Read the following passage.
A. In May 1885, after the fighting at Batoche ended in defeat for the Métis, Louis Riel surrendered and was taken to Regina for trial. Of the 84 trials that followed the conflict, his was the only one for high treason, a charge under an English law of 1352 that carried a mandatory death penalty. A doctor called by the defence said that Riel suffered from megalomania, yet before his sentence Riel said he was satisfied that he had not been regarded as insane. On August 1 a jury of six found him guilty but recommended mercy. His appeals were dismissed, and he was hanged in Regina on November 16, 1885.
B. Riel was born on October 22, 1844, in the Red River Settlement, now in Manitoba, and in 1858 was sent to school in Montréal. By 1869 Canada was negotiating with the Hudson's Bay Company to take over Rupert's Land, which included Red River, and on October 11 a group of Métis that included Riel stopped a government land survey. In December a provisional government was formed, and Riel soon became its president. Delegates he chose then negotiated with Ottawa, and under the Manitoba Act, Manitoba, the name Riel favoured, became a province on July 15, 1870.
C. On March 4, 1870, Thomas Scott, an Irishman arrested by the Métis, was put to death after a Métis tribunal sentenced him, and Riel rejected appeals to save him. His motives are still debated; one may have been to show Canada that the Métis government had to be taken seriously. In Ontario the killing became a major issue, and many people, then and later, have called it his one great political blunder. Riel was elected to the House of Commons three times but was expelled twice. He later spent more than a year and a half in two Quebec asylums, then settled in Montana, where he became an American citizen in 1883.
D. Riel's death sentence divided the country. Thousands of French Canadians signed petitions asking for it to be changed, arguing that he was insane or that his crime was political, while many counter-petitions came from Ontario. Views of him have stayed divided. In 1885 most settlers in the West regarded him as a villain, while the Métis see him as a hero, and French Canadians have long seen him as a victim of prejudice. In 1992 the Parliament of Canada and the Manitoba legislature formally recognized his role, and that of the Métis, as founder of Manitoba.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: B
Why this is correct: The second paragraph says Riel became president of a provisional government. Delegates he chose then negotiated with Ottawa before Manitoba became a province in 1870. Put together, this is a local authority, led by him, bargaining over how the province would join.
Passage Reference: In December a provisional government was formed, and Riel soon became its president.
Tips: Find where Riel leads a government. Then read on to see what the people he chose did next.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph covers his surrender, trial and hanging in 1885, long after Manitoba had joined Canada.
- C: Look at paragraph C: it shows the provisional government acting against Thomas Scott, but not bargaining with Ottawa over the new province.
- D: The fourth paragraph names Manitoba too, but only for the 1992 recognition of him as its founder, not for talks before 1870.
- E: Riel as president of the provisional government, and the delegates who then negotiated with Ottawa, appear in Paragraph B.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: On August 1 a jury of six found him guilty but recommended mercy.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph A says a jury of six found him guilty on August 1 and recommended mercy. It never says how long their discussion lasted, so how quickly they decided is not given.
Tips: Notice that paragraph A names the jury. Look for any length of time before you decide it is there.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph gives the date, the size of the jury and its call for mercy. It does not say how long its members took.
- B: The second paragraph belongs to 1869 and 1870. No trial of Riel takes place in it.
- C: The third paragraph describes a different sentence, the one passed on Thomas Scott in 1870, and gives no timing for it either.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it turns to public reaction and petitions after the sentence, not to how the jury reached it.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: A doctor called by the defence said that Riel suffered from megalomania, yet before his sentence Riel said he was satisfied that he had not been regarded as insane.
Why this is correct: In the first paragraph, a doctor called by the defence said Riel suffered from megalomania. Yet Riel said he was glad he had not been regarded as insane. The defence is his own side, and his words show he did not accept that view.
Tips: Two other paragraphs touch on his mind. Ask which one has both a courtroom witness and Riel's own answer.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph covers his birth, schooling and the events of 1869 and 1870, with nothing on his health.
- C: The third paragraph mentions his stay in two Quebec asylums, yet no one gives evidence there and Riel says nothing about it.
- D: The fourth paragraph reports petitions that called him insane, but those came from the public, not from his lawyers at the trial.
- E: The doctor for the defence and Riel's own reply share one sentence in the middle of Paragraph A.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: He later spent more than a year and a half in two Quebec asylums, then settled in Montana, where he became an American citizen in 1883.
Why this is correct: In paragraph C, after his time in the asylums, he settled in Montana. There he became an American citizen in 1883. The passage itself calls this new citizenship American, which is not Canadian. So for a time he belonged to another nation.
Tips: Look for a place outside Canada, then check that the same paragraph mentions citizenship.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph is set in Regina in 1885 and never says where he had been living before the fighting.
- B: The second paragraph places his birth in the Red River Settlement, which is in Canada today, and his schooling in Montréal.
- D: The fourth paragraph mentions French Canadians and people in Ontario, but not his own nationality.
- E: Montana and his American citizenship from 1883 end Paragraph C.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: Thousands of French Canadians signed petitions asking for it to be changed, arguing that he was insane or that his crime was political, while many counter-petitions came from Ontario.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph says his death sentence divided the country. Thousands of French Canadians petitioned to have it changed, while many counter-petitions came from Ontario. The two groups stood on opposite sides of the sentence.
Tips: Ontario appears in two paragraphs. Match it to the event that caused the anger.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A reports the sentence and the hanging, but not how different parts of the country reacted.
- B: Look at paragraph B: it mentions Ottawa only as the place the Red River delegates dealt with in 1870.
- C: The third paragraph also shows anger in Ontario, but over the killing of Thomas Scott in 1870, not over Riel's own sentence.
- E: The French Canadian petitions and the Ontario counter-petitions are the second sentence of Paragraph D.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: In 1992 the Parliament of Canada and the Manitoba legislature formally recognized his role, and that of the Métis, as founder of Manitoba.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph says that in 1992 Parliament and the Manitoba legislature formally recognized his role as a founder of Manitoba. His hanging was in 1885, so 1992 is more than a century later, and he was born in what is now Manitoba.
Tips: Notice that paragraph B also creates Manitoba. The words more than a hundred years later point you to a different date.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph ends with his hanging in 1885 and gives nothing about how he was treated afterwards.
- B: Manitoba becoming a province in 1870 is in paragraph B. But no one officially praises him for it there.
- C: The third paragraph says he was elected to the House of Commons, which is not a later recognition of his work.
- E: The 1992 decision by Parliament and the Manitoba legislature is the last sentence of Paragraph D.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Of the 84 trials that followed the conflict, his was the only one for high treason, a charge under an English law of 1352 that carried a mandatory death penalty.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph A: there were 84 trials after the conflict, and his was the only one for high treason. This charge carried a mandatory death penalty. Mandatory means the court could not pick a lighter sentence.
Tips: 'No choice of sentence' means one fixed punishment. Look for what made his case different from the others.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph describes a survey being stopped in 1869, but no one is charged or tried.
- C: The third paragraph includes a sentence of death, the one passed on Thomas Scott, but not a charge that fixed the punishment.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it describes calls to change his sentence, which says nothing about how the charge compared with other trials.
- E: The 84 trials, the single charge of high treason and the mandatory penalty follow straight after the surrender in Paragraph A.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: On March 4, 1870, Thomas Scott, an Irishman arrested by the Métis, was put to death after a Métis tribunal sentenced him, and Riel rejected appeals to save him.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph C says a Métis tribunal sentenced Scott and that Riel rejected appeals to save him. It does not name the members of the tribunal, so whether Riel was one of them is not given.
Tips: Rejecting appeals comes after a sentence. Check whether the text puts Riel among the judges themselves.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Riel's own trial in 1885 is the subject of paragraph A. There he was the accused, not a judge.
- B: The second paragraph shows Riel leading the provisional government, but no trial happens in it.
- C: The third paragraph says the tribunal passed sentence and Riel refused appeals afterwards, but it never lists who sat on the tribunal.
- D: The fourth paragraph is about the reaction to Riel's own sentence, not about Scott's case.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: In Ontario the killing became a major issue, and many people, then and later, have called it his one great political blunder.
Why this is correct: The third paragraph says Riel rejected appeals to save Thomas Scott in 1870. Many people, then and later, have called the killing his one great political blunder. A blunder is a big mistake.
Tips: Find 'one act he allowed in 1870'. Check how others judged it, and whether that view has lasted a long time.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A deals with 1885 and his trial, not with a decision made in 1870.
- B: The second paragraph describes his work in 1869 and 1870 as a success for Manitoba, with no criticism of any act.
- D: Notice that paragraph D shows people disagreeing about him in general, but it does not single out one act as a mistake.
- E: The blunder, and who has called it that, are named in the third sentence of Paragraph C.
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