A bit more tarnish has been polished off Louis Riel's reputation. More than 106 years after a Tory government hanged Riel for treason, Brian Mulroney's government says Canada has "matured as a nation." This calls for the official recognition of Riel's, "unique and historic role as a founder of Manitoba and his contribution in the development of Confederation." Métis leaders tell CBC Radio the move is a step in the right direction.

• Louis Riel led rebellions against the federal government in 1870 and 1885.
• Riel approved the execution, by firing squad, of captured surveyor Thomas Scott during the original Northwest Rebellion at the Red River settlement.
• After the second rebellion in what is now Saskatchewan, Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald's government agreed with a territorial court decision to execute Riel for treason.

• After Riel's death in November 1885, many Quebecers abandoned the Conservatives and voted instead for Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberals.
• The unanimous 1992 House of Commons vote was the result of an all-party agreement. The only complaint came from Nova Scotia MP Patrick Nowlan. According to Maclean's magazine, Nowlan said Parliament was "rewriting Riel history" to be politically correct.

• Nowlan worried that the move set a precedent that would allow Ottawa to declare Prime Minister Mackenzie King, "a security risk because he did things during the war according to a medium's ball."
• The resolution said Riel "paid with his life for his leadership in a movement which fought for the rights and freedoms of the Métis people — those of mixed native and European ancestry — to attain their constitutional rights."

• The opposition parties had unsuccessfully tried to persuade the government to go one step further and officially recognize Riel as a Father of Confederation.
• The day the resolution was passed, Riel's descendants told the Globe and Mail that the Riel name had for a long time been seen as anti-Canadian.

• "Years ago we said our name quietly, we were reprobates, we'd hide our head in the sink," said Peggy Riel, who married Louis Riel's great-nephew in the early 1950s. "I used to work at Eaton's and I'd wear my name tag. People would say, 'You belong to that traitor?'"

• In 1992, the Métis also won a Supreme Court decision recognizing them as an aboriginal nation in Canada.
• Yvon Dumont, speaking as the leader of the Manitoba Métis Federation in this clip, was Manitoba's Lieutenant-Governor from 1993-99.
• A poll commissioned by the Privy Council Office in June 2002 said 57 per cent of Canadians would support, "the Canadian Parliament passing a bill that would declare Louis Riel innocent of high treason," with 38 per cent opposed.

• In the poll, almost half of Canadians admitted they were not familiar with the Riel story and two-thirds of agreed that "having a debate on Louis Riel is pointless since we cannot go back and rewrite history."
• In 2004, Prime Minister Paul Martin said his government was considering naming Riel a Father of Confederation.

• "There is a great deal of interest in our caucus to basically have a very tangible recognition of Riel's contribution, not just to the Métis Nation, but to Canada as a whole. And we're very interested in proceeding on that," Martin said. As of 2006, when Martin lost in the January federal election, the government had not acted.

Medium: Radio
Program: As It Happens
Broadcast Date: March 10, 1992
Hosts: Alan Maitland, Ann Medina
Guest(s): Yvon Dumont
Duration: 10:01
Photo Credits: Library and Archives Canada / PA-139073