Historic agreement to see Ste. Madeleine land returned to Manitoba Métis

A historic agreement was signed Friday at the site where the Manitoba Métis community of Ste. Madeleine stood before it was burned to the ground in the 1930s by the government.

Manitoba Métis Federation president David Chartrand was joined by Premier Wab Kinew for the signing ceremony Friday. 

"This is a very proud day and one that we've been waiting for a long time," said Chartrand. 

"You're standing really on lands where our families once lived," he said to the crowd. "Where families tried in their own way, they weren't rich, but they had family. You can't buy family, you can't buy love ... but trust me its priceless." 

The signing of the memorandum of understanding will, among other things, commence negotiations to transfer approximately 100 acres of Manitoba Crown land — where the Red River Métis community of Ste. Madeleine once stood — to the MMF, according to an MMF news release. 

The province also said in a news release Friday that the Manitoba government will also consult with First Nations and stakeholders in Treaty 4 and the surrounding areas as part of the process.

Chartrand called it "a landmark achievement in our ongoing pursuit of justice and reconciliation" in an open letter he posted on the MMF site. 

Ste. Madeleine was settled at the turn of the 20th century by Métis homesteaders who had left Manitoba in 1870, fleeing abuse, violence and discrimination they faced after the Red River Resistance. They were later joined by families who had fled to Saskatchewan and later returned to Manitoba following the 1885 North-West Resistance.

Between 1915 and 1935, the community near the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border (just southwest of Binscarth) grew to about 250 people.

The land was mostly scrub pasture, with very sandy soil, and not ideal for farming, so people eked out a living by working as itinerant labourers and farmhands in neighbouring communities, hauled cordwood, trapped furs and gathered and sold Seneca root, which was used to treat various minor ailments.

But in 1935, as the Prairies were hit hard by severe drought and the impacts of the Great Depression, the federal government established the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration.

The mandate of the PFRA was address the environmental and economic crises that had arisen following years of drought and poor farming practices that led to crop failures, soil drifting, farm abandonment and the financial collapse of municipalities. 

A decision was also made to convert underused land to community pastures to prevent further soil erosion. In Manitoba, Ste. Madeleine was selected for the pasture program.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said his presence at Friday's event was to indicate that what was done to Red River Métis in the past in Ste. Madeleine was "wrong and should have never have taken place." 

"The goal of what we're trying to accomplish here is right a historic wrong," he said. 

Between 1938 and 1942, the community was dismantled through forced displacement of its people. Residents who were paid up on their taxes were given cash payouts or scrip for land elsewhere, but few qualified because of their meagre existence, says the book Ste. Madeleine: Community Without a Town: Metis Elders in Interview, by Ken and Victoria Zeilig.

Those who remained were considered illegal squatters. Their houses were burned, the church was dismantled, dogs were shot.

Ste. Madeleine vanished and in its place was pastureland for European settlers.

Foundations, cemetery remain

All that remains of Ste. Madeleine today are some stone foundations and a cemetery around a mound of grass where the church once stood.

"This tragic part of our history saw a wave of despair and disbelief wash over the Métis of Ste. Madeleine," Chartrand's letter says.

"The heart-wrenching cries of children echoed through the air, mingling with the blaze of flames and smoke that consumed all their cherished belongings. The sight of their beloved community transformed into a desolate pasture for grazing cattle filled them with anger and resentment, as their way of life was sacrificed for the profit of others."

The signing on Friday was also an emotional event for Kim Venne, who is a descendent of Ste. Madeleine. Her family members are buried on the land and their ashes have also been spread there.

"My grandma and my grandpa, my dad, they're just smiling down on me right now," she said through tears.

Friday's signing of the MOU is "a powerful symbol of the progress we have made towards reconciliation and a brighter future for all Red River Métis people," Chartrand's letter says.

The signing was part of the opening events for the annual Ste. Madeleine Métis Days. The yearly event is held as a time for reflection but also celebration of the Métis people and their culture.

"It's a proud day to be Métis, it's a proud day to show the Red River government that we don't back away," said Chartrand. "Plus what I'll tell you is that we never forget, and we sure as hell never give up."