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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Monument easy to miss

Tribute to our founder hidden away

By: Christian Cassidy

Posted: 03/4/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

PHOTOS BY KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image

The Lord Selkirk Monument on Memorial Boulevard and Colony Street, just north of the Winnipeg Art Gallery. The Second World War delayed its coming to fruition.

He founded the Red River Settlement in 1812 with his own money, but is there a monument to him in the city that grew out of that settlement?

There is, but chances are, you have never stumbled upon it.

Enlarge Image

Lord Selkirk Monument at Memorial Boulevard.

Winnipeg's Lord Selkirk Monument, tucked away on a tiny sliver of land at Memorial Boulevard and Colony Street, was over a decade in the making.

The Manitoba Historical Society and Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada began planning for a monument in the early 1940s to coincide with Lord Selkirk being named a person of national historical significance in 1943. The war, however, put the fundraising campaign on hold and it wasn't until 1953 that things got back on track.

The design chosen was that of University of Manitoba professor and architect Roy Sellors. It is a Tyndall stone wall featuring the inscription "Neither a wild and visionary scheme nor a cloak to cover aggression."

The passage is taken from a letter Lord Selkirk wrote on his deathbed in April 1820 describing his fledgling Selkirk Settlement. Selkirk was angry at the pressures being exerted on the Hudson's Bay Co. and North West Company to merge. He considered this an abandonment of all he worked for in the territory. The full passage reads:

"With respect to giving up the settlement or selling it to the North West Company, that is entirely out of the question... I know of no consideration that would induce me to abandon it. I ground this resolution, not only on the principle of supporting the settlers whom I have already sent to the place, but also because I consider my character at stake upon the success of the undertaking, and upon proving that it was neither a wild or visionary scheme nor a cloak to cover sordid plans of aggression, charges which would be left in too ambiguous a state if I were to abandon the settlement at its present stage, and above all if I were to sell it to its enemies."

The monument was unveiled in October 1955. In 1962, the city spruced up the triangle of land with 16 linden trees, a flagpole, benches and a cobblestone base.

The most recent addition to the site came in 2004. A plaque was added to honour young artist Peter Rindisbacher, who lived at Red River from 1821 to 1826. The Swiss teenager was one of the first Europeans to document life in the new settlement through art. His sketches and paintings of people and places provide an invaluable insight into the early days of Manitoba's development. During the flood of 1826, his family fled to Wisconsin and never returned.

Unfortunately, the Lord Selkirk monument has become so obscure now, the Winnipeg Arts Council asked if it could be moved to allow for a public art program. A civic committee denied the request.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 4, 2012 A1

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