Louis Riel was born on October 22, 1844 at a meeting point of the Red River and the Seine Rivers, Manitoba. Louis Riel was influenced by his parents Louis Riel Sr. and Julie Lagimodiere to follow a strong Roman Catholic lifestyle. The first mention of Riel's leadership of the Metis was at the Sayer Trial of 1849. At the Sayer Trial he won the right for the Metis to participate in Free Trade and also took away the monopoly the Hudson Bay Company held. Riel won a scholarship at the age of thirteen to one of Quebec's finest Colleges, but a year later in 1858 decided to attend a college in Montreal and there he studied Literature, Philosophy, Latin and Mathematics. Riel also took part in the French Nationalists Movement to save the French tradition and culture rather then have the English dominate. Louis Riel was called upon by the Metis to lead the establishment of a Provisional Government and also created a list of rights. Riel developed the Manitoba Act of 1870 that gave the Metis land grants, language rights and denominational schools. It was his knowledge of the constitutional and legal process that enabled him to get the needs of his people met. In 1875 Riel was banished from Canada for 5 years because of the hanging of Scott Thomas. In the States Riel spent time helping the Metis there and also began a family with Margeurite Monet dit Bellehumer who was a Metis woman. They went on to have two children, one son named Jean and a daughter named Angelique. In 1883 he became a schoolteacher at St.Peter's mission. A year later Gabriel Dumont requested that he lead the Metis against the government once again in Canada. Louis Riel accepted the invitation and himself and his family went back to Canada to help in what was later called the Battle of Batoche. Riel was found guilty of treason after the battle and was hanged on November 16th, 1885 in Regina, Saskatchewan.

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