Winnipeg Free Press

Nominated by: Buzz

Why Chief Peguis should be a Great Manitoban:

Claim to fame: Aboriginal leader, pioneer

Manitoba dosage: 4

Fast Facts: Led the Ojibway people to Red River in the early 1800's...Recognizing a need for his people to move beyond their traditional occupations of hunting and trapping, he allied with the farmers of the Scottish Selkirk settlement...Sent a deputation to canoe the length of Lake Winnipeg to bring back an alphabet of aboriginal languages developed by a missionary in Norway House, giving his people literacy.

25 Comments

• It's unfortunate that we didn't appreciate his greatness until after he died. He is a worthy candidate for the Greatest Manitoban.

  Posted by: jackie warren | 2008-05-31 22:11:59

• Chief Peguis was a great man who in the 1800s was leader of a band of Cree and Ojibway living just north of Selkirk. His story is one of tragedy, love, hate, greed, corruption, courage, bravery and loyalty. It would make a great movie that would rival movies such as Gone With the Wind and The Grapes of Wrath.

  Posted by: Jim Grigley | 2008-06-09 19:48:03

• I didn't know anything about him until now. I'm thrilled to know my ancestor and to nominate him. And a movie would be awesome about our peoples!!

  Posted by: Jassz | 2008-06-26 00:00:16

• This great man helped pave the way for future treaties in Canada. His diplomacy, knowledge, wisdom and acceptance,separates him from the rest. He is a major part/contributor of , not just Manitoba's heritage, but Canada's heritage. He was a truly outstanding Manitoban! Ekosani

  Posted by: Bon | 2008-06-26 00:47:59

• 2 bad all that is known about peguis is that these scottish settlers kicked these native people off of their own land for greed and envy of the lands in selkirk.

  Posted by: me | 2008-06-27 00:47:06

• If anyone is interested in the life of Chief Peguis Chapters carries the book Peguis a Noble Friend By Donna G Sutherland ISBN 1-55099-137-X Derksen Printers Ltd. 2003

  Posted by: Vern Meilleur / Thunder Sounding | 2008-06-27 03:07:29

• A Noble Friend by Donna Sutherland is only available at McNally Robinson Bookstore. Well worth reading.

  Posted by: C. Lindgren | 2008-06-27 14:26:38

• Chief Peguis help build the oldest aboriginal/Native church in western Canada. Which is in use to this day and still stands on the shores of the Red River. The church and ground are open to the public from 8am till half hr before sunset,(may till october), St Peter, Dynevor Ols Stone Church is old than Canada, We celebrated our 150th birthday in 2004.

  Posted by: Wendy | 2008-06-28 16:47:23

• Why Not. The guy even had a bridge named after him. Anything is better than an American Minister who apparently saved the poor of Winnipeg. The chief gets the nod.

  Posted by: frank roulette | 2008-07-03 00:33:55

• A great Native man that anyone should be proud of. A leader that is still in the history books for the "fight" he put up for the people he loved.

  Posted by: Carol Spence | 2008-07-03 04:48:41

• How many children did he have? What are their names? Where any born on a settlement? What was his parents names?

  Posted by: BB | 2008-07-11 17:04:17

• A pleasure to vote for someone who deserves the recognition. It would have been great to see more of our Leaders stories in the History books when we went to school.

  Posted by: Patricia Clarke | 2008-07-11 19:53:08

• My Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather Cheif Peguis is I believe to Greates Manitoban ever. He needs to be recognized for what he has done for his people in Treaty #1.

  Posted by: Albert Ratt | 2008-07-12 21:41:16

• My Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather Cheif Peguis is I believe to Greates Manitoban ever. He needs to be recognized for what he has done for his people in Treaty #1.

  Posted by: Albert Ratt | 2008-07-12 21:41:49

• Where did he live in Manitoba? Did he work?What was his job? Did his family all live on reserves and if so where;if not where? Did they work,if so where if not how did they survive? Did they live in houses or tents?

  Posted by: BG | 2008-07-14 16:11:56

• I understand that if he had not helped the Selkirk Settlers get through their first winter, many would have perished. He was a friendly,caring man who shared what was available. In a time when his actions set the tone for the community he stood tall.

  Posted by: Dorthi Dunsmore | 2008-07-14 23:14:10

• Chief Peguis was a grand chief who negotiated thier land for the lives of his people. Chief Peguis did so knowing that the plush and resourceful land his people were leaving behind leading his people to rough useless land. Cheif Peguis lead his people away from harm, death for the love his people. My ancestors gave up a lot to apease the settlers of that time and today we are still affected. The Chief Peguis was an honourable worthy man.

  Posted by: Frances Sinclair-Kaspick | 2008-07-15 12:38:54

• Chief Peguis is definitely one of the greatest Manitobans before Manitoba existed. The most interesting knowledge I recently became aware of was his negotiation with Lord Selkirk to establish a reserve for the Red River Settlers. Yes folks, the first treaty between Europeans and First Nations People was for my decendents, not his. There is so, so much we do not learn about in our history classes. The thin lots, two miles on either side of the Red River from Point Douglas North, made up the Red River Settler reserve.

  Posted by: Ross Eadie | 2008-07-15 16:42:40

• Nope,take his name of street names,trails etc,no statues either.He did his job,and so did thousands of people of his time and just as greatly and he is so honored all the rest from his time should be too,Fair is fair. NOPE>

  Posted by: xz | 2008-07-16 12:38:39

• Who pays to have those statues made and plaques?If all peoples tax money goes to that and we do not have a say whether we want to sponsor certain statues and plaques its our right.Have the families pay with their own money.

  Posted by: Lah | 2008-07-18 13:34:13

• Hi I am writing from the current day Peguis Reserve in Manitoba named after Chief Peguis; we are his descendants. Below is a brief history of Chief Peguis and brief history of our community. Chief Peguis & Early History When Lord Selkirk and his Scottish settlers came to the area in 1812, Chief Peguis helped him establish his colonies. The chief offered the colonies protection and the necessities to survive. Peguis welcomed the first settlers brought to the Red River area by Lord Selkirk [Douglas*] in 1812 and is given credit for aiding and defending them during their difficult years. When the main group of settlers arrived in 1814 to find none of the promised gardens planted or houses built, Peguis guided them to Fort Daer (Pembina, N.D.) to hunt buffalo. The children, weak from the journey, were carried on ponies provided by the Indians. The Saulteaux showed the settlers how to hunt and brought them along on their annual trek to buffalo country. Peguis sided with the Hudson’s Bay Company during its dispute with the North West Company, and after the Selkirk settlers had been attacked at Seven Oaks on 19 June 1816 [see Robert Semple*] he offered assistance to the survivors [providing the surviving women/widows and children with food and shelter for the winter]. The future grandmother of Louis Riel*, the first white woman resident in the West, Marie-Anne Gaboury*, whose husband was away when the Nor’Westers occupied Fort Douglas, was rescued by Peguis, and she and her children were kept safely in his camp for several weeks. Before the other settlers fled north to Norway House, they were befriended and fed by Peguis. (http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=38772) Chief Peguis and his descendents aided in the survival of many of the earliest settlers and contributed to the development of what is now Manitoba. Provincial historic plaques located just out-side the church honour Peguis and Reverend William Cock-ran, the two men most instrumental in establishing the settlement at St. Peter’s which was started in 1833. By 1850 this community had grown to 500 and 230 acres were under cultivation, farmed in long, narrow river lots as in the other parishes of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. On the plaques Cockran is credited with encouraging Peguis and his people to pursue agriculture and certainly his dedication had much to do with the development of St. Peter’s, but it should also be mentioned that the Saulteaux were horticulturalists before missionary contact. (http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/18/manitobaaboriginalagriculture.shtml) The Peguis Community The Peguis People were part of the move from St. Peters now called Selkirk and East Selkirk. Our families, at the time of the illegal Surrender of the land, lived in houses, had their own farms, a wind mill, schools and a church. “By the late 1870s there were over 2000 acres under cultivation at St. Peter’s. Neatly kept vegetable gardens and cultivated fields surrounded comfortable, whitewashed log homes. [The Indian] Agent wrote in 1885 that the people of St. Peter’s would compare favourably with those in most of the old settlements along the Red and Assiniboine in their agricultural pursuits, implements, housing and clothing, and that the St. Peter’s people were “more prosperous and make more money in a year than thousands of people in the older provinces.” [21]... In the fall [the Peguis People] went duck hunting and fishing, selling sturgeon, pickerel, jackfish, and catfish, and in the spring they went hunting and berry-picking. Like the residents of many of the other parishes the St. Peter’s people maintained a mixed economy, well-adapted to the resources and climate of the country” (http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/18/manitobaaboriginalagriculture.shtml) It was a well developed and thriving farming community of hard working people. “The annual summer gathering at St. Peter’s for treaty payment was the “grand holiday season” when everyone left their occupations and took part in football, lacrosse and other games. The grounds were usually crowded with visitors from Winnipeg, Selkirk, and the surrounding district. Marriages were performed at this time as the whole community could attend. Merchants set up tents and booths with food, refreshments and goods for sale. Toward evening a dancing floor was laid down, and according to an 1896 visitor, “the ‘beauty and chivalry’ of St. Peter’s tripped it ‘on the light fantastic’. (http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/18/manitobaaboriginalagriculture.shtml). This same Treaty Celebration continues today in current day Peguis. “In 1907 a surrender of the reserve was secured. Each band member received a patent for land at St. Peter’s (80 acres per family of five). The balance was to be sold and a new reserve surveyed on Lake Winnipeg. This surrender was declared invalid by a 1911 St. Peter’s Indian Reserve Commission composed of three county court judges, as certain statutory provisions had not been complied with. [36] “Reserve residents had been given only one day’s notice of the meeting called to consider surrender, and many did not hear and did not attend. The meeting was held at a time when people were out on Lake Winnipeg fishing and could not attend given only one day’s notice. One week’s notice at least should have been given for such an important meeting. The Commission found that the surrender agreement was neither partially nor fully read to all of those present, and what was read was in English only. The terms were not translated or explained in Cree or Saulteaux. The meeting was held in a small school house, and only one-half of those present could get in while others had to attempt to listen at the windows and door”. (http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/18/manitobaaboriginalagriculture.shtml). The findings of the Commission were totally ignored. In 1916 the St. Peter’s Reserve Act was passed in Parliament which confirmed the titles of purchasers of property on the former reserve. The Illegal Surrender relocated the Peguis people to current day Peguis; & forced them to sell their houses and assets to speculators at rock bottom prices. Due to the findings of the commission and the legality issues of the St. Peter’s Surrender process; the government at the time passed the St. Peters Act in legislation to make the Surrender legal - it is the only Act of its type in Canada. The current Peguis Treaty Land Entitlement Claim and Surrender Claim are both connected to the illegal Surrender of St. Peters. Other facts: On October 7, 1840 Reverend Smithurst legally married Chief Peguis and his wife of many years. Chief Peguis died at age 90 in September 28, 1864,and was buried in St Peter's graveyard near Selkirk, Manitoba. After Peguis died, his son Henry Prince or Red Eagle (Mis-koo-ke-new) as he was known to the band became chief. In 1869, when Louis Riel and the Métis engaged in the River Rebellion, Chief Prince rejected all appeals from Riel to join forces with him. On August 3, 1871, Chief Henry Prince signed Treaty #1 with the Government of Canada. (http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/peguis/History.html). Other facts: Sargent Tommy Prince; a veteran of World War II and Korea who earned the Military Medal for gallantry, the Silver Star for valour, eight other medals and six campaign ribbons was the great-great grandson of Chief Peguis.

  Posted by: Spence | 2008-07-22 15:14:32

• He built a might fine bridge! Who is this guy?

  Posted by: Ron | 2008-07-26 02:42:20

• The people of Manitoba paid with their money to build the bridge. Where does it state anywhere in any Bible that certain people owned the land? Hmmmmm dictionary time for word "OWN" NO VOTE.i

  Posted by: Sue | 2008-07-30 11:35:14

• The statues and signs are the least your people can do to recognize this early leader and his generosity to your people and your ancestors the early settlers. He or his people never asked for any bridges especially one that goes "no-where".

  Posted by: Nathan | 2008-07-31 20:52:14

• Can someone really be considered a Manitoban if he lived and died before the province of Manitoba existed? There is no question Peguis was an important figure for the region's history, but really?

  Posted by: Robert Ross | 2008-08-07 17:16:55

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