Mr. Speaker, 125 years ago, the Canadian government executed Louis Riel, leader of the Métis, father of Confederation, and founder of Manitoba.
It is never too late for a country like Canada that claims to be founded on the rule of law to acknowledge historic wrongs and make amends. That is what everyone in the House did two years ago when we apologized to aboriginal peoples. If there is a truly Canadian people, it is the Métis, born of the First Nations and the first European settlers.
The bill introduced by my colleague from Winnipeg Centre would allow Louis Riel to be officially pardoned and would give him his rightful place in history. In 1985, after being ignored for nearly a century, Franco-Manitobans saw their linguistic rights reinstated by the Supreme Court in the Forest case. Today, this House has another opportunity to make a significant gesture of atonement by giving Louis Riel and the Métis people their rightful place in our history.