Tags
Gabriel Dumont, Great Ministry, John Ralston Saul, Joseph Boyden, Louis Riel, Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, Red River Colony, Robert Baldwin
Franklin Carmichael was a member of the Group of Seven (Art, Canada)
Dear Readers,
I have not published a post for several days. I was diagnosed with pericarditis earlier in the month of October and got better after taking anti-inflammatory medication. However, the diagnostic was not entirely correct. The pain came back. I therefore returned to the Emergency Room. The muscles of my rib cage and part of my left arm are inflamed. I can barely use my left arm. Doctors performed an electrocardiogram today. My heart is fine, but the inflammation is very real.
Posts
I had returned to the subject of Canadian confederation. Canadian scholar and thinker, John Ralston Saul, wrote an excellent book on the “great ministry” of Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin. The book is entitled Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin. www.amazon.ca/Extraordinary-Canadians-Hippolyte-Lafontaine-Robert/dp/0670067326. The book was published in 2010. Other extraordinary Canadians are Gabriel Dumont and Louis Riel. We have a post entitled A Métis Leader, Gabriel Dumont. Joseph Boyden wrote a book on Dumont and Louis Riel. Extraordinary Canadians: Gabriel Dumont and Louis Riel.
Confederation played itself out around Winnipeg (the Earl of Selkirk’s Red River Colony). Louis Riel formed a government and intended for Manitoba to remain bilingual and multicultural. His government condemned to death a violent young man, Thomas Scott, an Orangeman, from Ontario. Louis Riel’s government would not be recognized. So, the execution of Thomas Scott would cost Riel his life. As for the Métis of Manitoba, many had moved west to Saskatchewan hoping they could build lots on each side of a river. Gabriel Dumont had moved west, but he and other Métis could not settle along a river. Dumont went to see Louis Riel, who then lived in the United States. He sought his help. Dumont did not know Riel.
Louis Riel’s view of Canada is not unlike to John Ralston Saul. Saul does not ignore John A. Macdonald, the main father of Confederation, but Canada was not born in 1867, when Confederation was signed. It was the product of the “Great Ministry” and that of a unified country longing for a responsible government, which it was granted in 1848.
John A. Macdonald sent Amerindians to reserves and their children to Residential Schools where many were molested and died. As for French-speaking Canadians, after Confederation, they could not be educated in their mother tongue outside Quebec. John A. Macdonald attempted to assimilate both Amerindians and French-speaking Canadians.
At the time of Confederation, the Red River Colony was bilingual and multicultural. It was a miniature portrait of what Canada could have been and became, officially, after the Official Languages Act of 1969. The Red River Colony, or Fort Garry, the future Winnipeg, had been bought from the Hudson’s Bay Company by the Earl of Selkirk, Thomas Douglas 5th Earl of Selkirk. It was not part of Rupert’s Land. When Confederation was signed, half the people of Manitoba were francophones and the other half, anglophones. However, one hundred and two years after Canadian Confederation (1867), most Canadians living west of Quebec spoke English only. Fortunately, there are realities of the mind that override a seemingly more verifiable “reality.” There have been extraordinary Canadians. They shaped Canada.
John A. Macdonald wanted Canada to stretch from East to West and built a railroad. He was able to do so after Canada purchased Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company.
But Canada started earlier than Canadian Confederation. It started during the “great ministry” of Baldwin and LaFontaine and may have started earlier. In other words, there were extraordinary Canadians who took Canada forward despite colonialism and/or imperialism, and Confederation. French Canadian nationalism dates back to the early 1800s and it had English-speaking supporters. The Rebellions of 1837-1838 occurred in both Upper Canada and Lower Canada.
RELATED ARTICLES
- The Métis in Canada (4 June 2015)
- The Red River Settlement (30 May 2015)
- Canada’s Amerindians: Enfranchisement (24 May 2015)
- Residential Schools for Canada’s Amerindians (21 May 2015)
- The Art of Kenojuak Ashevak (19 May 2015)
- Inuit Art (17 May 2015)
- Au pays des jours sans fin (16 May 2015)
- The North West Rebellion, concluded (15 May 2015)
- Aboriginals in Canada (14 May 2015)
- A Métis Leader, Gabriel Dumont (10 May 2015)
- From the Red River Rebellion to the North West Rebellion (8 May 2015)
- The Royal Proclamation of 1763 (Indigenous Foundations) (6 May 2015)
- The Métis in Canada (4 June 2015)
- Louis Riel as Father of Confederation (22 May 2012)
Sources and Resources
Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin : Saul, John Ralston: Amazon.ca: Livres
Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont: A Penguin Lives Biography : Boyden, Joseph: Amazon.ca: Livres
Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine et Robert Baldwin – Saul John Ralston – 9782764621264 | Catalogue | Librairie Gallimard de Montréal (gallimardmontreal.com)
Love to everyone 💕
https://nationtalk.ca/story/featured-video-of-the-day-joseph-boyden-on-louis-riel-and-gabriel-dumont
© Micheline Walker
28 October 2021
WordPress
Micheline's Blog 
Love the painting by Carmichael. Hope you’re feeling better soon Micheline.
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Carmichael is such a fine artist and October has been and October gold. Members of the Group of Seven are extraordinary Canadians. They are part of our “imaginary.” I look forward to feeling better. It’s not the heart, just the muscles. I hope you are well, Carol.
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Such a delightful painting. I hope you are recovering
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I love that painting and, this year, we had an October gold. I wanted to post the picture alone. There is nothing wrong with my heart, which is reassuring, and they did not detect cancer. It will take months for me to recover. Inflamed muscles are crushing my heart, which is painful but not fatal. I’ll take my anti-inflammatories, but I must also go outdoors, breathe deeply, and apply anti-inflammation cream to soothe the muscles. 🙂
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Hope that inflammation recedes and you have no more pain and discomfort. Love the work of the Group of Seven.
Best wishes to you.
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Thank you, Josie. I do hope the inflammation recedes. It causes cramps, spasms and convulsions. I will be using anti-inflammatory medication and anti-inflammatory cream.
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Josie, My computer makes believe it has heard from you. The pain has not receded, but it will. The Group of Seven are the pioneers. They went north and interpreted the landscape. The vision is not always the same. Love 🙂
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It is nice to receive your share of Canada’s beautiful seasonal colors. Sorry to learn about your health issue. Sending healing love and prayers.🙏💞❤️🩹💞
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The painting was all I needed to post. This year, October was stunning. and Carmichael’s painting tells the entire story. The Group of Seven was a blessing to Canada. Love 🙂
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Autumn in Canada is so festive. It is a prelude to a magical season: Christmas. Love
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I hope you quickly overcome the health problem that afflicts you.
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I thank you very much for your good wishes. It’s not the heart but muscles crushing the heart and other parts of the rib cage. There are resources. Attitude, is one and my community of bloggers is now dearer to me than it has ever been. Many thanks, 🙂
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I’m sorry to hear that you are ill. Take care of yourself.
Marilyn G
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Thank you, Marylin. My heart is fine, but it is crushed by inflamed muscles. The second time I went to the ER, I had spasms and convulsions. Fortunately, I was in a hospital. Doctors do not know what happened to me. I may learn more today. A few months before Covid-19 broke out, I lost my voice. I could not speak for three months and was then diagnosed with advanced emphysema. I’ve never smoked. After I see the doctor today, my nephew will drive me to Magog, so I am with my friend. He has a guest room and a guest bathroom. He also has Ménière’s disease, but he can look after me. I can be his ears. You can write to me at micheline.walker@gmail.com.
Love, Micheline
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