Assignment 8-The Real Riel

Assignment #8 is about Louis Riel and his experiences during his life and supposedly after his death. I will be writing and talking to the imaginary Louis Riel and his life before and after his death. For more information about this assignment click this link. The setting for this interview is November 14th 2120.

AND NOW WE HAVE WITH US LIVE ON INFLUENTIAL HISTORY-MAKERS OF THE PAST LOUIS RIEL.

Host: Ladies and gentlemen, today is a new day with newer discoveries to make. On this wonderful morning we are lucky to have been able to bring Louis Riel here from the past to share some of the experiences he has gone throughout his life. Luckily we reached him two days before his execution. Now before, I call Louis Riel to come here on this stage, I would like to share some general information about him to give you a better understanding of who he is and why he is important to our history, particularly Manitoba's. Louis Riel was born on October 22nd, 1844 and he unfortunately passed away on November 16th, 1885. He is the oldest child of Louis Riel Sr. and Julie Lagimodière, who had eleven children in total. They were one of the well-respected French Canadian-Métis family. Now, give it up for LOUIS RIEL, (waiting for audience to settle down) who would probably give more accurate information about himself. (Louis walks onto stage, greeting the host). Louis Riel, its a pleasure to have you here.

Louis: The pleasure is all mine and I can really see the development Canada has gone through over the past century.

Host: (laughs) Of course, thanks to people such as yourself. Well, Mr. Riel today we have you here to tell us Canadians the actual truth about yourself and exactly what caused people to think what they are thinking about you right now. I heard that your father unfortunately died in 1864, how did that affect your life?

Louis: Wow, that's quiet sudden starting with my father's death. Anyways it affected my life because when I heard about my father's death, I started losing interest in the priesthood which gave me no choice but to withdraw from the college of Montreal. Afterward, I did try to continue my studies in the Grey Nuns but I was later asked to leave due to the fact that I basically had lack of both interest and discipline to the subject. Also because of the death my father, i started to work as a law clerk in the Montreal office of Rodolphe Laflamme . So, overall it affected my life as well as my career.

Host: Well, its tragic and I personally think that if i were in your shoes i would probably lose interest in priesthood too because from my experiences such shocks changes the way you think. After your fathers death, you continued to stay in Montreal and there you found someone really special. I am sure that the audience and I will love to hear more about it.

Louis: I got involved in a relationship with the most amazing woman i had ever met named Julie Guermon. Julie and I decided that we should get married and we signed a marriage contract. So basically we were engaged but however, Julie's family were against her involvement with a metis and so our engagement was broken.

Host: Riel, when your engagement was broken due to their family not wanting Julie to be involved with metis, were you offended to that comment or decision?

Louis: In fact I was offended because they made such a quick judgement, they didn't even try to get to know us metis.

Louis Riel's Kids

Host: After the incident with Julie, did you marry anyone else?

Louis: Well, after having my heart broken by Julie, I never thought I would interested in another women but I however, married another most amazing women name Marguerite. With her I had two children named Jean and Angelique and a third son who passed away at birth.

Host: Look at the bright side you were able to get over Julie and Marguerite must have been a very incredible woman. OK my next question has absolutely nothing to do with what we have been talking about. I heard that you were involved in the red river rebellion, what was your purpose or role there?

Louis: I had several roles in the Red river rebellion. These roles include: maintain peace in the settlement, preventing William McDougall from entering the settlement, being spokesmen of the Metis and there are several others that aren't as important.

Host: I have been wondering. Was your role able to end the rebellion?

Louis: To say the truth, my role had nothing to do with the end of the rebellion. Basically the rebellion ended as soon as I fled from the settlement due to the fact that most people thought that the only reason the expedition was coming was to arrest me because of Thomas Scott's execution.

Host: With all that events happening around, did you get involved in any type of problems such as stress, depression and etc.

Louis: Yes, in fact I got involved in a continues stress which later made me suffer from mental exhaustion. As it got worse I was forced to go to a psychiatric hospital in Montreal and in Beauport (somewhere near Quebec).

Host: That is so terrible and so unexpected. I also heard that many people throughout Canada has different opinions about you. Some say that you were a father of Confederation while others thought you were a traitor and other such things. How do you feel about the way other people think about you? Do you agree or disagree with their opinions?

Thomas Scott

Louis: Well, all individuals have different opinions and you really can't blame them because its all about what they hear or read about. I maybe a traitor to some eyes because I basically shot Thomas Scott by agreeing to his execution. I however think that I shouldn't have been judged so fast because obviously i wouldn't have agreed to someones execution without reasons. To think of it, if i didn't kill Thomas Scott, he would probably gather with others and try to attack Fort Garry and kill many innocent people. So, I disagree with being called a traitor because the way others thought of me killing Thomas Scott was not the way I meant it. People thought that by killing Thomas Scott, i enraged anti-Catholic and anti-French sentiment in Ontario but i was actually trying to make people to take metis more seriously. As for the father of Confederation, I have to agree because I was responsible for the entrance of Manitoba into Confederation. So technically I agree and I also disagree with their opinions.

Host: If you were able to go back in time, what would you change and why? For example would you have not killed Thomas Scott.

Thomas Scott executed
Louis: Well, if i were able to go back in time which i can actually today since i am here from the past, I would probably not kill Thomas Scott. Instead I would put him under custody because part of the reason why the government did accept our will was because I killed Thomas. The second thing I would probably change is not to flee from the settlement and instead listen to their decision because i felt really bad leaving the metis side when they needed me the most as a spokesmen. Other than that i am actually proud of myself for accomplishing more than what I planned too. I mean, I am known as a father Confederation and hero to most people.

Host: Yes, you really are a true hero. Anyway, you execution is in two day, how do you feel about that?

Louis: I feel like I am being punished for no reason, well at least i think that I am being punished for no reason. The reason for that is because I thought that I did something that would help the people of metis and lessen the racism against them. I also think that I brought the concept that everyone needs human rights, no matter what race.

Host: It was a privilege to interview you but unfortunately we are running out of time, so i guess this is a bye.Louis: The pleasure was all mine, never thought i would be able to see how this developed.Host: Watch us tomorrow to make new discoveries, same channel, same time, WATCH ME!

Click the picture to visit my partner's blog:



Here are the websites I used for information:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Riel
2. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/023001-2390-e.html
3.http://www.shsb.mb.ca/Riel/indexenglish.htm

Canadian Personalities- Assignment 7

I am responding to assignment 7 from my teacher's blog Canadian History with Miss Pollock. In this assignment I will be talking about different influential Canadian personalities who have helped our country develop and be such a successful country as it is today.

***I will be writing down the questions my teacher has asked me to answer just so it would be more clearer to read.***

a.) Which category of Canadian Personalities interested you the most? Did you like the "we inspired", "we founded", "we fought", "we built" or "we governed" section the best? Why?

The category of Canadian Personalities that interested me the most is the "we fought" category. This category talked about Marquis De Montcalm, James Wolfe, Nellie McClung, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Pierre Bourgault, Mary Brant, and Joseph Brant. This category interested me because each one of these people fought with hope that they will someday succeed and help the people that were desperate in need of help. Each one of these men and women weren't afraid of losing their lives in war or in other areas in which they could die in due to breaking the law or fighting for freedom for a country and also human beings--more importantly the fight for female suffrage and human rights. These people also set a good example of perseverance. Of course it is hard to fight in a war, to fight for human rights because we are always afraid of losing but the people that are in this category had hope, passion and determination, without them the girls wouldn't have as much human rights, or this country wouldn't be so developed and successful with the help of "some" wars (even though they were pretty rough). Those are the reasons why I thought the "We Fought" category was interesting. I got my information from a website called Meet the Personalities under the We Fought category.

b.) Which personality interested you the most? Why? Find an image of him or her to embed (add to the body of your post) and write, in your own words, a short description of what he or she did and why he or she is your favourite. If you get information from any source, you must credit it by creating a link to it (that includes information from the site that I've asked you to look at).

The personality that interested me the most was Nellie Letitia (Mooney) McClung. Nellie McClung born a poor pioneer homesteader was born on October 1873. Throughout her life she has had many different roles or jobs that has always lead her to desire for the improvement of the rights of Canadian women. At the age of 16 she was a poor teacher, after that start up job she gradually became a best selling author, suffragist, feminist and a politician. I found Nellie McClung interesting because she was concerned about human rights and made that her goal and soon succeeded into making a woman considered a person. Without her, women wouldn't have gotten their human rights until someone else as intelligent as her came along with the same passion, hope, and goal as hers. This could have taken quite a few years since she won her fight during the first world war and other woman might have not been brave enough then. She was also interesting to me because I really think that what she had accomplish at that time was unbelievable. As the website I used said, "A well-rounded and capable woman, her various careers cannot be described separately, as her teaching, writing and public speaking abilities all fueled her desire to improve the rights of Canadian women. This desire, combined with her true activist nature, Christian faith and sense of duty, meshed perfectly with the social and moral reform movements arising in the West in the early 1900s and produced one of Canada's great social activists." Following her goals Nellie McClung soon became a part of the famous five with Irene Parlby, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Emily Murphy and Louise McKinney. She truly is a very inspiring influential Canadian Personality. I got information from a website called "Meet the Personalities" and another one called "Celebrating Womens Achievement".

c.) In your post, suggest three more influential Canadian personalities that could be added to this site. Why did you choose these people? Which categories would they fit into? Link to information about each of them.

The first influential Canadian personality I would like to suggest is Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian woman in space. She would fit perfectly well in the "We founded" category and in the "We Inspired" category because she was basically one of the first Canadian persons who first founded space and a way into space and she has also inspired people with her many remarkable talents. For more information about Roberta Bondar and her great accomplishments click this LINK.

The second influential personality I would like to suggest is Christopher Columbus, the first European explorer to set foot on North America. Although Christopher Columbus is not Canadian what he has done for Canada is more important even if he has made a few mistakes. Without him the race of exploration wouldn't have started. So many Europeans such as Jacques Cartier, Sameul de Champlain, John Cabot, etc. wouldn't have made their accomplishments without his idea of trying to find the way to the Asian spices from an ocean route. I think he fits well under the "We Built" category because without him most of us wouldn't have found our way to Canada (except for the Vikings of course). He was one of the main people who helped build Canada. To get more information on Christopher Columbus visit this website, click on the links on that website to get more information.

The third influential Canadian personality I would like to suggest is Terry Fox. He would fit perfectly well under the "We Fought" category because despite his misfortunes he risked his life even more to save the lives of other people who were suffering from the same disease as he currently was. If it weren't for his fight to raise money for cancer research, people still wouldn't be helping to raise more money each year. His perseverence and motivation helped him raise over a million dollar for cancer research. For more information on Terry Fox and his life click HERE.

d.) Which History-Maker did you have the most in common with? Were you able to figure it out from the clues given? What do you share with that person? What are some things that are different between you and that person?

***Use Mystery History-Maker Match-Up to find out which history-maker you have alot in common with.***

Clue #1-"I am born on March 3 1890 Gravenhurst Ontario."

Clue #2-"My first language is English but I also know Spanish, Chinese, and French."

Clue #3-"I studied medicine in Toronto at the university founded by my grandfather."

Clue#4-"I was ahead of my time when I organized a group to make quality health care free in 1936. I joined the communist party that same year."

Clue #5-"I have travelled through Canada, United States giving speeches in support of democracy. I visited many countries in times of both war and peace."

Clue#6-"My family and friends call me Beth."

The history-maker I have most in common with is Norman Bethune. When I was given the clues I was sort of able to guess who it was because one of the clues was that his nickname was Beth and his name is Norman Bethune. So using his clue and looking at his names I sort of guessed that it was him because Beth is probably short for Bethune. Other then that I probably wouldn't have been able to guess who he was because I have never heard of him.

Things I have in common with Norman Bethune:

• We both have more then two brothers or sisters.
• I too am interested in medicine
• We both have nicknames
• The both of us are concerned about the health and education of other human beings.

Things I don't have in common with Norman Bethune:

• His first language is English
• He has museums, schools, hospitals named after him
• He has gotten his degree in medicine and I havn't finished grade 7
• awards and scholarships are given in his memory
• His face has appeared on postage stamps
• He has been to war and has saved lives of thousands of people as a doctor

If you want to know more about him visit this website containing a biography that is very useful.

e.) One hundred years from now, (in 2109!) imagine that students are learning about Canadian History Makers and they discover you. What will you be remembered for? How were you a Canadian History Maker? You are using your imagination, so think about some things that you would like to accomplish in your life and imagine that you have all the accomplishments of your life to look back on. Write a short profile of yourself, imagining the contributions you have made to the future of Canada.

I am writing a profile about Shukria. She was born on December 1996 and has accomplished many things that were once impossible. From grade 6 and on, each year passing by her desire to being the first to set foot on Mars, and to be the first to find life on Mars became tremendously strong. She then turned the desire into her goal, which in 2045 came true. Shukria had set off for her voyage to Mars in 2043 on one of the most successful space missions known yet with 5 other people. Her job on the space ship was to sent daily reports about their trip and the exact time at which they landed on Mars. One year later they landed on Mars and Shukria was one of the first people to set foot on Mars. Afterwards, while researching the red planet trying to find life she came across the most unbelievable creature any human has ever set eyes on. Knowing that a creature like the one she had found was able to survive on Mars so could humans. Shukria was then given the mission to investigate Mars to make sure that humans will be able to live there, and to add other gases such as oxygen and such to the air. So now here I am on Mars in the year 120. Shukria is remembered for her courage and devotion to her job. She was able to take care of every responsibility needed to get humans onto Mars. She is also remember for finding a whole new specie on a whole new planet. After coming back from Mars Shukria made yet a another accomplishment that can't be forgotten by anyone because this accomplishment takes you to and back to a time you want to go to. She invented the very first Time Machine receiving a Nobel prize in 2056. Thanks to her accomplishments, the saying "nobody is perfect" has been proven wrong. Nowadays everybody is perfect! Using her invention you can go back in time anytime you want to fix your mistakes. Therefore, without Shukria we wouldn't have been able to travel time now and I wouldn't be living on such a beautiful planet.