For the last project of the semester we were focusing on Louis Riel. We were learning about him and how he was helping the métis from losing their land to the Canadians. The first part of the project we had to learn how to make small words into big words, for example, good, could be great. So we learned how to make proper sentences and not run on sentences. After that we watched a few videos about Louis Riel, one of them being the Heritage Minutes video of this last few words before death. A few things he loved were the Métis and his god. 

After we learned about Louis Riel, we moved on to our first draft of writing. We had to write about the portrayals of Louis Riel, and what happened during his lifespan. My first draft had many improvements to be made, however my next draft was almost perfect. I had around 6 revisions for 3 paragraphs. Which in my opinion is not a lot for the second draft, meaning I was ahead of a lot of the class. 

My final draft was a success I wrote everything according to the criteria. Here is my final draft:                                   

                                        Louis Riel: Hero or Rebel?

Louis Riel has been portrayed in many ways, many Métis thought he was a hero, others, a government official, but to most people a mad man. Louis Riel was a hero to many Métis, by fighting and leading at Red River Rebellion, (1869-1870). The Canadians were raiding the Métis land and Riel was trying to defend it without the use of violence. He was slightly successful, he fled to Fort Gary (Winnipeg), however the Canadians now wanted to capture him. This made the British happy, because they viewed him as a criminal. The british were cheering on the Canadians to capture Louis Riel.

There has been many things made for Louis Riel, however the statues is what the majority of the public focus on. Some statues make him look strong,  but a handful of them made Riel look terrible.  Lemay and Gaboury’s statue made him look like he was trapped in a “cage” and was naked, showing him as weak. Joyal’s Louis Riel statue, more recently sculpted (1996) made Louis Riel look tall, he was holding the Métis bill of rights which made him look powerful and even intelligent. These statues have been very controversial. There was so much controversy, that the british thought of the Métis as invaders.

Since Thomas Scott, a Irish Protestant, who moved to the Canadians party, was rebelling against the Métis government, he was executed by a firing team. Once Louis Riel surrendered himself he was hung for the murder of Thomas Scott. Although he was a criminal for killing Thomas Scott the Métis really liked Louis Riel for helping the Métis keep their land. Overall, portrayals of Louis Riel have changed, because people are now realizing how much more good than bad he has done. Everyone has their own perception of Louis Riel. The Métis don’t like the fact that Louis Riel killed Thomas Scott, however, he was just adhere to what he cared about the most, the Métis people, his God, and himself.

Overall, this was a great finish too my semester, considering I have not done english that semester. I liked the fact that we actually got to learn how to write before we actually had to finish our paragraphs. I think this was a well paced project considering I didn’t feel stressed. If I had the chance I would do this project or something like it again.