Keeping it Reil!

I can not emphasize enough the importance having good friends in far away places. The far away place I find myself in now is Winnipeg, and the good friends are Jeff and Marie Sinnock, we taught and lived in Portugal together for three years. I also got to meet their new daughter Sofia, who is about six months older than my niece. We have not seen each other for about three years, but it doesn’t take long to get catch up on old times and old habits.

Winnipeg is an interesting city of about 600,000 within a province of approaching a million. It is the gateway to the west. Driving into the city I had never seen so many rail lines cars as here. The Canadian Grain Exchange is located in Winnipeg. If you need to know where your next meal is coming from, the guys in the grain exchange would probably be a good place to start asking. However, I was not looking for a free meal, I was on the hunt for Louis Reil. Who was this Metis hero that I had heard so much about?

My normal travel routine is to get up late and aimlessly wander around the city with my Tourist backpack complete with camera gear, notebook, and Eyewitness Travel Guide for Canada. It is always important to say hello and be nice to the people you meet along the way. Some of the people in suits may be jealous that they are at work. Some of the people may be hungry and homeless. It is interesting to note, that the hungry and homeless people that I have meet are usually more open to conversation. I was talking to a gentleman the other day that mentioned he liked bills.

Within a ten minute walk of my guests house is the Forks; the meeting point of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers has been a natural meeting point for any traveler throughout the ages. The first trading post was built there in 1736. There are two main road bridges that span the river and the first is only a two minute walk away. My first clue to finding Louis Reil was spray painted under the bridge, Vive Louis Reil. I think he would like that written about him. A further walk under one bridge and eventually over another revealed to me that I was on a section of the city designated as the Trans Canada Trail. And to my surprise all along the trail were historic markers, signs, buildings, churches, and placards. Piecing these clues together would certainly result in my successful completion of my quest for understanding more about this shadowy character from our past.

A few minutes further down the trail I saw a large cross rising up in the sky. Saint Boniface Cathedral was first built here in 1818 by French speaking priests. Louis Riel was born twenty six years later and would have attended masses here. I figured that out because he was also buried there in 1885. He still is, and the story I heard one person tell is that the coffin is buried in cement to keep anyone from digging it up and use the body for political reasons. It sounded like an interesting story, but digging here would do me no good so I would have to look elsewhere for more clues.

I was rather clueless the rest of the day wandering around the down town city center, snapping up pictures of urban art and historical buildings. I was almost through a whole tour of the Manitoba Museum of Man when I got a phone call; there was a meeting at the Forks that I was requested to attend. Louis Reil would slip through my grasp on this day.

The next day I got up late again and added a new rule to my survival guide. Ask for directions. Little did I know that the little museum beside the Cathedral that I passed up the day previous, was considered by locals to be the Louis Riel Museum. Saint Boniface Museum is in the hospital built by the Grey Nuns in 1844, the same year Louis Reil was born. They were given the care of educating the young boys and girls in the Red River settlement, they thought Louis was especially cleaver. I stole a quote off the wall of the museum inside. “Riel showed such promise that Bishop Tache decided he should further his education in Montreal, hoping he would return as a Catholic missionary.” He lived in a very different world than we can fully understand today. The legend of Louis Reil has many different faces to it. Inside this museum I would get a better picture of who this man was and how he lived. He was hung from the scaffolds on November 16, 1885 in Regina. A verdict of guilty by a six-man jury of white protestant pilgrims that took half an hour to deliberate his fate.

I spent about four hours in the museum taking pictures and notes. I even convinced the nice lady behind the counter to take a picture of me inside one of the exhibits. I had to gently convince her it would be okay since she was retiring in two weeks and didn’t want to get in any trouble. I had to promise her I wouldn’t tell anyone, anyone from Manitoba that is. I even bought a Louis Reil T-shirt and a couple of books at the museum store. A T-shirt I wore with pride as a small group of us went to watch the BlueBombers clobber the Tiger Cats in meaningless preseason game that night. A Bombers game is a real treat, we sat in the student section and heckled it up pretty good for the game. There is more than a handful of colourful characters at any event.

Winnipeg is a really nice city, I thought it was easy to walk around and there were lots of things to see and do. My hosts were amazing, I am spoiled terribly when I am traveling. I would have to give Winnipeg a return trip some day, and there is a good chance I may pass by these parts again in my travels. Next stop Moose Jaw Saskatchewan, I have to get to a wedding in Pemberton and there is no time to loose.