Histories from Here
St. John’s College, University of Manitoba
On 12 May 2023, I presented a paper at the Histories from Here conference, titled: Acknowledging Treaty One on Treaty One Territory. A program is available here. The paper was intended to serve as a bench mark and a site survey of how the history of Treaty One is commemorated at the sites of key importance to the founding of Manitoba. It was both shocking, and unsurprising to find no recognition of Treaty One at Upper Fort Garry, and the Manitoba Legislative Grounds. Furthermore, a plaque supposedly unveiled at Lower Fort Garry, where the Treaty was signed, could not be found.
While walking next to the south wall of the fort, someone said: “I feel like I could climb over that wall”. When I was doing later research into the site, I found a map from 1926 that labelled the spot we were walking as: “Where Riel, Lepine, Donohue and others climbed wall and entered Fort” [reference point 18]. Having said that, I have since found points 140 and 142 to be increasingly of interest, given the current location of Highway 9.
This paper required many “field trips” looking for implicit or explicit acknowledgements of Indigenous presence. The results were surprising.
Sometimes, the conference will proceed almost until lunch, before you can point out to a room of historians that 12 May is Manitoba Day.
