Assignment # 8: The Real Riel

- I am responding to assignment # 8.

- Firas: Hello everyone and welcome to “Interviews with Firas Darwiche” and today I am going to be interviewing a very colorful person: Mr. Louis Riel. Now before I start interviewing Mr. Riel, I would like to let you know that this interview is taking place in jail where Mr. Riel is spending his last weeks before being executed as he was sentenced to death. I am going now to give a small introduction about him.

- Louis Riel was probably one of the most controversial figures in Canadian History. He was born in St. Boniface 1844. He became a politician, the founder of the province Manitoba, and the leader of the Métis people of the Canadian Prairies. Louis Riel was a Métis himself, which is a son or daughter of an aboriginal and a European, and sought to preserve Métis rights and culture.

- Firas: Alright Mr. Riel let's begin. In the year 1858, you were sent to Montreal with the hope to become a priest. What happened then?

- Louis Riel: Well Firas, I didn’t like being forced to do something I don’t like, so I dropped out because I wanted to study law with a man named Rudolphe Laflamme.

- Firas: What did you do after that?

-Louis Riel: After that, I also dropped out of college. Then I found work in Chicago and in St. Paul, Minnesota. Later, I returned to Saint-Boniface in 1868.

- Firas: Thank you and now I have another question. What was the purpose of the Red River Rebellion?

- Louis Riel: When I returned back, the Canadian government decided that all of the Métis farms would make great places to install English-speaking settlers from Ontario and without regard for the Métis rights. Faced with this threat, we decided to resist. We set up a provisional government for the territory we called Manitoba. I was elected as the president of the federal government so I decided to take over Fort Garry (which is Winnipeg) and made a list of Métis rights. I thought this will emphasize to the federal government the importance of negotiating with them Manitoba's entry into the Canadian Confederation. Sir John A. McDonald decided to negotiate but I was sent into exile for the United States for executing Thomas Scott, an Ontarian. I think this was a bad idea because this execution provoked hate against me especially in Ontario.

- Firas: That is a very good answer. But I am still wondering, why did you kill Thomas Scott? Did he threaten to kill you maybe?

- Louis Riel: I didn't execute him because he was trying to kill me, I executed him to demonstrate to the Canadians that the Métis must be taken seriously.

- Firas: Thank you for clearing things up, but I do have more questions. In 1882, federal surveyors once again descended on the Métis and treated them exactly as they had done in 1869. What did the Métis do this time?

- Louis Riel: I was still living in the United States, the Métis once again appealed to me to come back, be their leader, form a government, and organize a resistance. This time though, we had support of the Plains Amerindians, who also saw them selves threatened by the encroachment of settlers from the East. The government refused to negotiate and sent troops to fight against us. The combined force between us and the Amerindians wasn’t strong enough and some of my people fled away so I was imprisoned and charged with high treason.

- Firas: What happened after you got imprisoned?

- Louis Riel: I went to court and gave two long speeches about why I did this and many more but the judge sentenced me to death.

- Firas: Wasn’t there any attempts made to overturn the death sentence?

- Louis Riel: Yes of course. My defense tried very hard to prove I am not guilty by reason of insanity. However, I rejected these attempts. I prefer to die as a hero and not live the rest of my life as an insane.

- Firas: Beside politics, did you do something else?

-Louis Riel: Of course, I am also a writer. I have lots of publishing related to poetry, religions, and politics.

- Firas: When is the death sentence is going to take place?

- Louis Riel: Very soon, on November 16, 1885.

- Firas: Thank you some much for letting me interview you Mr. Riel and just to let you know, I am on your side.

- Louis Riel: Thanks.

* I hope you enjoyed this assignment. Happy Blogging. Here is a list of websites I visited that helped me:

1- Wikipedia: Louis Riel

2- Louis Riel

3- The Heritage Centre: Biography of Louis Riel

-P.S. Special thanks to Timmy for helping me understand more about Louis Riel and for Tale for helping understand more about the Métis.

-P.S. In a website I visited, it said: "In early 1999, in response to a favourable survey of federal Members of Parliament, MP Denis Coderre introduced a bill in the House of Commons to pardon Louis Riel. The pardon would rehabilitate him in the eyes of history and give him the honour he deserves as a champion of the rights of the Métis and the Amerindians", so they declared him innocent.

Help for assignment # 7

Hello Everyone,

*First of all, I want to wish everyone that is doing assignment 7 luck since it is the biggest assignment yet but this is not what this entry is about. I have found a great website that gives a huge list of very important Canadian personalities. This is important because if you are having trouble finding your three Canadian personalities, you check this website out. To check it out, click Important Canadian Personalities. Happy Blogging!

Assignment # 7: Canadian Personalities

Hello Readers,

* I am responding to my new assignment, Assignment #7.

* Question a.) : Which category of Canadian Personalities interested you the most? Did you like the "we inspired", "we founded", "we fought", "we built" or "we governed" section the best? Why?

* I think that out of those 5 categories the "we fought" category is my favorite because it gives a list of people who fought hard for what they believed in, and they never gave up. Also, the idea of war always interested me because the topic is very exciting and to me, I love to learn about war even thought most of the people on the list weren't involved in war.

* Question b.) : Which personality interested you the most? Why? Find an image of him or her to embed (add to the body of your post) and write, in your own words, a short description of what he or she did and why he or she is your favourite. If you get information from any source, you must credit it by creating a link to it (that includes information from the site that I've asked you to look at).

* Marquis de Montcalm interested me the most because he was a very brave soldier who fought any battle he was called for. Marquis de Montcalm was a commander for the French forces in the Seven Year's War. He is most remembered by one of the battles he fought in and called The Fall of Quebec. He won many great victories in the Seven Year's War but was defeated on the Plains of Abraham by a surprise attack by the British. Montcalm decided to fight anyways even though he was outnumbered. The battle lasted for about 20 minutes. Also, Montcalm got hit by a musket ball which led to his death. His last words were: " I am happy that I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec." This shows that he was very brave and this is the reason why he is my favorite. To learn more about him, click this and to see a reenactment of The Fall of Quebec, click this.

* Question c.) : In your post, suggest three more influential Canadian personalities that could be added to this site. Why did you choose these people? Which categories would they fit into? Link to information about each of them.

* Roberta Lynn Bondar is the first Canadian women in space and also the world's first neurologist in space. She worked in NASA to research space medicine. She also worked there to experiment what happens to the human body after exposure to space. I think that she would fit in the "We inspired" category because she is not only a person who went to space, but she is the first Canadian woman who went to space.To learn more about her, click this.

* The second person I would add to this list is Terry Fox. As most Canadians should know, Terry Fox was a person that had cancer and had to get one of his legs amputated. After his leg got amputated, Terry Fox was given an artificial leg and decided to run across Canada collecting donations which he will donate to Cancer research. He raised about 10.5 million dollars but unfortunately died from pneumonia. I think that Terry Fox would fit in the "We fought" category because he was fighting for something he believed in and never gave up. Also, I can say that he was very brave because he was committed to run across Canada after having cancer with a artificial leg. To learn more about Terry Fox, click this.

* The last person I would add to this list is James Cameron, an Academy Award winning Canadian director. He directed very successful movies such as Terminator 1 and 2 which made more than 250 million dollars domestically. He also directed the highest grossing movie of all time, which is Titanic that made 600 million dollars domestically and about 2 billion dollars worldwide. James Cameron would fit in the "We Inspired" because when you think of famous directors, they are mostly American but James Cameron became very successful by directing some of the most famous movies and series. Would you have guessed that the person that directed Titanic was Canadian? To learn more about James Cameron, click this.

d.) Which History-Maker did you have the most in common with? Were you able to figure it out from the clues given? What do you share with that person? What are some things that are different between you and that person?

* From the History Canadian Match Up Game, I found out that the person that I am most like is Norman Bethune (1890-1936 ) . I wasn't able to figure it out from the clues given because I never heard of him. According to Wikipedia, "Norman Bethune was a Canadian physician and and medial innovator". He was also a teacher, a medical doctor, and an inventor. Even though Norman Bethune was Canadian, he was China's greatest hero because when China was at war with Japan, there wasn't enough doctors to help the wounded. So, Bethune started to teach others first aid and simple surgeries.

* Some things that we have in common:

- We both had two other siblings
- We both have nicknames. ( His is Beth and mine is FirFir )
- We both love science.
- He was a doctor and I want to be a doctor in the future.
- We were both born in Canada.

* Some things that we don't have in common:

- His first language is English, mine is Arabic.
- He thought the most important thing is Education, I think it is Peace.
- He was born in the spring, I was born in the winter.
- He likes to paint in his free time, I like to read in my free time.

* e.) One hundred years from now, (in 2109!) imagine that students are learning about Canadian History Makers and they discover you. What will you be remembered for? How were you a Canadian History Maker? You are using your imagination, so think about some things that you would like to accomplish in your life and imagine that you have all the accomplishments of your life to look back on. Write a short profile of yourself, imagining the contributions you have made to the future of Canada. (Write this as though you've lived your whole life. You may have been a phenomenal athlete, the first black Prime Minister, cured cancer...use your imagination!)

Firas Darwiche (1996-2084)

* When Firas Darwiche was a kid, he was an A+ student in both Math and Science which made him feel that he would one day become a doctor. He didn't want to become a normal doctor, he wanted to become a Cardiac Surgeon. During his high school years, he realized that world has changed a lot and has become very advanced and yet, people still didn't find a cure for cancer. So, he decided to work very hard and get into the University of Toronto. When he finished High school, he received a full scholarship to the University of Toronto and became a Cardiac Surgeon 10 years later. Firas Darwiche performed many difficult surgeries, including surgeries to the Prime Minister, which made him the most popular surgeon in Canada. In the year 2048, his sister unfortunately died from cancer so he decided to find a successful cure for cancer. In 2053, He discovered a successful cure for cancer so he decided to try it out. He tried it out on more than 1000 people and none of them died. For this reason, Firas Darwiche became the first person in history to find a successful cure for cancer. He also received the Nobel Prize and became a millionaire. 5 years later, he retired and decided to spend time with his family, his friends, his beloved wife, and his 2 kids. In 2085, Firas Darwiche died from old age and his money was divided between his wife, his younger brother, and his 2 kids. On 2101, Firas Darwiche's picture was on a 25 dollar bill and a scholarship was also named after him for his great accomplishment.

* I hope you enjoyed. Feel free to comment on what you liked or to give me some advice on how to make it better.

A Brief History of Canada

*Almost every time I look at other people's blogs, I always see pictures and video links all related to history. So what I decided to do is to find a video about history myself but unfortunately there weren't any good ones except a video titled: A Brief History of Canada. It is a about 1:30 mins but it tells us about why the Europeans came to Canada and who the Europeans were, meaning John Cabot. One thing I should mention is that it is a "fun animation on Canada's early days." If I find any other videos about history, I will be sure to put links to them as soon as I find them.
Hope you enjoy the videos.