Mr. Speaker, on November 16, 1885, Manitoba's founder, Louis Riel, a Red River Métis and a brother to Quebec, was hanged.
Unlike English Canadians, Quebeckers have always seen him as a hero who took a stand for the French language and for his people. Like the Patriots of Quebec, he suffered the same fate that Canada reserved for anyone who opposed its power: the gallows.
The men and women of Quebec gathered at Champ-de-Mars in Montreal to voice their discontent. This mass rally demonstrated the deep ties between the Métis people and Quebec.
We have never forgotten Louis Riel. He still appears in our history books as the hero of a larger-than-life movement. We know and have not forgotten what Canada and its prime minister did back then.
Yes, the dogs in Quebec barked in his favour. I am one of those dogs, and I will keep barking until Louis Riel and the Red River Métis get justice. That will take immediate acts of recognition.