Several individuals closely tied to the Canadian government had requested that Riel’s trial be held in Winnipeg in July 1885.

There are historians who contend that the trial was moved to Regina because of concerns with the possibility of an ethnically mixed and sympathetic jury.

Tom Flanagan states that an amendment of the North-West Territories Act (which dropped the provision that trials with crimes punishable by death should be tried in Manitoba) meant that the trial could be convened within the North-West Territories and did not have to be held in Winnipeg.

Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald orders the trial to be convened in Regina, where Riel was tried before a jury of six English and Scottish Protestants, all from the area surrounding the city.

The trial had begun on July 28, 1885, and lasts only five days.

Riel delivers two long speeches during his trial, defending his own actions and affirming the rights of the Métis people.

He rejects his lawyer's attempt to argue that he was not guilty by reason of insanity.

The jury finds him guilty but recommends mercy; nonetheless, Judge Hugh Richardson sentences him to death, with the date of his execution initially set for September 18, 1885.