Technically, it's only a province of Manitoba holiday. And even then, it's more a chance for a day off in cold February, the holiday came first the name second. That said my vague memory of high school history was that Louis Riel was presented as a "French-Canadian folk hero" and Winnipeg was merely where my father came from. But it's family history. The Red River colony was where my great, great, great grandfather Alexander Ross retired to after the fur trade, bringing my great, great, great grandmother Sarah Timentwa, Okanagan, with him. It was "civilization", but where the native women could also go. Other men abandoned their wives, which probably helped create Metis culture, a fusion but also in between. All was fine until more people started coming from "back east", who weren't tolerant of the mixed marriages. Hence comments when my great, great grandmother Henrietta married Reverend John Black, about "those blacks in the front row". That's what Louis Riel wanted, a place for those who straddled both worlds. I read it that there was a place for the English half breeds, though they seemed less interested. Henrietta's brother, James Ross, was chief justice in the provisional government. James Street in Winnipeg is named after him. He could stand up to Riel, but also seems responsible for the wording of how the colony came into Confederation. He died young, maybe torn between the two worlds. There were three casualties during the "Rebellion". Norbert Parisien was imprisoned for some reason, and when he escaped, he shot Hugh Sutherland, who was just passing by. He later died as a result. When Parisien was recaptured, he was beaten so badly that he died. Thomas Scott is seen as the big victim, but he either was involved in that beating, or encouraged it. Hugh Sutherland was the brother of my great grandmother Catherine Sutherland. It's all so recent that my grandfather had a brother named Hugh, I assume named after the first casualty. My great, great grandmother Janet Sutherland went to Louis Riel and asked that there be no more deaths. I'd like to think she stopped things, so only Thomas Scott was executed. It would seem he deserved it, not a martyr as history books describe. It could have gotten worse, each side taking revenge, becoming the dangerous place that the history books talk about. There was no real violence, people weren't generally in danger, and Louis Riel couldn't be a traitor, it wasn't yet Canada. Michael