Louis Riel poems return to Manitoba

Handwritten poems by the late Métis leader Louis Riel are coming home to Manitoba.

The Manitoba Métis Federation will return the four poems — given to a jail guard before Riel's 1885 execution in Regina — to Manitoba after purchasing them at an auction Tuesday in Toronto.

The four English-language poems, written in a folio given to Riel by one of his jailers, fetched $27,000 plus fees.

David Chartrand, president of the federation, said the artifacts truly belong in Manitoba, where the controversial Riel is considered a founder of the province.

"It’s a great victory – bringing home a clear artifact that belongs to the Métis nation," he said. "Bringing it back gives us sense of pride. You look at the penmanship – it's beautiful. He's not somebody who's mad, or angry or shaken up."

The poems, along with a rare portrait of Riel, will join other artifacts – including Riel's eyeglasses, his Métis sash and even his moustache (cut off by a jailer) — in the St. Boniface Historical Museum, Chartrand said.

"I believe they belong to Manitoba," he said.

One day, the federation hopes to make the poems a centrepiece in a Métis museum in Winnipeg.

Before leaving Winnipeg to attend the Toronto auction, Chartrand garnered financial support from the province of Manitoba, the National Bank of Canada, a local foundation and a Métis businessman.

Poems held by constable's descendants

Chartrand said he even received a call from David Asper, vice-president of Canwest Global Communications, who said if the MMF didn't bring the poems to Manitoba where they belong, then he would.

"He said, 'Those things belong in Manitoba, they belong home here,'" Chartrand quoted Asper as saying. "He said … if I didn't bid for them, he was going to make sure he went and got them. And he said that, 'in my mind, in my heart, they belong here,' he said 'they belong in Manitoba.'"

In addition to the poems, Chartrand also successfully bid on one of two rare portraits, a photograph showing Riel in his 30s.

The poems came to light after being held by descendants of North West Mounted Police Const. Robert Hobbs, who gave the Métis leader the writing pad in his jail cell shortly before Riel's execution for treason.

In return, Riel gave the poems to Hobbs as a gift.

The Toronto sale was organized by Dirk Heinze, an expert with the CBC's Canadian Antiques Roadshow.

As a Métis leader, Riel commanded two rebellions in Western Canada and was hanged in Regina in 1885. Until well into the 20th century, Riel was regarded as misguided at best and a psychotic traitor at worst.

But in the 1960s, Riel's reputation began to turn around.

Today, most Canadians, particularly the Métis, have reclaimed him as a heroic patriot, founder of Manitoba and a father of Confederation.