Contesting Civilization: Louis Riel’s Defence of Culture at the Collège de Montréal

Abstract

A newly discovered manuscript of a debate between two college students sheds new light on Louis Riel’s experience in Montreal. By the time the young Métis left Montreal, he was an accomplished public speaker with a sophisticated understanding of Canadian society and culture. This article argues that Riel’s education was not isolating and frustrating but, rather, encouraged him to engage with public issues and moral reform. It demonstrates that Riel, in responding to the debate sparked by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, could engage meaningfully with Western theories of civilization. This debate is examined in the light of mid-nineteenth-century elite Catholic education, missionary and colonial thought, the nature of the civilizing mission, and Riel’s theories of political sovereignty. Tracing Riel’s unique intellectual genealogy provides insight into the diverse and dynamic ways Indigenous people experienced colonialism. Finally, it offers a critique of the “colonial archive,” particularly when it comes to Indigenous identities. Ultimately, Riel was a successful student who could act as an exemplar of “Western civilization” while confidently maintaining his own identity as an Indigenous person.