Welcome back,
For the past three weeks we’ve been learning about Louis Riel and his story. I’ve spent numerous hours focusing on this man and his controversial life he lived. In the end my only question is, how long will peoples portrayals of us affect us? Do we ever grow out of it like Louis Riel did, even after many many years.
Throughout this learning we’ve not only learned all about Louis but also how to write. Due to covid and other conflicts our writing was sloppy and not our grade level. So teachers took action to improve it and with harsh criticism and numerous hours of learning proper spelling, paragraph placements and more. I think my writing has definitely improved, atleast I hope, and with the countless times my work was sent back I pray it got better.
Let’s look through my multi paragraph which explains the controversy between Louis Riel’s actions and his portrayals. As well as you can see the “improved writing.”
Introduction
Louis Riel's controversial actions during the 19th century left a long lasting impact on the way Canadian society perceived him. Throughout history Louis Riel has been called many things. A Métis leader and hero, as well as traitor and rebel, but what caused these portrayals? Two main examples that show his controversial actions are: the Heritage minute made in 1991 and his statues made in the 1990’s. Both events had negative backlash. The representations mentioned help control the narrative in regarding that Louis Riel’s image whether he was alive or dead was controlled by others. For how long though? In the end how has the portrayal of him changed over time?
Heritage minute
In 1991 Historica Canada created a 60 second short film to give us an insight on Louis Riels last moments of life. The film captured Louis’s thoughts. During those moments he was reflecting on his controversial actions. Why he stood up for Métis culture and disrupted the Canadian goverment’s plans to silence them. Throughout the film he’s asking God to forgive him and to forgive those who will soon take his life due to his actions. One is led to believe that until very end Louis Riel lived a selfless life. In the background of the video you can hear two sides. One is the settlers and one is the Métis, while the settlers degraded him for all he was, the Métis, the people who he stood up for, thanked him. Looking back on this in 2024 we wouldn’t have done that to someone like him because times have changed as well as the portrayals of him and people’s opinions. Overtime, Louis Riels image has changed with the world, and for the better. We now reflect and celebrate his actions for the Métis and we view him as a hero for it.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjgz7O474OEAxWsAjQIHcJ0Dx4QwqsBegQIDBAF&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D0fLnJp-Rjow&usg=AOvVaw0DXBQeQYxt4QOqDkzhODXw&opi=89978449
Statues
Even a metal statue that represented Louis Riel was controversial. Lemay and Gaboury, Miguel Joyal and John Nugent were all artists who captured Louis Riel’s essense in a statue form. However, they caused a lot of controversy in 1990 with the display of these sculptures. Some people saw these statues as a symbol of heroism, and others saw them as a tease, as a provocation, because they believed he was a traitor to the Canadian government. They even went too far in vandalizing them, forcing them to relocate the controversial statues. Then later to replace some with more improved versions. This just shows that his statues served as a reminder of the difficult and complicated nature of history and the diverse perspectives that shaped public memory and commemoration. These statues stand now as the glorifying actions of a hero, perceived as harmful to Canada in the past. In the end, the portrayals of Louis Riel have shifted from being seen as a traitor and rebel to being recognized as an important figure in Canadian history and as a symbol of Indigenous rights and resistance.
Overall I actually had a ton of fun learning about Louis Riel because still in society we struggle with our image and peoples opinions, but the world has also grown. Even though he was controversial he still stood up for his culture, which to me over those weeks he became my person of inspiration. Also is there ever a powerful or famous person who never was atleast a bit disturbed. Even the most beautiful art pieces were made by artists who even cut off their own ear, or a bit of it at least.
We not only learned about Louis but also we were able to expand our learning in a more proficient manner. This project taught me a lot about how important writing, grammar, sentence structure, words, quotations and more. All this skills will benefit me and I’m able to use them in future projects, especially for next semester.
Bye bye and thanks for reading