Louis Riel And The Creation Of Modern Canada

"Jennifer Reid looks at the man known today as the founder of Manitoba. Not just a traditional biography, Reid examines Riel's education and religious beliefs."--[book jacket].

Shining a spotlight on the life, vision, and cultivation of one of Canada's most influential historical figures.

The rise and fall of Louis Riel (1844-85) spanned only fifteen years, yet he is one of the most controversial and colourful people in Canadian history. The central figure in two rebellions, which he led on behalf of the French-speaking half-breeds called Metis, Riel has caught the imagination of Canadians as few other historical personalities have done. His career began with the acts of resistance at the Red River Settlement in 1869, and continued through the formation of a Provisional Government and the notorious shooting of Thomas Scott in 1870, through years of mental illness and exile in the United States, to the North West Rebellion of 1885. It reached an inevitable climax with his surrender and trial and the passionate outpouring of feeling that rocked the country when he was found guilty of treason and executed. The religious and racial emotions of the time, the bigotry and opportunism of politicians, and Riel's own unstable mental condition all combine to make of his life a Canadian tragedy, one that had profound consequences for Confederation.

What did happen to the body of Thomas Scott?The disposal of the body of Canadian history's most famous political victim is the starting point for historian J.M. Bumsted's new look at some of the most fascinating events and personalities of Manitoba's Red River Settlement.To outsiders, 19th-century Red River seemed like a remote community precariously poised on the edge of the frontier. Small and isolated though it may have been, Red River society was also lively, well educated, multicultural and often contentious. By looking at well-known figures from a new perspective, and by examining some of the more obscure corners of the settlement's history, Bumsted challenges many of the widely held assumptions about Red River. He looks, for instance, at the brief, unhappy Swiss settlement at Red River, examines the controversial reputation of politician John Christian Shultz, and delves into the sensational scandal of a prominent clergyman's trial.Vividly written, Thomas Scott's Body pieces together a new and often surprising picture of early Manitoba and its people.

There is a missing chapter in the narrative of Canada’s Indigenous peoples—the story of the Métis Nation, a new Indigenous people descended from both First Nations and Europeans Their story begins in the last decade of the eighteenth century in the Canadian North-West. Within twenty years the Métis proclaimed themselves a nation and won their first battle. Within forty years they were famous throughout North America for their military skills, their nomadic life and their buffalo hunts. The Métis Nation didn’t just drift slowly into the Canadian consciousness in the early 1800s; it burst onto the scene fully formed. The Métis were flamboyant, defiant, loud and definitely not noble savages. They were nomads with a very different way of being in the world—always on the move, very much in the moment, passionate and fierce. They were romantics and visionaries with big dreams. They battled continuously—for recognition, for their lands and for their rights and freedoms. In 1870 and 1885, led by the iconic Louis Riel, they fought back when Canada took their lands. These acts of resistance became defining moments in Canadian history, with implications that reverberate to this day: Western alienation, Indigenous rights and the French/English divide. After being defeated at the Battle of Batoche in 1885, the Métis lived in hiding for twenty years. But early in the twentieth century, they determined to hide no more and began a long, successful fight back into the Canadian consciousness. The Métis people are now recognized in Canada as a distinct Indigenous nation. Written by the great-grandniece of Louis Riel, this popular and engaging history of “forgotten people” tells the story up to the present era of national reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. 2019 marks the 175th anniversary of Louis Riel’s birthday (October 22, 1844)

Biography, focussing on Riel's prophetic mission.

A biography of Louis Riel.

Across the British Empire and the world, the 1920s and 1930s were a time of unprecedented social and cultural change. Girls and young women were at the heart of many of these shifts, which included the aftermath of the First World War, the enfranchisement of women, and the rise of the flapper or “Modern Girl.” Out of this milieu, the Girl Guide movement emerged as a response to popular concerns about age, gender, race, class, and social instability. The British-based Guide movement attracted more than a million members in over forty countries during the interwar years. Its success, however, was neither simple nor straightforward. Using an innovative multi-sited approach, Kristine Alexander digs deeper to analyze the ways in which Guiding sought to mold young people in England, Canada, and India. She weaves together a fascinating account that connects the histories of girlhood, internationalism, and empire, while asking how girls and young women understood and responded to Guiding’s attempts to lead them toward a service-oriented, “useful” feminine future.