Signatures and handshakes sealed the deal on a historic land transfer in western Manitoba Friday.
Premier Wab Kinew and Manitoba Métis Federation president David Chartrand signed a memorandum of understanding to begin the transfer of 100 acres of Crown land at Ste. Madeleine back to the Métis, who had established it.
“I prayed one day that justice would be on our side, and that day is here,” Chartrand said at the signing, which took place during the community’s annual Metis days celebration.
The village, some 340 kilometres west of Winnipeg in the Rural Municipality of Russell-Binscarth, was established in the 1880s and stood until 1938, when the federal government burned it down for pasture as per the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act of 1935.
A Roman Catholic mission was established in 1902 by Father Jules Decorby and, at its peak in the late 1920s, more than 400 people lived there, as per the Manitoba Historical Society.
The agreement will start the process of giving the land to the federation, which will seek to add on to the current graveyard meant for descendants of those who built the community.
“You’ll never have to ask permission to bury your loved one in the graveyard again,” Chartrand said.
Kinew called the moment a righting of a historic wrong.
“Today is a new day in Manitoba,” Kinew told a crowd who gathered to witness the signing. “We’re going to make sure we do this right.”
The Prairie Farm law was passed by the federal government in 1935 to provide land for the improvement of agricultural conditions in Prairie provinces that had suffered from drought and soil drifting.
In 1939, the Métis families who lived in Ste. Madeleine and had their taxes paid up to date were to be compensated and relocated. Houses were burned, dogs were shot and the parish church was dismantled for a piggery, according to the book Ste. Madeleine: Community Without a Town; Métis Elders in Interview.
The federation is looking for 600 to 700 acres in the area, Chartrand said in a separate interview Thursday. Descendants of families who had their homes reduced to ashes have talked about returning and building small houses or cabins.
During the signing, Chartrand hinted a monument would be erected to explain the history of the site and include the names of residents kicked off the land.
The president said he hoped the deal was not initiated because the premier is First Nations and felt a responsibility to conduct the return of land, but because it’s the right thing to do.
“I said one day there will be a time when this will be done right … there will be a leader who comes to us and that leader is here now. His name is Wab Kinew,” Chartrand told the crowd.
Kinew assured the deal was being made in good faith.
“You have a friend in the provincial government here in Manitoba,” he said.
John Fleury, the federation’s employment minister, called the signing momentous.
“Thank God for Wab, thank God for the Manitoba Métis Federation and thank God to all you descendants of Ste. Madeleine who kept the dream alive. God bless you all,” Fleury said.
nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca
Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer
Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom in 2023. Read more about Nicole.
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