I don't think it's neccessary to view Riel in a positive or negative way in order to agree he had an enormous influence on this province's history - and Canada's - and naming a day after him is one way of keeping that memory alive.
As for Riel's methods, I don't think it's fair to judge people simply on the means they employed in achieving what they saw as a desirable end. In a situation for so much was at stake for the residents of the Red River Valley, and given the context of the times in which ''justice'' was far harsher than today, I'm willing to overlook those misdeeds if there's a larger moral story to be told.
I do support what Riel stood for, namely his belief that the residents of the northwest not be colonized and controlled by outsiders. The people of the Red River Valley had a right to remain independent, whatever the wishes were of people in the East who were essentially foreigners. Louis Riel was elected three times to the house of commons because he opposed this injustice.
