Learn about the Red River Rebellion of Louis Riel through postage stamps! Before there was Winnipeg, there was the Red River colony. Home to a diverse group of people: Indigenous tribes, Scottish settlers, English and French fur traders, and Metis. Enter the year 1867, when the Dominion of Canada formed… and was ready to expand their new country with a vengeance. But one man refused to let this new ‘country of Canada’ roll over his hometown, and this rebel was the Metis leader, Louis Riel. He also, as one does, had a mysterious stamp essay designed for his self-formed provincial government? The details are unclear, but the Riel essay is a pricey philatelic item none-the-less!