Dogsled races and controversy: Festival du Voyageur history you might not know

A lot has changed over the years at Festival du Voyageur, the 10-day Franco-Manitoban festival that kicks off its 48th celebration Friday night.

The snow sculptures, voyageurs and Caribou wine will all make their traditional appearances at the Winnipeg winter festival this week, but long gone are the dogs. 

Inaugurated in December 1969, the festival would then kick off for the first time a few months later in February 1970.

Francophone rights debate

Festival founder Georges Forest appeared before Winnipeg's city council at the time dressed in a traditional buckskin tuque and sash of the old fur traders to gauge support from city hall.

The festival's early years included dogsled races, beer gardens and Sunday brunches. The dogsled races would take huskies from the festival in St. Boniface through city neighbourhoods like Windsor Park.

Forest, a French-language rights activist, later won a famous court case in the Canadian Supreme Court over a unilingual parking ticket in 1979.

Festival du Voyageur began during a period of intense debate about French and English language rights in Manitoba. In 1983, St. Boniface residents expressed concern the festival would fall victim to vandals.

The concern came after police charged a man with mischief for changing anti-French graffiti into pro-French slogans, newspaper archives show. 

Old-school tuque admission

Getting into the festival used to involve wearing a tuque with a special pin — the pass would get you through the gate. But now, the public uses paper tickets.

Festival du Voyageur executive director Ginette Lavack Walters said while a lot has changed, one thing hasn't: the festival is still about celebrating community.

"Festival du Voyageur has always been and always will be about community. It's about bringing people together," she said.