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Mayor presents Lord Selkirk with key to city

The latest recipient of a ceremonial key to the City of Winnipeg is not a rock star or an athlete, but a lord.

Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz presented a key to the city Friday morning to Lord Selkirk of Douglas, who is in the Manitoba capital to mark the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Scottish settlers in the Red River Colony, a precursor to Winnipeg.

"Winnipeg owes its cultural diversity to the fact that people from all over the world have looked to this land as a place of hope and opportunity," Katz said in a statement.

James Alexander Douglas Hamilton, the 11th Earl of Selkirk, assumed his title in 1994 but gave it up almost immediately, choosing to maintain his work as a Conservative MP in Edinburgh. He's since been given a new title, Lord Selkirk of Douglas.

The 1812 Scottish settlers were led by Hamilton's ancestor, Douglas Hamilton, the fifth Earl of Selkirk, who helped settle a portion of land along the Red River now known as The Forks.

History

Updated on Friday, September 7, 2012 at 1:26 PM CDT: Adds background

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