Métis raise flag above newly purchased Bank of Montreal building at Portage and Main
'It's like retracing and actually capturing a lot of our history': Manitoba Metis Federation president
As Manitobans celebrate the 150th anniversary of the province, descendants of the Métis who paved the way for its creation are celebrating a renewed and prominent presence.
The Manitoba Metis Federation flag was raised high above the Bank of Montreal building at Portage Avenue and Main Street on Tuesday after the organization announced late Monday that it was buying the historic downtown Winnipeg landmark, which will become home to the Métis Nation Heritage Centre.
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"[We're] sending a message loud and clear that the Métis played a very important role in this province and we still do, even after 150 years of sometimes turmoil with this country and sometimes with this province. But at the end of day, we're still proud Manitobans," MMF President David Chartrand said.
"It's a proud day for us to be accessing that historical building and its location. It's like retracing and actually capturing a lot of our history, of our sadness, where our land was taken from us. Now we're taking something with such solid position in history back."
Manitoba became the fifth Canadian province on May 12, 1870, when the Manitoba Act received royal assent. It was officially enacted on July 15, 1870.
The act was based on a list of rights drafted by Louis Riel and his Métis provisional government and presented to the federal government as conditions for the province to enter Confederation.
"[It was] led by the only Indigenous peoples in Canada to ever negotiate a province into Confederation," Chartrand said.
The Bank of Montreal, built in 1913, stands just a 15-minute walk from where Fort Garry once stood, jutting out over what's now Main Street at Assiniboine Avenue.
At the end of 1869, Riel and others took control of the fort and took over the administration of the Red River area until an agreement was reached with Ottawa.
"So there's no doubt in our mind … the footprints of our ancestors walked through this area," Chartrand said.
He's been inundated with texts, calls and emails from people in the Métis community, he said.
"Over and over it's about just how proud our people are that this is happening. Everybody knows the historic significance of that location, right by the Red River. Of course we were called, at one time, the Red River Métis."
As part of the Manitoba Act, the federal government promised to set aside 5,565 square kilometres of land along the Red and Assiniboine rivers — which meet at The Forks near Portage and Main — for 7,000 children of the Red River Métis. However, the government failed to follow through and most of that land was never provided.
Increasing numbers of settlers and land fraud due to uncontrolled speculation forced many Métis to leave, in hopes of making a living elsewhere.
In 1981, the MMF began a land claim case against the federal government for the 1.4 million acres it was promised.
After a long, drawn out court battle that saw Manitoba courts reject the claim, the case then went to the Supreme Court of Canada. In a March 2013 ruling, that court found the federal government failed to follow through on its promise.
The MMF, though, is still awaiting a settlement with Ottawa.
However, some things are progressing.
In 2018, the federation signed a $154-million in a funding agreement with the federal government to advance reconciliation between Canada and the Métis people, and help move the MMF toward self-government.
"I think it's going to lift a lot of eyebrows up: 'What's going on here? The Métis, where are they coming from? All of a sudden they're coming and buying some historic, some really landmark locations?'" Chartrand said about the purchases the MMF is now making.
The Bank of Montreal "is just one," he said. An announcement could be coming next week for another location in the downtown area and "it's bigger than Portage and Main," he said.
"As they say in the movies, we're baaa-aack."
When Chartrand became MMF president in 1997, he stood at the corner of Portage and Main, waving the Métis Nation flag.
"I remember saying 'One day, this will be ours,'" he said. "And I've made statements in the past that if we've got to buy our land back one acre at a time, we'll do that."
The MMF has been in negotiations with BMO Financial Group for some time and it was difficult to keep it quiet, Chartrand said.
The Bank of Montreal announced plans last fall that it would be moving across the street into the office tower at 201 Portage Ave.
Chartrand wouldn't reveal the purchase price, saying only that both sides reached a number they appreciated.
"Eventually that number will come out. I have to report it to my people," he said.
Once the transfer of the building is complete, the MMF will shift its business activities into it and begin to create the heritage centre, which will contain artifacts and stories about the Métis in Canada.
Chartrand is aiming for August as a grand opening for the business side of things, as long as restrictions due to COVID-19 will allow it. He didn't have a date when the heritage centre will be ready.
Chartrand said more news is coming at the end of the week, when the MMF will announce a massive hiring program that will include 500 summer students across the province.
Another 200 people who are skilled in construction and carpentry will be hired to do housing repairs and new builds, he said, adding the federation is also expanding its communications department.
"We already set the stage for the investment of how much money will be set aside for these jobs. It will be announced on Friday," Chartrand said.
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With files from Meaghan Ketcheson