He was a supporter of Louis Riel's provisional government and was murdered by Canadian troops under the command of Col. Garnet Wolseley, after the suppression of the Red River Resistance.
Elzear's other brother, Leonide Goulet, was a member of the 49th Rangers, "the armed Metis scouts who accompanied the British-American Boundary Commission" (1873–1874).
[1] During these trips, Goulet befriended Joseph Rolette, a very influential person in Pembina who was a postmaster, merchant, freighter, politician, and built a fur-trading post for the American Fur Company in 1840.
[1] It was through this friendship that Goulet met Rolette's niece, Hélène Jérôme, whom he would marry on March 8, 1859, in Assumption Church, at Pembina, Dakota Territory.
[1] The 22 men helped James Sinclair, a Hudson's Bay trader and explorer, to write a letter to the Governor Alexander Christie of Red River.
[1] The Ottawa government gave the title of The Honourable Roger Goulet, which allowed him to negotiate with Riel and Métis leaders about the land claims that were being disputed at the time of the barricade at La Barrière.
[1] Eight years after the death of Elzéar, his younger brother Maxime Goulet (1855 – 1932) went onto be elected to represent St. Vital in the Manitoba Legislature, as well as entering John Norquay's cabinet as Minister of Agriculture.
[1] Goulet joined Louis Riel's forces at Upper Fort Garry in 1869, where he became second-in-command of the Métis militia under Ambroise-Dydime Lépine.
[1] On 3 March 1870, he served on the tribunal that passed judgement on Thomas Scott, an Orangeman from Upper Canada who was accused of treason, as he was a supporter of the Canadian government's claiming of Métis land.
[1] The execution outraged many in Ontario and contributed to the collapse of Riel's government later in the year, when a military expedition under Garnet Joseph Wolseley entered the settlement.
[1] Goulet escaped on foot, and tried to swim to St. Boniface across the Red River, all the while being pursued by three men, two of whom were uniformed members of the Wolseley expedition.
[3] Due to the absence of coroner Curtis James Bird, Archibald appointed to Hudson's Bay Company magistrates, Salomon Hamelin and Robert McBeath, to inquire into the death with the help from newly arrived lawyer, Jean McConville.
His 17-year-old daughter Laurette Goulet was also subject to violence, having been raped by Red River Expeditionary Force (RREF) members, later dying from injuries she sustained in the attack.