Comment by lriel | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lriel | Hacker News Reader

The residential school are a very sad state of affairs with regards to the thinning down of the aboriginal stance and culture in Canada before, during and after the Dominion.

My country has had a very bad holier than thou attitude with regards to history and culture.

In typical aboriginal kickassness, the Ktunaxa took one of those residential schools and turned it into a luxury golfing resort for the rich gentile folks to enjoy, pay for, and be reminded of history.

"About Us, Culture and Heritage | St. Eugene Resort" https://www.steugene.ca/en/about-us-culture-heritage/

Fun Canadian conundrum with regards to the aboriginal divide. One of our National heros named Louis Riel was a metis man known as a fighter of aboriginal rights during the dominium of Canada. In all of english Canada, he is presented as a man consumed with mental illness fighting along side the natives, whereas in Quebec, which is francophone and healthily feuding with the anglos on all sides, Mr Riel is presented as a franco hero without any mentions of mr Riel's illness and our country's treatment of the man and his condition. Mr Riel saw himself as the gods next prophet, and went into the british/Canadian courts, after killing a british general, convinced that god would reveil him to the world as the next prophet. That did not work out.

> In all of english Canada, he is presented as a man consumed with mental illness fighting along side the natives, whereas in Quebec, which is francophone and healthily feuding with the anglos on all sides, Mr Riel is presented as a franco hero without any mentions of mr Riel's illness and our country's treatment of the man and his condition.

I don’t get why Quebecers always think they are the only ones who remember Louis Riel. In Manitoba he’s the biggest cultural and historical icon people identify with. He has grandiose stately statues at the legislature, around town and in universities. Schools, school divisions, libraries, streets, bridges, colleges and community centres are named after him. His mother’s house in Winnipeg is a national park preserved and staffed with period role play actors. He is buried in a prominent scenic grounds where people visit all the time. If you go to tourist shops you’ll find t shirts with Louis Riels portrait. There are handsome murals agrandizing him in the trendy parts of town. He is widely accepted to be the founder of Manitoba (having even chosen the name "Manitoba"), and a hero both within and outside the Indigenous 13%, Metis 6% and French ~12% populations here. He has a provincial Stat holiday in February for gods sake! Try not to paint with an overly broad brush.

Not just Manitoba either. Saskatchewan at least too. USask's student union building is named after him for example.

I was born and raised in Alberta, and this is the first I've heard of mental illness. Louis Riel was described as a hero of the Metis in our Social Studies classes. The course material didn't pick a side for the Red River Rebellion.

> In all of english Canada,

I went to grade school in Ontario during the 80's, and I remember the teachings about Riel being quite nuanced. He wasn't demonized nor glorified. If anything, the material was sympathetic to him and the Metis people.

Being uncritical about Quebec's attitude to autochthonous people is a bit complacent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1vDFAQzCZE

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