Assignment 8 - Louis Riel

For this assignment I will be writing an interview with Louis Riel. If you want to read the whole assignment you can check out my teacher's blog.


Jessica-Today I have the great privilege to interview Louis Riel. Before we start the actual interview I will give you a small amount of background information on Louis Riel. Louis Riel was the first child of Louis Riel père and Julie Lagimodière. He was born on the 22nd of October, 1844 in a place called St.Boniface. Louis Riel spent most of his childhood on the Red River. He also spent time on his grandparent's( Lagimodière) property. When he was ten ,Louis Riel started began school. He went to a school run by the Christian Brothers. Well, that is the beginning of Louis Riel's life. Now we will continue with the interview to learn about this amazing person's life.

Louis Riel- It is my pleasure to be here today.

Jessica- Am I sure that everyone reading this interview will be very interested to see the answers to the questions that I will ask you.


Jessica- My first question for you is a very simple question that might be hard to answer. I read somewhere that your father unfortunately died in February, 1864. How did you react when the news reached you?


Louis Riel- The news of my father's death was a huge shock to me. After my father's death I lost all confidence in my qualifications for priesthood. I left college the next March. Without graduating.


Jessica- Why did you decide to leave college without even graduating?


Louis Riel- I felt that I had to support my family. My father had unfortunately left my family in a great debt.


Jessica-I know that if I were in your position I would have done anything to support my family. What exactly did you do?


Louis Riel- First I became a clerk in the Toussaint-Antoine-Rodolphe Laflamme law firm in Montreal. The only problem with this job was that I became extremely bored and annoyed by the law and decided to leave that job and return to Red River. I decided to do this in 1866. Before I actually arrived in my hometown of St Boniface I did some small jobs in places such as Chicago.

Jessica-Well you certainly worked very hard to support your family after your father's death.

Louis Riel- Yes, I did.

Jessica- What was your family like? I have heard a lot about your accomplishments but hardly anything about your family. So, tell us about them.

Louis Riel- Well, to start I guess I should tell you that my family was far from small. I was the oldest of the 11 children in my family. My family was very close and we were also quite religious. Also, because my grandmother was a Franco-Chipewyan Métisse I have about one-eighth Indian blood.

Jessica- I have also heard that once you were called to appear in front of the Council of Assiniboia. When exactly did this happen?

Louis Riel- I was called before the Council of Assiniboia on October 25, 1869.

Jessica- Why were were you called to appear before this council?

Louis Riel- I was called to appear in front of the council because in August 1869 I stood on the steps of the St.Boniface cathedral and said that the survey that a man named McDougall ordered that a survey be done of a Metis settlement. I said that the survey was a menace and Ithuoght it should be stopped.

Jessica- Did you eventually stop the survey of that area?

Louis Riel- Yes. On October 11, 1869 a group of Metis and myself stopped the survey.

Jessica- That is really great.

Louis Riel- Thank you.

Jessica- Thank you for talking to me today. I really enjoyed our interview.

Louis Riel- It was my pleasure.


I found most of my information at this website. Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

Assignment # 7- Canadian Personalities

Canadian Personalities

In this entry I will be talking about different topics so there will be many different sections so make sure you read the titles. Also, here is a link to my teacher's blog if you want to read the whole assignment.

We Inspired

My Favourite Section.

My favourite section in "Meet the Personalities"was the We Inspired section. This section was very interesting to me because most of the people in this category had very tough beginnings to their lives or careers. For example Herman Smith "Jackrabbit" Johannsen was a cross-country skier who was bankrupt during the Depression. During this time he turned his favourite hobby, skiing, into a business.

The Person I found Most Interesting.

The person that I found most interesting in this section was Mordecai Richler. Richler was a writer in the 1900s. He was a member of a Jewish family who lived in Montreal. Richler often had troubles with what he did because he always wanted to know more about what he was writing about. He wrote in many different styles including novels, essays and children's books. During his writing a career Richler made enemies because of his very authentic and very harsh way of writing about what life was like for immigrants in Canada. Over the course of his career Richler published many books here are three of the ones that I found in the Meet The Personalities section.

1.The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz-published in 1959 (first picture)

2.Oh Canada! Oh Quebec!: Requiem for a Divided Country- published in 1992 (second picture)

3.Barney’s Version- published in 1997 (third picture)

Three More Influential Canadians

Three Canadians that I think should be added to the Canadian Personalities Hall is Ian Millar. I think that Ian Millar should be put in the We Inspired list because he is an amazing Olympic show jumper. He was the first person to defend the World Cup Final title. He did this riding his amazing horse Big Ben. Ian Millar also has competed in the Olympics more than any other athlete in every other sport. If you want to learn more about Ian Millar click HERE.

Another person that I think should be put on this list of influential Canadians is Roberta Bondar. I think that Roberta Bondar should be on this list because she was the first female astronaut in space. I think that she should be in the We Inspire section. I you would like more information about this amazing Canadian click HERE

The last person that I think should be on this list is Joannie Rochette. Joannie Rochette has not made any huge contributions to Canada as we know it but she is an amazing figure skater. Joannie is a four-time Canadian Champion figure skater. Recently (February 8, 2009) Joannie won 2nd place in the 2009 ISU Four Continents Championships. I think that Joannie should be in the We Inspire section on this list because I think that she probably inspires young figure skaters around the world. If you want more information click HERE.

My History- Maker Match

After taking the Mystery History-Maker Match-Up quiz I found out that my history- maker match is one of my favourite authors. My history- maker match is Lucy Maud Montgomery. I was able to guess who my match was before I was shown her picture. I knew for sure who my match was when one of the clues said that she was the author of a book called Anne of Green Gables. Another big clue was that she was born in Prince Edward Island.

What We Have in Common

Lucy Maud Montgomery and I have quite a few things in common. One thing that we have in common is that we are both only children. Another thing that we have in common is that we both enjoy reading and writing. Also, we both have nicknames. Lucy was always called Maud when she was young. They called her Maud because it is her middle name.

What We Don't Have in Common

Although we have many things alike about us, there are still many things that we don't have in common. One thing that we don't have in common is our birth dates. Lucy was born in November and I was born in January. Another thing that we do not have in common is that Lucy has had many wards named after her. I obviously have not had any awards named after me. Lucy Maud Montgomery has also published a series of brilliant books. I hope to do this someday but it has not happened yet. Other than these few things, Lucy and I are very much alike.

Me In 2109!!!!!

If someone discovers my profile in a history book in 100 years this is what I think it will look like.

Jessica Muus was born on January 31, 1996. She had a passion for horses from a very young age. Jessica started riding lessons when she was 11 years old in October 2007. She attended lessons once every week. After about two months later she decided to spend her whole weekend at the stable where she took lessons. This lasted about three months. Then she started to go to show jumping lessons three then four times a week. When she was 25 she won silver in the Olympics on her gorgeous Hanoverian gelding Once in a Blue Moon. At the age of 32 she competed in the Olympics again. This time winning gold on her newest horse, Horse Of a Different Colour. Horse Of a Different Colour or Max ,as he was known by his owner, was definitely a horse of a different colour when he won gold. He was the first Appaloosa to compete in the Olympics. During her jumping career Jessica won 4 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal. After she retired from jumping she wrote a series of seven best selling books giving tips and advice on seven different horse back riding sports including jumping, barrel racing, dressage and reining. Because of Jessica the Olympic jumping community now openly accepts all breeds of horses including Mustangs, Appaloosas, Paints, Standardbreds and even Fell ponies. Jessica also made the jumping community realize that they had to alter the height of the jumps to accommodate the smaller jumping ponies and horses. For example the Fell, Dales and Haflinger ponies. Although Jessica did not really affect the way the entire world is today she did affect she did have a major affect on the showjumping community. Jessica is still an insparation to young jumpers everywhere who now know that they can fufill their dreams of jumping their beloved Appaloosas or Fell ponies in the Olympics.