'Correcting history': Louis Riel's portrait as Manitoba's honorary 1st premier unveiled
The head of the Manitoba Métis Federation says his nation has reached "the turning point" of its history as Louis Riel's portrait at the legislature was up‐ dated to recognize him as the province's honorary first premier Monday.
MMF President David Chartrand and Manitoba Pre‐ mier Wab Kinew spent part of Louis Riel Day unveiling the portrait of the Métis leader, who led a provisional govern‐ ment and led negotiations that paved the way for the province's entry into Confed‐ eration in 1870.
"We waited 154 years for this, and we never gave up on correcting the wrong," Char‐ trand told guest host Cory Funk on CBC's Information Radio Monday, before the un‐ veiling.
"This is about correcting history, and the shame and the hardship we have faced."
Riel was hanged for trea‐ son at age 41 in 1885 after leading two Métis resistances, and has sometimes been a controversial figure in Canadi‐ an history, but is now widely celebrated for his leadership.
Kinew and Chartrand were also at Riel's gravesite at the St. Boniface Cathedral later Monday to present The Louis
Riel Act, which Kinew intro‐ duced last year to recognize the Métis leader as Manito‐ ba's honorary first premier.
"The reason why I wanted to do that is because they called me the 25th premier of Manitoba," Kinew told gather‐ ers near Riel's grave.
"I've been called a lot of things in my career in politics 25th premier is not the worst, but I thought it was impor‐ tant that before they call me the 25th, that we call Louis Riel the first."
Kinew previously intro‐ duced The Louis Riel Act when he was Opposition leader. The bill was introduced four times but never passed.
WATCH | Louis Riel Day celebrated in Winnipeg:
The legislation also says Manitoba school curriculum must include the contribu‐ tions Louis Riel has made to the province and to Canada.
Kinew said the gathering at Riel's gravesite was a mo‐ ment to reflect on how to re‐ member the Métis leader "in
our hearts and our minds going forward."
"This is the opportunity for us to tell future genera‐ tions of Manitobans who we are as a people, as a province," he said.
"I would also suggest that we should take this message far beyond Manitoba's bor‐ ders and tell the rest of Cana‐ da this story as well, so that the father of Manitoba is also recognized for who he is na‐ tionally, which is a father of Confederation."
Riel was declared founder of Manitoba in 1992 and offi‐ cially recognized as the first leader of Manitoba in 2016, but the MMF has been push‐ ing for Riel to be honoured as the province's first premier for decades.
"This is not just for [the] Métis … this is for all Manito‐ ba," Chartrand told Informa‐ tion Radio.
"When you start looking at our place in Confederation our place in history - this is the turning point."
Manitobans also enjoyed their time off at The Forks on Monday.
Andrew Cyr said he took his family to The Forks to cele‐ brate Louis Riel Day "in the most Manitoban way possi‐ ble, which is getting outside and enjoying winter."
He says the statutory holi‐ day is to recognize Manito‐ ba's Métis and francophone culture.
"That's a really important part of the identity of our province, and I think it's im‐ portant that we celebrate that."