Ontario Highlands Metis Council

Jeff Green | Nov 17, 2021

For the first time, Louis Riel has been formally acknowledged in Frontenac County.

On Louis Riel Day, November 16. In 5 locations throughout the territory of Highlands Waters Métis Council, which is much of Southeastern Ontario, flag raising ceremonies took place, and the Louis Riel flag flew over municipal buildings.

Those locations include: Belleville, Quinte West (Trenton) Smiths Falls, Napanee, and Sharbot Lake. In Sharbot Lake, Highlands Waters Board Chair Carol Young, joined Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith at a flag raising ceremony at the township office in Sharbot Lake.

“Louis Riel day is a chance to reflect on where we are, where we are going, challenges we have faced and the challenges we continue to face,” said Jonnathan Marconi, the President of the Highland Waters Métis Council.

“I am happy to be able to bring this ceremony to Sharbot Lake,“ said Carol Young, who was a board member in the Thames Blue Water Métis Council before moving to the Arden area from London, Ontario.

November 16 marks the day, in 1885, when Louis Riel was hanged. The events that precipitated that day are described in a brief history on the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) website.

Here is an excerpt, including a description of the meaning of the day, to Métis people, from the MNO website.

“During that year, Riel led Métis people in the Northwest Resistance, which was a stand against the Government of Canada because it was encroaching on Metis rights, and our way-of-life. The Métis were defeated at the siege of Batoche and the Canadian government captured Riel. He was eventually put on trial where he was convicted of treason and executed. As a result, Métis people across Canada were labeled as traitors and for generations many felt the need to hide their Métis culture and heritage. Despite this oppression, many Métis people found a way to preserve their way-of-life and passed it on to current generations. Today, the strength of the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) is a testament to the courage of our ancestors.”

Fifteen years before he was executed, Riel successfully negotiated the Manitoba Act, which brought Manitoba into confederation in 1870. But at that time, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald already had plans to supplant the Métis from their lands.

The MNO site recalls a quote from Macdonald, from February 23, 1870: “These impulsive half-breeds have got spoiled by this emeute (uprising) and must be kept down by a strong hand until they are swamped by the influx of settlers.”

Riel was elected to Parliament three times between 1870 and 1885 but could not take his seat because the Government of Ontario, in whose territory the federal parliament was located, laid charges on him and set out bounty for his capture even though they did not have jurisdiction in Manitoba. Riel went into exile in the United States but returned to Saskatchewan in 1884, and ended up leading the Northwest resistance. He surrendered on May 15, 1885. According to the MNO site, he was hoping his trial would provide an opportunity to tell the true story of the Métis struggles, in the face of misrepresentation in the Ontario newspapers.

A jury, made up of English settlers, convicted him of treason, but recommended mercy, but the judge, Hugh Richardson, ordered his execution, which took place in Regina on November 16.

It took 107 years, long after Canadian settlement had overtaken the West, for the Government of Canada to begin to change the way the country remembers Louis Riel.

In 1992 he was formally given status as a “founding father” of Manitoba, and in 1998 the Government issued a “statement of reconciliation” and acknowledged the “sad events culminating in the death of the Métis leader, Louis Riel”.

In 2004, then Prime Minister Paul Martin acknowledged Riel's contribution, “not only to the Métis Nation, but to Canada as a whole.”

Louis Riel Day is celebrated on the third Monday of February in Manitoba, the same day as Family Day in Ontario, but the Métis Nation marks the day of his death with ceremonies.

November 16 is also recognised as Louis Riel Day by the Government of Ontario.

"Today we commemorate and reflect on Louis Riel's historical legacy and quest for justice. A hero to Métis people, Riel was executed 135 years ago after being found guilty of treason for leading the North-West Rebellion in defense of Métis rights, land and culture,” said Ontario Minister of Indigenous Affairs Greg Rickford in 2020.

This year, the day began with a virtual pancake breakfast, followed by flag raisings at Toronto City Hall (10am) and the Ontario Legislature (12:15).

And this year, communities throughout the Ontario Highlands Council territory joined in as well.

The Ontario Highlands Metis Council has a new president, a new board chair, and a whole new council that took office earlier this year. The previous office in Northbrook has been vacated, and negotiations are underway for an office to be established in Napanee, sometime in 2022.

“I can't speak to the old council,” said Jonnathan Marconi, the newly elected president of the 10 member Ontario Highlands Council (OHC) “my commitment to the council and the membership (there are currently about 400 registered Metis in the Ontario Highlands catchment area) is to be as ethical and as transparent as possible. When we sit together as council, we are all equals, and only once a decision is made do I, as president, represent our approach to the public,” he said.

Jonnathan Marconi has been a volunteer with the MNO for six years. He works for the federal government and lives near Kingston, and said that he sees the opportunity to take a leadership role with the Metis Nation as a “tremendous opportunity in a time when the Ontario government and the Metis Nation are beginning to work on what self government for Metis Peoples will look like.”

One of the two major roles of the OHC is to provide services to its members, which includes direct services as well as access to scholarships for studies at post-secondary institutions. There are genealogical criteria for membership in the MNO, and Marconi said that the Ontario Highlands Council is happy to work with people in the territory to do the necessary research to become members. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The other role is to work towards further recognition in Ontario and self-government, and Marconi described the leader of the MNO, Margaret Froh, as an inspirational leader in that effort.

Louis Riel Day was established in Ontario in 2015, and is becoming a focal point for the Metis Nation, gaining more traction each year, across the province.

“After the death of Louis Riel, Metis people were labeled as traitors and became a forgotten people. Today, we are forgotten no more. We assert our Metis rights, and by doing so, we take up that mantle of Louis Riel. It is for this very reason that Louis Riel day is a cause for celebration in our communities across Ontario and the homeland. It is a day to remember our past, to live our culture, and reaffirm our determination that future generations of Metis people will inherit the rights that Louis Riel fought so hard for,” said Margaret Froh about Louis Riel Day in 2020