Louis Riel

Louis "David" Riel was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people in pre-Manitoba Northwest Territories. He led two resistant movements against the government of Canada led by its first post-Confederation prime minister, John A. Macdonald. Riel sought to defend Métis rights and identity as the Northwest came progressively under the Canadian sphere of influence. Over the past seven decades especially, he has been viewed as a folk hero and protector of minority rights and culture by Métis, French Canadian and other Canadian minorities. Arguably, Riel has received more formal organizational and academic scrutiny than any other figure in Canadian history.