1-- i find this statue a little odd-- always have. Sort of MB and Canada's attempt to pretend that Riel was a statesman and law-maker, whereas in fact he's the only MP to be elected (twice) and not take his seat because the gov't was going to kill him if he showed up.
Sort of like the official "pardon" (they did pardon him, right?) 100+ years after the fact, the removal of the other statue and the use of this one strikes me as sort of an attempt to whitewash our history.
I think it's great that we honour him now, but I liked the other statue because it seemed more honest to me.
2-- In Montreal, the leaves are still at least half green, and pretty much all still on the trees.
Totally agree with you on this statue being odd, but to say that he wasn't involved in politics because he never sat in Parliament is a bit of a stretch. He was head of the provisional government after all and did impact on the foundation of the province of Manitoba.
The whole tomfoolery behind the making of the new sculpture is also quite interesting as Marcien LeMay, who made the original Riel sculpture, had made a maquette for the new sculpture that greatly resembles this one. His belief was that Miguel Joyal ripped him off (down to the moccasins and pose) and that he was cheated by the MMF (or so I am lead to believe).
And to me, he is the politician of his time, in terms of being able to mobilize so many euro resources against him, while ultimately being the raison d'etre for the railway west, arguably the biggest national infrastructure project at the time.
wikpedia says that the gatling was used at battoche, but also in use from the U.S. civil war (1861-5) onwards.
it DOES say, however, that chief Poundmaker of the Dakotah surrendered at battoche, leaving only Big Bear and the Cree in resistance against Canadian authorities.
Dear Canada: Hi, it's me, Louis Riel. Hope things are good for you. I'm just writing you on my birthday, from Batoche, to let you know that we've stolen our bell back and we plan on keeping it. You'll have to give us some of the queen's money just to see it again. And you'll have to come to Saskatchewan. No hard feelings I hope. Your pal, Louis.
13 comments:
Thanks for commenting on my photo!
Blessed is thy Riel.
1-- i find this statue a little odd-- always have. Sort of MB and Canada's attempt to pretend that Riel was a statesman and law-maker, whereas in fact he's the only MP to be elected (twice) and not take his seat because the gov't was going to kill him if he showed up.
Sort of like the official "pardon" (they did pardon him, right?) 100+ years after the fact, the removal of the other statue and the use of this one strikes me as sort of an attempt to whitewash our history.
I think it's great that we honour him now, but I liked the other statue because it seemed more honest to me.
2-- In Montreal, the leaves are still at least half green, and pretty much all still on the trees.
Totally agree with you on this statue being odd, but to say that he wasn't involved in politics because he never sat in Parliament is a bit of a stretch. He was head of the provisional government after all and did impact on the foundation of the province of Manitoba.
The whole tomfoolery behind the making of the new sculpture is also quite interesting as Marcien LeMay, who made the original Riel sculpture, had made a maquette for the new sculpture that greatly resembles this one. His belief was that Miguel Joyal ripped him off (down to the moccasins and pose) and that he was cheated by the MMF (or so I am lead to believe).
wow! scandal!
and yes, Riel was undoubtedly a major political figure, but i find something about this statue--the pose, the costume--so Euro-centric.
For sure.
And to me, he is the politician of his time, in terms of being able to mobilize so many euro resources against him, while ultimately being the raison d'etre for the railway west, arguably the biggest national infrastructure project at the time.
Word verification:
clecroca
Man, that Louis was so clecroca, damn!
the first-ever use of the machine gun in a battle was at battoche, if i'm not mistaken.
the gatling gun, that was operated with a hand crank.
wikpedia says that the gatling was used at battoche, but also in use from the U.S. civil war (1861-5) onwards.
it DOES say, however, that chief Poundmaker of the Dakotah surrendered at battoche, leaving only Big Bear and the Cree in resistance against Canadian authorities.
my facebook status:
Dear Canada: Hi, it's me, Louis Riel. Hope things are good for you. I'm just writing you on my birthday, from Batoche, to let you know that we've stolen our bell back and we plan on keeping it. You'll have to give us some of the queen's money just to see it again. And you'll have to come to Saskatchewan. No hard feelings I hope. Your pal, Louis.
It was also the first use of camouflage; black coats instead of red.
SOrry Denis.
It's a very nice photo.
I also think the statue is weird. Is his head oversized?
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