'It is an iconic symbol': Métis local wants Sask. RM council to hand over Red River cart

A Métis group is pressing the Rural Municipality of Kellross, Sask., to hand over a Red River cart — an iconic Métis symbol — that the group says it was responsible for building more than a decade ago.

Members from Lestock Métis Local #8 presented their case at the RM of Kellross council meeting Friday morning. The RM is located about 100 kilometres northeast of Regina.

Red River carts were prominent during the fur trading era in North America. This particular cart was built in 2012. Robert Doucette, a former Métis Nation-Saskatchewan president and Métis citizen, said the local was behind its building, but was not incorporated at the time and could not acquire provincial grants.

The Village of Lestock helped secure the funding. Lestock has since been absorbed into the RM of Kellross.

Now, the two organizations are at odds over who the cart belongs to and where it should be located.

Doucette said the cart was originally on land owned by the former local Métis president, Marina Roy, until it was taken by the RM in 2019 and placed in the location it now sits.

An invoice obtained by CBC shows the Métis local ordered the cart from a builder in Manitoba in March 2012.  

Doucette said the RM council was respectful and listened to the presentation Friday, but wants two months to make its decision. He said a door has been opened for dialogue.

"I think we're at a point where we met without arguing and confrontation," he said in an interview Friday.

Doucette said the council has asked for a proposal explaining what the local would do with the cart.

"In the era of reconciliation, it would be a Saskatchewan story of how we still have love and kindness for each other," Doucette said. 

CBC tried to reach the reeve of the RM for comment, but didn't hear back. An RM administrator confirmed the two-month timeline for a decision.

Doucette said Red River carts are "an iconic symbol for Métis people."

"The Red River cart is from our lands. We built it. It was based on our ingenuity, Métis people's ingenuity. It's a statement. It's an iconic statement of who we are," Doucette said in a previous interview.

Doucette said it's not just about the cart — it's about deeper historic pain and cultural oppression. 

He said that in 1949, Métis people were forcibly removed from the Lestock area and sent up to Green Lake. He said houses were burned to the ground while Métis people were loaded onto cattle cars.

Doucette said that memory still lingers in the community, and the red river cart represents resilience and strength in the face of past trauma. 

"There are high feelings about that cart," he said. "They built it and it's a symbol of who they are."

He added that while the town of Lestock may have helped acquire the grant and paid the invoice, the Métis local did everything else.

"I would ask the RM why are they are fighting so hard? Is that an iconic symbol to them?" Doucette said.