THE LIFE AND DEATH OF LOUIS RIEL: A STUDY IN FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY. 1. A PSYCHOANALYTIC COMMENTARY

Louis Riel: a case study in involuntary psychiatric confinement

Louis Riel was confined against his will in insane asylums from March 6, 1876 to January 23, 1878. Psychiatrists and historians have generally interpreted his certification as an act of benevolence to Riel at a time when he was non compos mentis. However, detailed study of surviving records and manuscript sources shows that the commitment was legally suspect in a number of ways: proper signatures were lacking, pseudonyms were used, records were falsified, and so on. Moreover, while Riel was clearly a religious enthusiast with eccentric ideas, there was no proof that he was dangerous to himself or others at this time. We may thus wish to revise our interpretation of Riel's certification. It was not an act of benevolence but an illegal and unjustifiable deprivation of liberty.

William Henry Jackson (1861--1952): Riel's secretary: another case of involuntary commitment?

Although there have been many studies of the trial of Louis Riel, following the 1885 rebellion, much less attention has been paid to the fate of his secretary William Henry Jackson, who was charged with "treason-felony" and found not guilty, reason of insanity. In an effort to throw some new light on this neglected aspect of midico-legal history, this paper describes the intense political and religious relationship between Riel and his secretary which culminated in the onset of Jackson's mental illness. After a trial lasting less than half an hour, Jackson was committed to the "Selkirk Asylum" under a warrant of the then Lieutenant-Governor. Two weeks before Riel was executed, Jackson escaped from hospital and made his way into the U.S.A. No attempt was made to capture him. Jackson, having changed his name to Honoré Jaxon, became a labour organizer. He died in the psychopathic ward of Bellevue Hospital in New York on 10th January, 1952 at the age of ninety.