In her (historically accurate) shoes

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/07/2011 (5409 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Chantal Auger gets ready for work a little differently than most Winnipeggers.

The 21-year-old St. Vital resident starts by getting dressed for 1886 — including long skirts, scarves for her hair, and heavy undergarments.

Auger is a historical interpreter at Riel House, a national historic site in the heart of south St. Vital, where she gives public tours of the property once owned by Julie Riel, the mother of Louis Riel.

While Auger doesn’t pretend to be an actual historical figure, she does interact with visitors as a young woman living in 1886, six months after the execution of Louis Riel.

The is the first summer Auger has worked at Riel House. She was drawn to the job by personal history.

“I’m personally Métis, so I’ve always been interested in the history,” she explained. “I wanted to learn more about where I came from, my heritage.”

Learning is precisely what Auger has been doing since her first day on the job.

Much of her training involved meeting with historians to better understand the time period and how to provide visitors with an accurate depiction of it.

Auger said historical interpretation is not about lecturing visitors, but instead about telling stories.

“It might just be a sash, but there’s a lot of stories behind that sash. A lot of meaning,” she explained.

While some of the stories she tells on the job were picked up from other interpreters who work at the site, Auger said many of them come from a surprising source.

“Honestly, I’ve learned the most from (visitors),” she said. “Every tour almost, I learn something new.”

For example, she said, one of the artifacts at the site is a small, portable lap writing desk.

“We always call it the laptop of the 19th century,” she said.

During one tour, a visitor told Auger she had once seen a photo of a person using a lap writing desk in a canoe — a principal form of transportation at the time.

Auger has adopted the story, and loves to share it with new visitors.

“Whenever I tell that to other visitors, their eyes just light up, because they can see the parallel,” she said, explaining it would be the equivalent of a person using a laptop or smartphone on a bus today.

Historical accuracy is also an important consideration for Auger and her colleagues.

When she was first fitted for her costume, Auger said, her dress came to just above her ankles — something considered inappropriate at the time for women. The dress’s hem needed to be taken down, she said.

And what are occupational hazards for costumed interpreters at Riel House?

Trying to stay cool in heavy costumes on hot, humid days, according to Auger.

“That’s why we like to stay in the breeze,” said fellow interpreter Quillan Daniel, who lives in North Kildonan.

“In some ways I think its worse for the guys,” chimed in Monique Olivier, the site director at Riel House. “The dresses are at least airy.”

And while Auger’s job seems like a lot of fun, she takes it very seriously — especially when so much of her day revolves around a figure as controversial as Louis Riel.

“Everyone has something to say about him,” she said.”‘It’s a very complicated story.”

arielle.godbout@canstarnews.com