

# data[].attributes.body
HERITAGE MINUTES#PARTOF OUR HERITAGE. (n.d.). Retrieved June 07, 2017, from https://www.historicacanada.ca/content/heritage-minutes/louis-riel

# data[].attributes.body
Louis Riel. (n.d.). Retrieved June 07, 2017, from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/m/article/louis-riel/

# data[].attributes.body
The Métis flag

# data[].attributes.body
Louis Riel

# data[].attributes.body
But what we know to be Canadian identity and nationalism today, a time when different cultures are celebrated, French and English are used in the media and government services equally, Métis are far more advanced and assured, a time when of justice and freedom of speech.  When we consider modern nationalism, as oppose to traditional, ethnocentric, assimilative ultranationalism, it can definitely be said that Louis Riel was a nationalist before his time.

# data[].attributes.body
Some have argued that Louis Riel unknowingly or unwillingly contributed to Canadian nationalism because many of his contributions to Canadian identity as a whole occurred years later as a result of his legacy.  That during is lifetime there are many instances where he actually resisted the government and Confederation.  That is true.  Louis Riel was not in support of Canadian identity in 1870.

# data[].attributes.body
He took part in the advancing of the political status of his nation within a nation.  His non-nationalist loyalty to his culture and language moved him to contribute to Métis recognition and ultimately promote Canadian nationalism.  Riel was not only Father of confederation, but also of maintaining nationalism to both the nation state and the individual nation within the nation state.  This is the concept that Canadian nationalism is built upon.

# data[].attributes.body
Louis Riel’s loyalty to the Métis lead to the formation of the province of Manitoba. The Manitoba  Act ensured bilingualism and protection for the Métis’ land rights.  Also, the provisional government of which he organized and was president of in Manitoba had a council of representatives that were equally French speaking and English speaking, an example to the rest of Canada at the time.  This promoted multiculturalism and concern for  minority rights.  These are noentrenched in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

# data[].attributes.body
Riel also promoted bilingualism and multiculturalism.  Which then seemed like contemporary concepts are now essential aspects of Canadian identity and are guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

# data[].attributes.body
The controversy over his execution led to the foundations of French Canadian nationalism, a fundamental shift in the political outlook of Québec-from conservative to liberal.

# data[].attributes.body
Louis Riel’s loyalty to the Métis lead to the formation of the province of Manitoba

# data[].attributes.body
Loyal- Although Canada exiled him, that didn't stop him from returning to support his fellow Canadian Métis.  He loyally fought for them until his death, or in other words, his martyrdom.

# data[].attributes.body
Decisive- He took action.  While at times this led to premature judgments or decisions that put his own safety at risk, he accomplished a lot for the Métis and the prairie provinces.

# data[].attributes.body
A leader- Louis Riel was a two-time president of two different provisional governments that he himself founded.  He put the needs of the collective Métis people before his individual ones.  He ensured equality and bilateral communication (Métis and the government of Canada).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Métis leader recalls his struggle for his people in the moments before his execution (1885). Heritage Minute Cast Riel: Roy Dupuis Additional Cast: Lynne Adams

# data[].attributes.body
During his exile in Montana, he became an American citizen and married a Métis woman named Marguerite Monet dit Bellehumeur.  They had a son and a daughter, Jean-Louis Riel and Angélique Riel.

# data[].attributes.body
Riel returned to Canada in 1884 to assist the Métis in the Saskatchewan Valley.  A Revolutionary Bill of Rights was drafted.  500 soldiers were sent by the Canadian Government, they eventually defeated the Métis and put an end to their provisional government.  Riel, the president, was put on trial and executed in Regina, SK on November 16,1885.

# data[].attributes.body
Later in 1870, Riel fled to the US, in fear of the Red River Expedition, an effort to kill him by Ontario's Lieutenant Governor A.G. Archibald.  He returned in 1871, but was then exiled to the States in 1875.

# data[].attributes.body
On May 12, 1870, the Manitoba Act brought Manitoba (including Assiniboia) into confederation.  The act gave land specifically to Métis residents and their descendants and ensured that the province would be officially bilingual.

# data[].attributes.body
In spring 1870, a small troop of armed Canadians was mistaken as a threat by the Métis National Committee and was imprisoned, with one person, Thomas Scott, being executed.  Later, this man would be known as Riel's "murder victim,” leading to Riel’s exile.

# data[].attributes.body
With the Métis National Committee, Riel took over Upper Fort Gary. In an attempt to retain control of the Assiniboia (Red River and surrounding area), the committee formed a group of delegates who would act as a provisional government, deciding to what extent they would cooperate with the rest of Canada.  The delegates were equally made up of French and English speakers.

# data[].attributes.body
He eventually left the seminary and later was elected secretary and later president of the Métis National Committee. It's mission was to protect the Métis political, social, and cultural status in Canada's new North-Western Territory

# data[].attributes.body
At age 13, he received a scholarship at a Sulpician school in Montréal.

# data[].attributes.body
Born on October 22, 1844 in Saint-Boniface, Red River Settlement (Manitoba)