Honouring a Manitoba hero: Understanding the importance of Louis Riel Day

Historian Philippe Mailhot talks about Louis Riel Day and it’s importance to Manitoba.

Monday marks Louis Riel Day in Manitoba—a day to honour the contributions and work of Manitoba’s first premier.

Riel was born in 1844 to a prominent Métis Manitoba family.

Throughout his life, he fought for Métis rights and land as he led a provisional government and blazed the trail for Manitoba to join Confederation.

He is now largely remembered as the father of Manitoba, though during his time he was accused of treason.

“The Canadians tended to see him as a guy who is in the way in preventing them from expanding and defying their authority,” explained historian Philippe Mailhot.

“Whereas, of course, the people here in the Red River settlement saw him as a defender of their rights.”

Premier Wab Kinew’s first legislation after his government came to power in 2023 was to recognize Riel’s role as Manitoba’s first premier.

Mailhot said this shows the province now has a stronger appreciation of what Riel accomplished in his lifetime.

“He forced Canada to provide Manitoba with democratic institutions,” he said.

“Manitoba became a province in 1870 as opposed to maybe 1890 or 1905.”

On Louis Riel Day, Mailhot encourages Manitobans to appreciate Riel’s contributions to making our province a multicultural community where all people get along.

“I think Riel helped establish that by making sure the Manitoba Act reflected a lot of those aspects when it became a province.”

• With files from CTV’s Rachel Lagacé and The Canadian Press.