By Jill Sperling

Metis flag raised at Kamloops City Hall on Louis Riel Day

Nov 16, 2018 | 4:05 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s been 133 years since Louis Riel, a political leader of the Metis people, was executed for treason. 

On Friday (Nov. 16), the Metis flag was raised outside of Kamloops City Hall.

The Metis have had a long struggle to be recognized as a people group, but that changed two years ago with a Supreme Court of Canada ruling. 

People gathered at the flag pole to celebrate the progress that Louis Riel had fought for. 

“Instead of a day of mourning, let’s turn it into a day of celebration saying he didn’t die in vain,” said Dean Gladue, president of the local Two Rivers Metis Society. 

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“He died for a reason, he died for a cause and here we are celebrating even two years ago what happened when we became a part of the Canadian Constitution. That was a significant day in our history that we finally got recognized as a peoples rather than a threat of peoples in this country.”