Trial of Louis Riel

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Court House during the trial
Court House during the trial

The Trial of Louis Riel was arguably the most famous trial in the history of Canada. In 1885 Louis Riel had been a leader of a resistance movement by the Métis and First Nations people of western Canada against the Canadian government in what is now the modern province of Saskatchewan. Known as the North-West Rebellion, this resistance was suppressed by the Canadian military, which led to Riel's capture and trial for treason. The trial, which took place in July 1885 and lasted only 5 days, resulted in a guilty verdict. He was also given a choice to plead guilty or insanity. Riel was subsequently executed by hanging, an outcome which has had a lasting impact on relations between the Francophone and Anglophone Canadians.

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[edit] Trial venue

See also Louis Riel, North-West Rebellion and Red River Rebellion

The end of Métis resistance during the North-West Rebellion was marked by the Métis loss at the decisive Battle of Batoche, which ended on 12 May 1885. On 15 May, Riel surrendered to North West Mounted Police scouts, and was taken to General Frederick Middleton at the North-West Field Forces camp at Batoche. He spent nine days in the custody of Captain George Holmes Young, son of Methodist minister Reverend George Young, who had pleaded for Thomas Scott's freedom in 1870. Several individuals closely tied to the government requested that the trial be held in Winnipeg in July of 1885. On May 16, Macdonald's minister of militia Adolphe-Philippe Caron ordered that Riel be transported to Winnipeg, Manitoba for trial. However, travelling on the Canadian Pacific Railway, the party had only arrived at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan before being diverted, on orders from Caron, to Regina, then territorial capital of the Northwest Territories. Young and Riel did not travel alone to Regina; they were accompanied by sixteen armed soldiers and a Presbyterian minister, Charles Bruce Pitblado.

Charles Fitzpatrick addressing the jury
Charles Fitzpatrick addressing the jury

Historian Thomas Flanagan states that amendments of the North-West Territories Act (which dropped the provision that trials with crimes punishable by death should be tried in Manitoba), compelled Prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald to convene the trial within the North-West Territories.[1] Other historians contend that the trial was moved to Regina due to the likelihood that Riel would there obtain an ethnically mixed and sympathetic jury.[2] In any case, it seems clear that holding the trial in Regina proved advantageous to the government: while Manitoba law guaranteed an independent superior court judge, Territorial law provided for only a trial presided over by a stipediary magistrate who was essentially a federal employee that could be discharged at the whim of the government. Moreover, while Manitoba law specified a 12-man jury and assurances of bilingual rights, Territorial law provided for only a 6-man jury, and had no protections for native French-speakers.

On 23 May, 1885, Riel was imprisoned at the North West Mounted Police jail in Regina. He was shackled to a ball and chain and confined for nearly two months in a 6½' x 4½' cell while awaiting his first meeting with his lawyers, which occurred on July 1. It was not until July 6 that he was formally charged with treason. On July 14, Riel met with lawyers, François-Xavier Lemieux (Quebec MNA) and Charles Fitzpatrick, James Naismith Greenshields, two young Québécois lawyers sent by the Association Nationale pour la Defense des Prisonniers Métis, an organization established in Quebec, as well as Thomas Cooke Johnstone, a lawyer from Ontario who had recently moved to Regina.

[edit] Trial

Riel was indicted by Judge Hugh Richardson on six counts of treason on July 20. Critics say that the repeated charges are major clues as to the bias of the government, as this obvious misconduct should have warranted a second trial at the very least. Riel's counsel immediately challenged the court's jurisdiction, but these motions were denied. Riel then pleaded not guilty to all charges. Riel's lawyers argued for a delay for the defence to obtain witnesses. It was granted and the trial began on July 28, 1885. Tellingly, of the 36 people receiving jury duty summons, only one spoke French – and he was in any case unable to attend. Moreover, the only Roman Catholic (an Irishman) in the jury pool was challenged by the prosecution for not being of British stock and excluded. In the event, Riel was tried before a jury of six composed entirely of English and Scottish Protestants, all from the area immediately surrounding Regina. The jurors were Francis Cosgrove - foreman - Whitewood, Edwin J. Brooks of Indian Head, Henry J. Painter of Broadview, Walter Merryfield of Whitewood, Peel Deane of Broadview and Edwin Eratt of Moose Jaw.

Jury of six of Louis Riel's trial
Jury of six of Louis Riel's trial

Crown counsel comprised some of the most accomplished lawyers in Canada: Christopher Robinson, Britton Bath Osler, George Burbidge, David Lynch Scott, and Thomas Chase-Casgrain. Chase-Casgrain was the lone French-Canadian in the prosecution. They called nine witnesses for the prosecution, General Frederick Middleton, Dr. John Willoughby, Thomas McKay, George Ness, George Kerr, John W. Astley, Thomas E. Jackson, Dr. A. Jukes, and Riel's cousin Charles Nolin. The cross-examination of the defence attempted to prove his mental instability and render a not guilty plea by reason of insanity, but to little success.

The defence had their turn on July 30. They produced five witnesses, Dr. François Roy of the Beauport Asylum, Dr. Daniel Clark of Toronto Lunatic Asylum, Riel's secretary for a short time, Phillipe Garnot and priests Alexis André and Vital Fourmond, all who gave evidence of Riel's insanity, but were far from sympathetic or supportive. The defence's case only lasted one day.

Riel delivered two lengthy speeches during his trial, defending his own actions and affirming the rights of the Métis people. He rejected his lawyer's attempt to argue that he was not guilty by reason of insanity, asserting,

"Life, without the dignity of an intelligent being, is not worth having."

On July 31, after only half an hour of deliberation, the jury found him guilty of treason but recommended mercy. Nonetheless, Judge Hugh Richardson sentenced him to death, with the date of his execution set for September 18, 1885. Fifty years later one of the jurors, Edwin Brooks, said that Riel was tried for treason but hanged for the murder of Thomas Scott.[citation needed]

[edit] Appeals

The defence appealed to higher authorities, and Macdonald was flooded with letters and petitions from sympathetic Québécois, who saw in Riel the French Catholic minority being oppressed by English Protestants. Macdonald was only too happy to see to Riel's death, saying that Riel would hang "...though every dog in Quebec shall bark."

According to critics, the outcome of the trial was due to the underhanded conduct of the government and to the obvious rift between the lawyers and the accused. Throughout the trial Riel's lawyers ignored his advice and refused his requests (including the request to cross-examine the witnesses himself), and they threatened to abandon him halfway through the procedure.[3]

[edit] The Final Act - Regina, Nov 16, 1885

The sentence was carried out on 16 November 1885. About 8 o clock Riel was summoned by Deputy Sheriff Gibson from his cell, where he has spent the night chiefly in prayers and devotion with his confessor Père Andre. Mass had been celebrated by the latter, assisted by Rev. Father McWilliams, and the last sacrament had been administered to the doomed man. Supported by the two priests and preceded by the Deputy Sheriff, Riel walked steadily across the guard room and climbed the ladder which led to the gloomy loft at the back of the building. This the party crossed in like order to the door outside of which the scaffold, with the empty noose depending from the beam.

Around the door was drawn up a guard of twenty police, under command of Inspector White-Frazer. Sheriff Chapleau, Dr. Jukes, Coroner H. Dodds, M.D. and a hanging jury were also in attendance. This jury consisted of foreman F. Champness and jurymen Wm. P. McCormick, John Dawson, William D. Firstbrook, David H. Gillespie, and W. Bedford Jones. The hangman was Jack Henderson, of Winnipeg, who was one of Riel's prisoners at the time of the Red River rebellion. He was then pursuing the avocation of a freighter.

The condemned man wore an appearance of unshaken fortitude and firmness, although his face was pale and his look earnest. He was dressed in a black coat, woollen shirt and collar, grey tweed trousers and moccasins. His head was uncovered. When Riel and the priests reached the doorway they kneeled down and engaged in prayer. Gather Andre recited the Litany, the prisoner making the responses in firm and unbroken voice. The spectators were visibly affected by the scene, and gave a sigh of relief when it was ended. At 8:15 prayers were finished, Riel arose to his feet and was kissed by the priests. The masked hangman stepped forward to pinion the prisoner, who prayed incessantly during the operation, at one stage lifting his hands heavenward and saying "Father, I am ready." When the pinioning had been completed Riel and the fathers proceeded towards the scaffold, the prisoner walking with steady step and repeating in French the declaration: In God Do I Put My Trust. Down the six steps to the scaffold and out upon the prop the prisoner walked with firm and hesitating demeanour. Père Andre and Father McWilliams prayed constantly, and Riel exclaimed as he took his stand on the fatal platform, "I ask the forgiveness of all men, and forgive all my enemies." When the executioner had taken his place, drawn the white cap over the prisoners head, and adjusted the noose, Gather McWilliams repeated the Lords prayer. As he finished the bolt was drawn, the drop fell, and all was over.

The hangman's work had been well done; the neck was broken; and in the short space of two minutes the heart had ceased to beat. The legs were drawn upward two or three times in this space of time, and then the body was still. After hanging half an hour the body was cut down and placed in a coffin beneath the scaffold.

The result of the post mortem made by Dr. Jukes was as follows: The execution was most cleverly performed. From the moment he fell, judging from the nature of the injuries received, he must have been entirely without sensation. The neck was entirely dislocated from the bone of the two upper joints of vertebrae, thus paralysing all the lower portion of the body. He could have felt no pain whatever. The circulation ceased in four minutes. An unusually short time. No death could be more merciful. The coroner and jury then viewed the body, and found the features much distorted. One juryman had to retire from the sight.

After a brief deliberation the following verdict was rendered: That the body is that of Louis Riel, convicted of high treason, and sentenced to death; that the judgment of death was duly executed upon the body of said Louis Riel on this sixteenth day of November, 1885; that death was caused by hanging at the police barracks, near Regina, N.W.T., as directed by sentence passed by the court. (Signed, H. Dodds, M.D., F. Champness, Wm. P. McCormick, John Dawson, William D. Firstbrook, David H. Gillespie, and W. Bedford Jones.) [4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Flanagan, Thomas. "Trial in Error?" In Riel and the Rebellion: 1885 Reconsidered, 2nd ed. (Toronton: University of Toronto Press, 2000), 131-155.
  2. ^ L.H. Thomas. "A Judicial Murder -- The Trial of Louis Riel." In The Settlement of the West, ed. Howard Palmer (Calgary: Comprint Publishing, 1977), 37-59.
  3. ^ Thomas. "A Judicial Murder."
  4. ^ Michael J. Durocher, "The Metis Man"