Remembrance on permanent display at St. John's Cathedral, where soldier and church unite

Amid the soaring arched ceilings and stained glass windows in St. John's Cathedral is a glass display case containing items belonging to an infantry battalion.

At first blush, the pairing seems antithetical — military memorabilia within a shrine to God; even more so, considering the regiment's nickname is the Little Black Devils.

But the connection between the Royal Winnipeg Rifles and the Anglican cathedral in north-central Winnipeg is deep, reflecting an enduring relationship between faith and soldier, said Paul Johnson, dean of Rupert's Land and cathedral rector.

"I'm sure there are some who would think that connection is completely inappropriate … [but] Jesus didn't shun military people," he said, noting when a Roman centurion sought help Jesus didn't distinguish. "He was a person in need."

A brass bugle and drum from the Rifles are displayed in the glass case. Hanging on a wall next to the case is a frame with the Rifles' history, battle honours and black devils emblem.

On the other side of the altar, in an alcove below a trio of stained glass windows depicting military engagements, are flags with the ensigns of the Canadian navy and air force, as well as a list of parishioners killed during military service.

In the centre window, above the images of tanks, guns and soldiers, is Christ.

"He's always present, not blessing the war, but the people who are suffering," Johnson said.

It's been a long tradition for most military regiments to have an affiliated church, but that custom appears to be fading as the country becomes more secular, said John Robins, a former commanding officer of the Rifles who's now retired.

The importance of a clergyperson in battle cannot be understated, he said, citing the aphorism "there are no atheists in foxholes," about fear prompting a belief in a higher power.

"Who needs church more than a soldier?" Robins said.

"They are faced with all kinds of terrible scenes, have to do things that they don't want to do, may have to kill somebody or see their friends killed. And that takes its toll, so the soldier needs that padre, he needs that church even if they don't recognize it themselves … just to deal with all of that.

The connection between the church and the Rifles is most evident on the Sunday closest to Remembrance Day, when the drum sits on the altar during a service that features naval and military hymns and music by 24 members of the Rifles' band.

"It's a special day, but this is a place where that memory is honoured every day," Johnson said, referring to the military tributes throughout the cathedral as a "permanent Remembrance Day."

The intertwined histories also contain "darker tones," said Johnson, who will also address the city's largest Remembrance Day service on Saturday at the convention centre.

Set on the western bank of the Red River in the city's Luxton neighbourhood, St. John's was established in 1820, a half-century before the Dominion of Canada was created, when the west was still Hudson's Bay fur-trading territory known as Rupert's Land.

It is the oldest Anglican parish west of the Great Lakes and referred to as the birthplace of the Anglican church in Western Canada.

The dark-uniformed Rifles, the oldest infantry regiment in Western Canada, were formed in 1883. Their baptism came in the 1885 Northwest Resistance, fighting alongside the red-coated North West Mounted Police against the Louis Riel-led forces.

The Métis and First Nations they fought gave the Rifles their nickname, saying they knew the men in red but not the little black devils.

A tomb holding Rifles members who fought the resistance stands just north of the cathedral, in the cemetery encircling the church. It was erected in 1886, the year after the hanging of Riel, who is now considered Manitoba's founding father.

The battles against the Métis and First Nations are stains on that history, Johnson said. The church and the Rifles, like society in general, have learned much since then, he said.

"Hopefully we're at a place where we can remember with respect everyone who was involved and everyone who lost loved ones and everyone who died, whichever side they were part of."

The regiment has had many Indigenous soldiers over the years and now has an Aboriginal ceremonial drum group called the Warriors, Robins said.

But the past and its lessons should not be forgotten, Johnson said. Following Sunday's service in the cathedral, Rifles veterans will gather at the soldiers' monument for a gun salute and two minutes of silence.

Despite the link to the 1885 resistance, the cathedral has strong Indigenous connections, Johnson said. 

Founder John West had a close affiliation with Chief Peguis, who brought together four other First Nations chiefs to negotiate the first formal written agreement in Western Canada recognizing Indigenous land rights.

That treaty, which included the area where Winnipeg is now, was signed at Fort Douglas in 1817, a short distance from where the cathedral was later built.

Many of Winnipeg's founding families are buried at St. John's, including the first Indigenous premier of Manitoba, John Norquay, and Nahovway, a Cree woman baptized as Margaret, who was the matriarch of the Sinclair family and married to William Sinclair, a Hudson Bay Company chief factor.

"So it's not as if this is only a settler cemetery. Far from it," Johnson said.