is celebrated on the third Monday of every February. The Doer government in 2007 designed it. It is to commemorate the role that Louis Riel (1844 – 1885) played in the founding of Manitoba in 1870.
Louis Riel (Independent) was first elected to Government in 1873.
He was the third of 13 Metis elected to the House of Commons.
Although he won the riding of Provencher, Manitoba, in 1873 and was twice re-elected, he never took up his seat in the House of Commons.
Riel Trivia.
Louis Riel was hanged for Treason on November 16th 1885 in Regina Saskatchewan. It is said that when he was led to the gallows he held in his hand a Religious Icon.
It was a statue with the likeness of St. Joseph, the patron Saint of the Metis people. When Riel dropped through the trap door of the scaffold his neck snapped when the rope around it became taught.
The statue in his hands fell to the ground below, and its neck also broke. The head was never recovered, but the headless St. Joseph was placed in the coffin with his body and shipped to Riels family in Fort Garry, Manitoba.
The original broken keepsake was not buried with the Metis leader but now is kept at the St. Boniface Museum, and a replica is kept on display at Riel House a heritage site in Winnipeg.
After the execution, someone decided to sell souvenirs of the Hangman’s rope. Presumably there were enough supporters of the Metis leader in attendance that the salesman ran out of rope, but to appease public demand he bought more rope and in total sold nearly one tonne of hemp souvenirs!
The idea for this gruesome entrepreneurship by this 19th century rope salesman was first recorded in 1859 after the hanging of Dr. William King. Dr. King was tried, convicted and hanged for the murder of his wife by poisoning.
When the execution was over, relatives if the dead woman cut up the hangman’s rope and distributed among the family members.
Source:
http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/mb/riel/natcul/guide_E.asp http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/louis_riel_info.html http://images.ourontario.ca/Cobourg/details.asp?ID=19233