SACRED GROUND — The solemn commemoration of the fallen of 1885 took place July 25 at the Batoche cemetery in this Year of the Métis. “This is sacred ground,” said Rev. Guy Lavallée. “Out of the ashes come the new strong bones of nationhood.” (Ledding photo)
Métis ‘now
and forever free’
By Andréa
Ledding
BATOCHE, Sask. — Since the early 1970s, Back to Batoche has been an annual event for the Métis people. This year’s July event commemorated the 125th anniversary of the last battle fought in North America, with an estimated 60,000 - 70,000 in attendance from across North America over the eight-day gathering.
2010, which has been declared Year of the Métis at the provincial and federal government levels, saw the week begin and end at the National Historic Site of Batoche cemetery, paying respects to the fallen. Mass was celebrated both Sundays at the festival site, and the national historic site also held their annual Batoche mass at St. Antoine de Padoue chapel during the week.
“(General) Middleton fired on the church because he said he thought
it was a barn, from a distance,” said a parks interpreter during
a tour (the bullet holes have been covered so that people would stop
digging them out, but they are still visible in the rectory next door).
“Eventually Middleton used it himself for a field hospital, and
there were blood stains on the floor and walls for years.”
On Sunday, July 18, the fallen — along with living veterans of
more recent engagements — were honoured in the new Veteran’s
Memorial Gardens located up the road from the national historic site.
Shannon Loutitt’s youth honour runners had run in moccasins from
Saskatoon the day before, and Brandon Sand, who had run 70 km, limped
forward to present the sash he had worn to Métis Veteran’s
Association president Alex Maurice.
People then moved to the reconciliation ceremonies in front of the Batoche
cemetery, opening with prayer and honour songs. With several hundred
in attendance, the names of the fallen of 1885 were read while their
descendants stood nearby and everyone paid their respects. The new gates
to the cemetery, inscribed in French and Michif, were read aloud before
everyone received commemorative medals.
In English, the inscriptions read, “In a spirit of reconciliation
we commemorate the victims of 1885 . . . the Métis who gave their
lives to protect their homes and lands, and the soldiers who gave their
lives for Canada. . . . We are now and forever free.”
The weekdays were filled with concerts, sports, jigging and fiddling
contests, and other cultural activities and workshops. The Truth and
Reconciliation Commission gathered stories, for Residential Schools
were part of the fallout of 1885.
The annual solemn commemoration of the fallen of Batoche took place
on July 25th, after mass, with a 1 km procession to the cemetery. Rev.
Guy Lavallée opened with prayer.
“This is sacred ground,” said Lavallée. “Out
of the ashes come the new strong bones of nationhood.”
He added that the fallen summoned everyone to come this year and every
year that their spirit and vision remain, and that their values can
be transmitted to the younger generations.
“The Métis nation was built on the shed blood of people
like this. All of us are brothers and sisters.”
Veterans and leaders spoke in Michif, adding their prayers and hopes,
and the descendants of Isidore Dumont — one of the first to die
in the 1885 resistance — spoke of the duty to pay respects to
the fallen.
Lisa Shepherd, on behalf of Métis women, spoke of the “importance
of teaching our children and taking our rightful place.”
Clem Chartier, head of the national Métis council, noted that
each year the Métis nation grows stronger, and must continue
to struggle for the same rights the fallen of Batoche died for. “As
leaders, we are finding true reconciliation by taking our place in the
governance level, and taking our rightful place in this nation.”
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