Ah, Riel. What a Goof ball.

[juliastinson]

I have a few questions about what we have been studying; the first is regarding Louis Riel. He seemed like a public nuisance, starting up rebellions all the time like the Red River Rebellion and the Northwest rebellion. I know that these rebellions brought along well deserved change and that he is seen as a Canadian hero, but his method seems out of place. Those are things that happened a lot in the previous units which were set in a different time altogether. Here he is, in the middle of Canada, rebelling left right and center, while others are focused on more civil affairs of the country. He is constantly causing a ruckus. I should research this more but it also appears as though he gets shut down by the government of Canada without a problem... “Oh, Riel is at it again, better send some troops over on the railroad and put an end to that.” I know that there is still warring, but these little rebellions seem comedic. Another topic entirely, is Canada’s full name really The Dominion of Canada still? That caught me off guard. I have never heard it being referred to as that.

[Mr. Delainey]

Yip. Our official name is the Dominion of Canada. The phrase has fallen out of usage. You might argue that our name is in fact just "Canada". However, people who like to quibble would say our "Dominion" name is our name.

I don't identify personally with the Dominion of Canada name myself. I remember having a debate with an American many years ago where he said "you're called the Dominion" and I'm all like "no just Canada" and he's like "no it's Dominion" and I'm like "no one has called it that since like 1914".