The first monument on the Manitoba legislative grounds to recognize the contributions of First Nations people is in the works.
The province said Tuesday afternoon that a new monument of Chief Peguis would be erected at the provincial legislature, commemorating the historic Peguis-Selkirk Treaty — the first formal written agreement recognizing Indigenous land rights in western Canada.
Indigenous reconciliation and northern relations minister Eileen Clarke and government services minister James Teitsma were joined by Bill Shead, co-chair of the Friends of the Peguis Selkirk Treaty Inc., to make the announcement.
“This new monument will serve as an important reminder of the historic spirit of sharing, co-operation and conciliation between Chief Peguis, the allied chiefs and Lord Selkirk.”
Teitsma said there’s an existing statue of Peguis in Kildonan park, but no monument of this scale.
“It’s our hope that it promotes reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Manitobans,” he said.
Peguis, a Saulteaux chief, led his people from the Great Lakes region to what is now Manitoba in the 1790s. He signed the 1817 treaty with Lord Selkirk, granting land to the Selkirk settlers along the Red and Assiniboine rivers.
The namesake of Peguis First Nation and the Chief Peguis Trail, he’s widely credited for his decades of work advocating against misuse of traditional lands by settlers, and in support of Indigenous rights, until his death in 1864.
The planned statue of Peguis will include inscriptions commemorating the other four signatory chiefs to the treaty — Mache Wheseab, Mechkaddewikonaie, Kayajieskebinoa, and Ouckidoat — plus Lord Selkirk and King George III.
The next step for the design of the monument will be a competitive process — initiated by a formal request for proposals, with the goal of its unveiling on Sept. 28, of next year, which will mark the 160th anniversary of Peguis’ death.
Shead said the statue, while nominally depicting Peguis the historical figure, will represent all five chiefs who signed the treaty.
“There’s not physical image of Chief Peguis,” he said.
“So the figure that we have in mind… what we will see is a First Nations person in the accoutrements of an Anishinaabe chief, and on the plinth will probably be more information about the treaty itself.”
The topic of statues on the province’s legislative grounds has been a controversial one.
A demonstration over the deaths of Indigenous children at residential schools on Canada Day 2021 led to the toppling of a prominent statue of Queen Victoria on the legislature’s front lawn. A smaller statue of Queen Elizabeth II on the east side of the grounds was also torn down.
The Victoria statue also had its head removed, which was later recovered from the Assiniboine River. The statue was determined to be damaged beyond repair. Its pedestal, still covered in red handprints from the protest, was removed from the legislative grounds last November.
Workers found a broken bottle and an unexpected 101-year-old message inside the pedestal while it was being removed. The message apologized for not depositing a customary full bottle of brandy in the statue’s base, due to then-in-force prohibition laws.
The erection of a Chief Peguis tribute will mark the first statue of a First Nations person on the legislative grounds. Metis leader and founder of Manitoba Louis Riel is honoured with a large statue and plaque on the south side of the building, on the river walkway.
Among the other notable people recognized with statues at the legislature are Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, 19th Century Governor-General Lord Dufferin, suffragist Nellie McClung and the Famous Five, and Icelandic statesman Jon Sigurdsson.
The grounds also feature statues honouring those who were killed in the Holocaust, Manitobans who died in World War I, and a tribute to victims of war.
The province said the new monument will be installed on the legislature’s north lawn — between the existing Next of Kin monument and the site of the former Queen Victoria statue.