Historian and professor at Powell River’s Vancouver Island University campus David Doyle is travelling to Cuba this month to give a presentation on Louis Riel at Havana’s International Book Fair.
Doyle is the author of From the Gallows, The Lost Testimony of Louis Riel and producer of the video On the Trail of Louis Riel. He will be presenting both on Friday, February 17 at the book fair. Doyle will also present at a forum on writing and contemporaneity at Casa de las Americas and render a dramatic re-enactment of Riel’s trial for the Cuban writers’ union. The book fair is a 10-day event that in 2011 drew 2.3 million people.
“As a long-time Riel activist it is a great honour for me to introduce Louis Riel to the Cuban people,” wrote Doyle in an email to the Peak. “My role in taking Riel to Cuba is to strengthen the bonds between our two countries and to celebrate two heroes of the anti-colonial resistance.”
One of Doyle’s main interests in bringing Riel to Cuba revolves around similarities between Riel and Cuban national hero José Marti, who fought against Spanish colonialism in the late 19th century. In Doyle’s view both men fought for democracy and freedom and approached their respective causes in similar ways.
“Both men were well educated, both were poets and both fought to free their people from tyranny,” said Doyle.
Unlike Cuba, however, Doyle believes it is an injustice that Riel is still officially regarded as a traitor in Canada, despite a resurgence of interest in the historical figure and the fact that his memorial sits in front of the Manitoba Legislative Building.
