Mayor Sam Katz will hand the keys to the city to a Scottish ancestor of a revered Manitoba Metis settler.

Sources have told The Metro the mayor will present the keys to Lord Strathspey of the Grant Clan at the upcoming Cuthbert Grant Day celebrations, scheduled for July 14 at Grant’s Old Mill in St. James.

Strathspey, chief of the Grant clan in Scotland, has accepted an invitation to attend the event, which also marks the 2012 bicentennial of the Selkirk Settlers at the mill.

Descendants from across Canada are expected to attend, where Strathspey will officially declare them an official sect of the Grant clan.

Grant was a revered Metis leader in Manitoba and is seen as one of the founding fathers of St. Francois Xavier. He was born to a Scottish father and Metis mother in 1793 and served as a sheriff and magistrate prior to his death on July 15, 1854. SFX was originally named Grantown in his honour.

He also built a mill in the town in 1816, a replica of which sits on Sturgeon Creek north of Portage Avenue near Grace Hospital.

For more information, and a detailed events list, visit www.cuthbertgrant.ca

— Staff