Louis Riel Editorial: A hero and a traitor!

The following activity is just as much an English activity as it is a history activity. Students are expected to understand and write from two completely different points of view. The challenge for students is to use the right kind of voice (buffered with correct historical facts) to get their point across. Emotion (pathos) is mixed with fact (logos) to convince writers about the legitimacy of their point of view (ethos).

There is no doubt that editorials in different newspapers would both praise and condemn Louis Riel. For this assignment, students write two letters to the editor: 1 newspaper is from Quebec, and the other is from Ontario. Included in the lesson kit is the assignment, a marking rubric, and exemplar letters to use as examples.