Louis Riel arrested for treason
...n two clashes between the Metis and the government forces. Yesterday, Riel surrendered, and now he is imprisoned for treason. Now that we know the background of Riel's sentence, you can see that Riel has done nothing more but try to further protect Metis rights. Louis Riel was helping the common good of the Metis when he took action to ensure the rights of the Metis would be guaranteed before the Canadian government would take over the Red River Settlement. Sir John A. Macdonald was just in passing the bill. I suppose Mr. Macdonald responded to the list of rights from Riel because of the execution of Anglophone Thomas Scott, which caused outrage throughout all English Canada. Perhaps Riel should not have chosen to be quite so abrupt and merciless in executing Scott, but it should be kept in mind that Scott was quite a troublemaker. When the prime minister finally acted, the Metis were provided with a new governor, a land grant, and the right to vote. In addition, a representative in parliament for Manitoba was issued, and most importantly, French was made an official language in Canada. French could be communicated in courts and government offices, and it could also be used as a language of instruction in school. In Louis Riel's actions, all of French Canada had become much more satisfied, on top of appeasing the Metis. Riel had helped shape the bilingualism of our country through his actions, and had actually added ease to satisfying the French-speaking minority who were becoming concerned about their way of life anyway. It happened again that the government sent surveyors out to threaten Metis landholders. The government should not have been threatening the Metis once again, after having passed the bill to protect their rights. Riel acted again, simply trying to secure the fact that the rights of the Metis were still protected. Riel sent another bill of rights to Sir John A. Macdonald, who did not respond for four entire months. By this time, as impatient as we probably would be as well, Riel assumed that the government would not go to terms to assess the rights of the Metis. Now, if the prime minister woul...