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