It was 127 years ago today, November 16, 1885, that Canadian folk hero Louis Riel was hanged. Riel, who was a leader of the North-West Rebellion, the resistance movement by the Métis and First Nations people of western Canada against the Canadian government in Saskatchewan, was tried in July 1885. The trial lasted only five days and resulted in a guilty verdict. Riel delivered two lengthy speeches during his trial, defending his own actions and affirming the rights of the Métis people. He rejected his lawyer's attempt to argue that he was not guilty by reason of insanity, asserting "Life, without the dignity of an intelligent being, is not worth having." As a result, Riel was executed by hanging.

Works about Riel and the North-West Rebellion, along with poems by Riel, are well represented at the Fisher, particularly in the Peter Charlebois and Kenny collections. Please click on the images below for a larger view. The bust at left was also donated by Charlebois, and resides in the Fisher's Maclean Hunter room.

On This Date: Louis Riel was hanged