Photo: Louis Riel Statue City Of Winnipeg St Boniface Manitoba

The Statue of Louis Riel sits in front of the Saint Boniface Museum in which was originally housed the Grey Nuns Convent School in Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada.

The Saint Boniface Museum is the oldest building in Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada and the largest white oak structure still in good condition in North America. The statue of Louis Riel in front of the Museum is an obvious choice because he was considered the Father of Manitoba.

In 1843 a group of nuns from the Grey Nuns Order of Montreal came to this Red River settlement, which is now Winnipeg, to begin a convent school and help the Francophones who had settled in the region. Although the nuns first started out in an 1829 stone house, they soon needed a larger convent and school - so the new wood building, which took six years to build, was completed in 1851.

Louis Riel was born in Red River Colony, Rupert's Land, in 1844 and died in Regina in 1885. ... continue below the picture...

... He attended the Grey Nuns Convent School, for a short while, as an 'adult' day student after he left a Montreal Seminary when his father died suddenly and Riel lost interest in becoming a priest.

In the Saint Boniface Museum there are exhibits showing the early days of Saint Boniface and also interesting items relating to Louis Riel, a controversial Canadian, a hero to many and a traitor to others.

Statue of the head of Louis A Riel (1844-1885), Saint Boniface Museum, City of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.