We're going to the polls again, Canada!

Well, some of us.

The Prime Minister announced has three byelections for April 13th. It's likely he'll finally get a (bare) majority.

But I thought this weekend I would tell you the story of the single most unhinged byelection in Canadian history, which also happens to be one of the most unhinged events in Canadian history — which is saying a lot for a country that once negotiated an entire province into existence and then immediately chased its founder into the United States.

That founder was Louis Riel. And what happened to him in 1873 and 1874 was so spectacular that it almost defies description, but I'm going to try.

The bounty

In 1869, Riel led the Métis people of Red River in a resistance against the Canadian government, which had just bought their homeland from the Hudson's Bay Company without consulting anyone who actually lived there. 

Riel formed a provisional government, negotiated the creation of Manitoba as a province, and in the process ordered the execution of a belligerent Ontario settler named Thomas Scott, who had made himself such a relentless nuisance that even his own contemporaries found him difficult to defend. Riel believed the execution would be understood as an act of governance. Ontario did not see it that way. Ontario saw it as murder.

The Premier of Ontario announced a bounty of five thousand dollars for Riel's capture, warrants were issued, and Riel fled to the United States. 

So far, this is a reasonably normal chapter of Canadian history. A man leads a resistance movement, kills someone, flees to America. Standard stuff.

Here is where it gets weird.

Wanted man, open seat

In 1873, the seat for Provencher, Manitoba came open. The Métis community of Manitoba, in an act of either profound loyalty or profound trolling, decided to run Louis Riel for it. 

Riel, who at this point was a fugitive with an active arrest warrant and a price on his head, won the seat by acclamation. Unopposed. Nobody ran against the wanted man. He won a seat in the Parliament of Canada while actively hiding from Parliament's home province.

(He did not take the seat. He was, understandably, concerned about being arrested or assassinated.)

A new election was called in early 1874 following the Pacific Scandal that brought down Macdonald's government. Riel ran again, this time in an actual general election. He won again with 73 percent of the vote. He was still a fugitive. He was hiding in Montreal.

The disguise

At this point, Riel decided he needed to at least sign the parliamentary register, which was a formal requirement for taking his seat. So he snuck into Ottawa in disguise, was escorted through a concealed door by a sympathetic MP from Rimouski, signed his name on the test roll, had his photograph taken with the caption "Louis Riel, MP," and then fled before police could arrive. 

The clerk recognized the signature. An indictment was tabled. Officers were dispatched. Crowds gathered in the streets hoping to spot him. They did not spot him. He had already crossed back into Quebec, and Ontario had no jurisdiction there.

Parliament expelled him. A byelection was called to fill his seat. Provencher held the byelection. Louis Riel won it again! Remember, he was still a fugitive, and in fact was now living in upstate New York with some priests.

Parliament expelled him again. He never took his seat.

Three elections, zero days

He eventually received a conditional amnesty in 1875 requiring five years of exile, spent time in asylums in Quebec, declared himself a divinely appointed prophet of the Métis people, moved to Montana, became an American citizen, was called back to Canada in 1884 to lead the North-West Rebellion, was captured, tried for treason, and hanged in 1885.

In 1992, Parliament recognized him as a founder of Manitoba. There is a statue of him in Winnipeg. Manitoba celebrates Louis Riel Day every February. He has probably been the subject of more historical writing than any other figure in Canadian history. 

The man won three elections from hiding, never sat in Parliament once, was expelled twice, and is now on a provincial holiday.

I'm telling you. Americans think we're boring.

Imagine what we're like when we're trying.

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