Brandon University will be largely closed on Monday, Feb. 20 to observe Louis Riel Day. No classes are scheduled for Louis Riel Day.

Louis Riel was the driving force behind Manitoba joining Confederation and becoming Canada’s fifth province.

As the Métis leader of the Red River Resistance of 1869-70, he was instrumental in drafting the List of Rights that formed the basis of the Manitoba Act, passed by the Parliament of Canada in the spring of 1870, which brought the new province of Manitoba into Confederation.

Fearing prosecution, Riel fled to the United States. From exile, he was elected three times as a member of the House of Commons, but could never take his seat. Returning to Canada to help Métis leaders in 1884, he was defeated and captured at the Battle of Batoche. Despite popular appeals and a jury’s call for clemency, Riel was hanged for treason in 1885.

Louis Riel Day has been celebrated as a provincial holiday in Manitoba since 2008.

The University will re-open normal business hours on Tuesday, Feb. 20.

From Tuesday, Feb. 20 through Friday, Feb. 23, Brandon University will observe the Winter Study Break.