Louis Riel was an important leadership figure of the nineteenth century. At this time in history, the fundaments of Canada were being set in motion. Riel, born of a religious nature, attended a priest school in St. Boniface until his father’s death in 1864. He then returned to Red River, his childhood home to support his family, and widowed mother. Two years later, in 1866, Hudson's Bay Company was under pressure to sell Rupert’s land to the government of Canada. This vast area included the red river settlement where Riel lived. When the métis, who occupied the settlement discovered a team sent by McDougall attempting to inspect the territory, they grew fearful of losing their farmland. As a response, they came together under Riel’s leadership
