Louis Riel! Most people have heard of him but don’t know his story. Transitioning from the previous project about the Canadian confederation, we would continue through history onwards to the red river settlement. We learnt how Riel fought for the Métis and the everlasting consequences. Learning about this story was only the intro for creating 3 images about a Canadian event post WW1 that had historical significance and 2 sides to the story. 


To set up the story Canada bought Hudson Bay land was sold which included Red River Settlement (Manitoba) that was inhabited by Métis. Surveyors were set to look at the land but the Métis did not feel like they had permission to sell their land. Riel was one of the only English speaking people in all of the Manitoba so he was representing his people. Riel ran for a provisional government and won many times in a row if he was in a different province. While in power he captured Thomas Scott, a part of the Canadian government, but he just yelled racial slurs constantly. People were questioning his power so Thomas Scott was put up for trial and was to be executed. The prime minister wanted him gone and said if he left Canada for 5 years he would be granted amnesty. He left Canada but when coming back, he was never given amnesty for his crimes.

John A. MacDonald wanted Riel gone so he sent an army of 1,000 men to get rid of them, also as an excuse to build the railway. Riel set up a rebellion to combat the army and when it did come, it wasn’t going to look nice. These series of fights were called the Duck Wars which caused bloodshed. Though it may look bad, because of high treason, he acted in defence and shot second. His army was overtaken and he decided to turn himself in so he could share his story with the public. He went to court where the jury was biased with almost all British Caucasians. He was sentenced to death where he died a hero by some and a villain by others.

We read the Lous Riel graphic novel which had a very interesting take to the story. He fell behind Riel and thought he was a hero. Reading through the four parts of the book, we discussed the importance of each aspect like the characters, scenes and objects. Transitioning into the next event, we needed to take our newly gained knowledge to reason in a debate why or why not his execution was justified. I was put on the against the execution side and on the day of, we needed to create points on why he shouldn’t have died.

The debate was intense and both teams made valuable arguments. We had lots of points for the killing being unjust about the amnesty promised but not delivered, in the Duck Wars he was acting in self-defence and the jury was almost all white. Our opening statement and 1st rebuttal were really strong but the final 2 sections were not as strong and lost us the debate. I contributed to creating lots of ideas and points.

Understanding how my connections to the book we read, the discussions in class and how I view Riel can influence others, interest people into the topic and either make them believe for or against. Understanding others’ connections can be difficult at times but if you want to win an argument. We displayed this in the debate, trying to perceive their beliefs and making rebuttals to get over a point which could be the difference between winning and losing.

Komagata Maru:

I was partnered with Malaika for image creation. I wanted to choose an event regarding immigration so when looking up events, I came across the Komagata Maru incident. From initial research, I wanted to do it and we chose it as our first choice. To decide who chose first, we used a wheel and lucky enough we were first and received Komagata Maru. Researching further into the project, we made essential questions and one driving question that fuelled our creation for our images. Using the 5 Ws & 1 H and the questions we made, we guided and went deeper into our research. I created a time of all of the events using Numbers which helped to visualize the event better. We created an Instagram caption explaining the event and the consequences to compliment our images.

With a detailed idea of the event, we now needed to plan out our images. This project only had a week turn around from start to finish for the images so we couldn’t lose time planning. We knew we had to draw on one image, have a quote for the second and choose our media for the third which we wanted to make a graphic design. We would present our images on Friday so we only had a few day to have a finished product.

Drawn On:

We had many ideas but settled on a wall blocking off the land from the passengers. The hands in the picture represent the government officials pulling them away to Asia. I drew the arrow signs pointing them back to Asia and to top it off I added 3 boards showing the things they’d be ok saying at the time.

Quote:

The quote is by Justin Trudeau and is Said close to a hundred years later. The quote shares their formal apology for their wrongdoings. I used SuperimposeX to add a faded image of the S.S. Komagata Maru by using the clip up tool to his suit. Originally we planned to have the quote faded in him but that did not turn up so we chose to just have the text above his head.

Graphic Tee:

The last image was inspired by a pipeline protest image, where a hand was getting suffocated by a snake that represented the pipeline. Using Sketches Pro I drew a hand reaching up from the bottom but golden chains were holding the hand from moving. The chains represent the emigration exclusion laws holding them from contesting them and making it Golden shows the wealth divide. Now drawn, we wanted to put on a shirt. I used Tee Spring and for the design of a black tee-shirt, I put the graphic on the back and the words time tells on the front with a cool font.

Not only did I create images that I am proud of, I learnt about Louis Riel, the Komagata Maru and ethical dimensions. I learnt so much about Louis Riel and his story’s influence on Canadian history. I learnt so much during what is right/wrong and how it can be subjective. Making the images reminded me of the advertising unit making images with our skills but adding our meaning to it. I am excited about the next project and hopefully, we can take these skills learnt into future projects.