Buckdog and POGGE remind us that Louis Reil was hung today 121 years ago today by the Conservative Government of the day on behalf of the CPR railroad and the ruling class.
Riel was the Father of the Canadian West, the first real reformer. He led what could have been the first North American revolution, not just in the Canadian Prairies but across the aboriginal plains of North America.
See my Rebel Yell for my tribute to Riel, Dumont and Poundmaker.
Like the Revolution of 1837, the Riel Rebellion shows that Canada does have a revolutionary history, despite the ruling class myth that this country was built on Peace, Order and Good Government.
This is the last testament of Louis Riel a poem recently discovered and donated to the University of Regina. It was written by Riel to his jailer.
Let virtue be our soul's food'
A poem and introduction written by Louis Riel for his jailer about three weeks before Riel was hanged for treason: Robert Gordon! I beg your pardon for so having kept you waiting after some poor verses of mine. You know, my English is not fine. I speak it; but only very imperfectly.
The snow,
Which renders the ground all white,
From heaven, comes here below:
Its pine frozen drops invite us all
To white -- keep our thoughts and our acts,
So that when our bodies do fall,
Our merits, before God, be facts.
How many who, with good desires,
Have died and lost their souls to fires?
Good desires kept unpractic'd
Stand, before God, unnotic'd.
O Robert, let us be fond
Of virtue! Virtues abound
In every sort of good,
Let virtue be our soul's food. Louis (David) Riel Oct. 27, 1885 Regina Jail
See:
A History of Canadian Wealth, 1914.
Aboriginal Property Rights
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