When Feb. 18 rolls around, it will be business as usual at the Regional District of Nanaimo, with no mention of it being Louis Riel Day.
That’s too bad, says Errington director Julian Fell, whose motion at Tuesday night’s committee of the whole meeting met with a quick and final legislative Batoche.
Fell said he made the motion because he thinks it’s a good idea for Canadians to mark their history.
“I thought it would be pretty harmless to draw some attention to some history,” he said. “My interest was not because it’s Metis, but because it’s historical. I’m a big fan of history and museums and I want Canada to recognize its past and celebrate its history.”
Louis Riel was a founder of the province of Manitoba and a political and spiritual leader of the Metis people of that region. Riel’s failed Northwest Rebellion in Saskatchewan in 1885, saw his Metis forces overwhelmed by Canadian troops at Batoche. Riel was taken prisoner and later hanged on the order of Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald.
Fell’s motion was dealt with quickly, with board manager Paul Thorkelson interjecting that it’s not RDN policy to declare days, for whatever cause and the matter was dropped.