Winnipeg’s history built on Indigenous foundation

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/08/2019 (2222 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Friday is the 15th annual International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Founded in 1994 by the United Nations, the day encourages people to protect the heritage and promote the cultures of Indigenous peoples around the world.

The fact is, we are our own United Nations here in Manitoba, with eight Indigenous nations welcoming hundreds others to now call this place home.

Yet, for many reasons we still don’t know each other. This ignorance often leads to misunderstandings, confusion, and conflict.

When I teach, I ask my students: Where did your community begin?  For instance, I ask: Why is Pembina Highway where it is? What happened to make Seven Oaks “Seven Oaks”?  Who created Point Douglas?

Inevitably, students realize that virtually every page of Winnipeg’s history was first written by Indigenous peoples. From the first moment of this city’s inception with the Peguis-Selkirk Treaty of 1817, Winnipeg is birthed from Indigenous contributions. Others have contributed too, of course, but to know Winnipeg you have to know what Indigenous peoples have done to make our community possible.

Many have worked hard to help us understand this history by building monuments, installing plaques, and creating murals throughout our city. Soon, the city of Winnipeg will feature these in the upcoming Welcoming Winnipeg: Reconciling our History project but until then, here is a weekend tour you can take to see how Indigenous peoples have built much of today’s Winnipeg. Some of these you will know; others not so much.

Let’s begin at the centre, at the Forks (called Nestowaya or “Three Points” in Cree), just off the market area is Niizhozibean (“Two Rivers”) on the south point. We’ll begin here, checking out the walkway installation Niimaamaa (“my mother”). After, let’s travel to the bridge (back to the Forks) and see the installations honouring the Peguis-Selkirk 1817 Treaty and Mikwagamawisipiy, the Red River.

Look up and you’ll see the Indian Group of 7 mural by Mike Valcourt honouring the birth of modern Indigenous art in Canada, which happened in Winnipeg. Before leaving the Forks, visit the monument for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (just beside the bridge) and residential school survivors (near the Canadian Museum of Human Rights). You can see plaques honouring La Vérendrye (who established fur trade posts to work with Indigenous nations from 1731-43) and spend a few moments at Oodena, where our city has mourned, celebrated, and grown together in recent years.

Now, leaving the Forks, check out the Upper Fort Garry historical site off Broadway Avenue. As you do, remember that this intersection is where 1,500 Cree and Lakota peoples perished during the 1781-1783 smallpox epidemic, enabling settlers to move in. While on Broadway, don’t forget to visit the 50th anniversary of the Shoal Lake Water Supply monument west of Donald Street and appreciate where Winnipeg’s water comes from.

Travelling across the river to St. Boniface, recall that this is the birthplace of Manitoba by Louis Riel and other Métis leaders in the 1870 provisional government. There are lots of places to learn about this (like Le Musee de Saint-Boniface) but also check out the Lagomodiere and Gaboury plaque, honouring the French grandparents of Riel (in Whittier Park).

We’re running out of weekend so I’ll go faster.

Métis built virtually the entirety of the north part of the city. For more, see the Battle of Seven Oaks plaque (Main Street and Rupertsland Boulevard), Cox House (7348 Henderson Highway), and Frog Plain Park (off Frog Plain Way).

Métis also lived in other areas such as Rooster Town (no monument yet but that’s Grant Park Mall) and virtually everywhere in Point Douglas. For more, see Ross House at 140 Meade Street (built in 1854 and one of the oldest homes in Winnipeg) and Riel House at 330 River Road (where Riel’s body was brought back after his execution).

Travelling down Pembina, arguably the most important First Nations and Métis trade routes in Manitoba, you end up in St. Norbert, where Riel first expressed Manitoba’s independence. St. Norbert Provincial Heritage Park is almost exclusively Indigenous history with sites like Bohemier House, Delorme House, Turenne House, and McDougall House.

I’ve almost left out St. James, where the Council of Assiniboia forged government in Manitoba from 1821-1870 (with French, English, and Métis traders and leaders). Here, businesses like Cuthbert Grant’s mill were built (2777 Portage Avenue), right beside the path where buffalo would cross the river into what’s now Charleswood – where a monument has been installed on the river shore by the Charleswood Historical Society (end of Berkeley Street).

I haven’t even gotten to the North End yet, where history is smack dab in your face from the Freight House to the Bell Tower on Selkirk Avenue to the nearly 100 murals, plaques, and monuments throughout the area. This was where First Nations families like mine would live before travelling up to the mines up north or settle and work after migrating to the city in the 1960s.

Inspired by the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, take some time to see the international Indigenous history all around us here in Winnipeg. You’ll see it’s everywhere.

Free Press columnist Niigaan Sinclair is Anishinaabe, born and raised in Treaty One.