Group awaits approval for monument to Chief Peguis at legislature By: Carol Sanders Posted: 5:56 PM CDT Monday, May. 28, 2018

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This article was published 27/05/2018 (2307 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The grounds of the Manitoba legislature contain monuments to Queen Victoria, Louis Riel, Lord Selkirk, Nellie McClung and Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko – but there is no statue paying tribute to any historic First Nations person.

A group hoping to change that has been waiting for more than a year for the province to approve or reject its application to erect a statue in the likeness of Chief Peguis.

“We think this recognition is long overdue,” said John Perrin, co-chairman of the Committee to Commemorate the Bicentenary of the 1817 Peguis-Selkirk Treaty. The group made up of First Nations, Métis, Scottish settlers’ descendants and other community organizations says it’s not asking for money, but a place on the downtown Winnipeg grounds to commemorate Peguis.

“If Louis Riel is the father of Manitoba, you’d have to argue that Lord Selkirk and Chief Peguis are the grandfathers,” said Perrin, president of the Scottish Heritage Council of Manitoba. “The Red River Settlement would not have been possible without the treaty.”

In February 2017, the group applied to the legislative building and grounds advisory committee to erect a statue to recognize the contribution of First Nations people in the founding and development of Manitoba, said Perrin. The statue would be a visible and symbolic act of reconciliation in the spirit of the treaty and of the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he said.

The plan to erect a Peguis monument has the backing of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said Perrin.

The group hopes to receive provincial approval in time to announce a project design competition and fundraising campaign starting June 21, National Aboriginal Day.

“It’s now been seven months, and we’re anxious to get an answer — one way or the other,” said bicentenary committee co-chairman and Peguis First Nation member Bill Shead.

He and Perrin met with the grounds advisory committee in October, and were told the application met the requirements and would get a positive recommendation. Shead said he can’t think of any reason the provincial government would reject a statue honouring the revered Saulteaux chief who died in 1864.

“Peguis was an enlightened leader who was very concerned about his people and befriended the settlers,” said Shead. “He really was a diplomat.”

Perrin said they’re eyeing a location west of the legislature driveway, and on the same scale as the larger-than-life Queen Victoria statue.

It could be a statue with the accepted likeness of Peguis (there is no known likeness) and incorporate other elements, said Perrin. (He referenced the National Aboriginal Veterans Monument in Ottawa, that combines the image of an Aboriginal man with a bison, eagle and Indigenous symbolism, as an example.)

But until the group gets approval from the province, it can’t do anything.

“We’ve heard nothing,” said Perrin. “We’ve made repeated inquiries.”

A provincial government spokesman said in an email to the Free Press the application “is under consideration.”

“We will continue to have dialogue with Indigenous representatives on an appropriate way to honour the Indigenous contribution to our province on the grounds of the legislature,” the spokesman wrote.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

After 20 years of reporting on the growing diversity of people calling Manitoba home, Carol moved to the legislature bureau in early 2020.

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