In a much-needed intervention in the scholarship on Métis leader Louis Riel, M. Max Hamon successfully brings Riel’s agency to the forefront in this work. Hamon argues that Riel participated in creating a new political environment that attempted to integrate Métis, First Nation, and Canadian (French and British) perspectives. Hamon positions Riel as a man “connected to, rather than disconnected from, the worlds that he encountered” (14), and he claims that Riel aimed to create understanding of Métis claims of nationhood and rights within the Canadian public, not as an enemy to the Canadian project.
Hamon uses a decolonizing approach, choosing to end the book in 1875 rather than Riel’s death in 1885. This periodization allows the focus to remain on Riel’s agency and to emphasize areas of Riel’s life other than the Resistance of 1885. Also, Hamon moves beyond the published versions of Riel’s writings, and potential biases created...
