Louis Riel Day

So what did you do for Louis Riel day? I killed a white man and wrote a poem. Haha. Kidding. Seriously people, get a sense of humour already. Me? Write a poem?

124 years after his death, Louis Riel is still a contentous figure in these parts. Just witness this exchange from the Winnipeg Sandbox forum :

GC: Louis Riel was a criminal...! F*%k Riel and all of his ancestors...muwahahahaa
AM: You do know he's in my family, right?

So Riel was a murderer and a crazy man, and got hung for treason. That's all water under the bridge now. George Washington was no peach either, but that didn't keep him off Mount Rushmore. Every country needs heroes to rally around and historical figures to give it a sense of identity. Riel's biggest shortcoming is that he is little known outside of Manitoba and Saskatewan, so he can never be a national hero, but if we try really hard to forget his faults he can become our Che Guevara here in Manitoba. We can put pictures of him on the sides of our buildings and wear our "Keepin' it Riel" t-shirts with pride. We have a hero shortage in this country, so I think it's time we here in Manitoba took the initiative and embraced Mr. Riel as our founding father. Here's to Riel!