Beauséjour: Beautiful Place to Live

Old cars left to nature's care near Beauséjour. Photo: ©2013 Alexandra Lucas

The town of Beauséjour, with or without the accent, is directly translated from the French as beautiful place to live. If you are not a prairie person, you may have some doubts about that statement and assume the first settlers were just desperate and grateful to find fresh water nearby. Why would anyone want to live in Manitoba without, at the very least, the perks of Winnipeg shopping as compensation? The answer is simple. It's stunningly beautiful. The town itself is very small - only 2700 people. It's part of a larger rural municipality called Brokenhead, named for the river than runs through the area. Nearby are the sparkling lakes and sandy beaches of Whiteshell Provincial Park. The scent of jackpine is in the air and there are places to explore that leave you feeling as if you've stepped into a painting by Tom Thompson.

Into the deep autumn woods along the Brokenhead River. Photo: ©2008 Alexandra Lucas

This part of Manitoba straddles the line between the rugged Canadian Shield and the open prairie. If you had been here a million or so years ago, you would have been standing on the edge of the first part of North America to permanently emerge from the sea. Under your feet even now is exposed Precambrian rock formed 500 million years ago. On one side of you is the deep boreal forest, teeming with wildlife. On the other is the flatland that stretches more than 1200 kilometres west to meet the Canadian Rockies.

Is it really that cold in the winter? Are the summers warm?

Yes, it can be cold. The record low is -52°F, without windchill, but an average winter day isn't that frigid. For anyone who has not experienced frozen nostrils, it can be a little disconcerting at first but it won't stop you enjoying the outdoors. The summers are very warm and temperatures climbed to over 100°F one year but that was usual. Nearby beaches are a favourite weekend destination for many in the area, including those from the 'Peg. It's only about an hour's drive from the city.

So what brought people here?

Credit: Library and Archives Canada/C-006605

The years from 1890 to 1910 saw many immigrants arrive from Eastern Europe, the area referred to at that time as the Austrian Empire and what we know today as Poland, Germany, and Ukraine. Jewish settlers arrived from Galicia and Bukovina. They were granted homesteads through the Dominion Lands Act (1872), usually 160 acres for a fee of $10, and they would be awarded a Land Patent after certain improvements had been made within a specified time period. Within three years they had to clear from 15 to 50 acres of land, build a residence, and plant from 10 to 30 acres of crops with what they managed to bring with them in wooden trunks from the old country. Given the climate, it meant very hard work. Home was often a sod-covered hole in the ground until the land was cleared and planted. Did I mention the hordes of mosquitoes? After all this work in very little time and with two witnesses to testify to its completion, they could then apply for the Land Patent. That's how this community was built. The photo at right shows Galician settlers in a community to the south.

Beauséjour was home to the first glassworks in Western Canada, supplying bottles and containers made from the fine silica in the area. Its location is now a heritage site.

Beauséjour Today

Agriculture and tourism are the cornerstones of the region's economy today. Its proximity to Whiteshell Park and cottage country make it an ideal getaway for a weekend. It's home to the Canadian Power Toboggan Championships, the Double B Rodeo, Shades of the Past Classic Car Show, and The Great Woods Music Festival. If you are looking for a more romantic weekend, try Getaways Romantic Retreat. Yes, they know how to have fun in the woods.

Brokenhead River. Photo ©2008 Alexandra Lucas

After a day of hiking in woods, relax at Getaways Romantic Retreat. Photo ©2008 Alexandra Lucas

Beauséjour has come a long way from its humble beginnings but has retained pride in both its heritage and in its contribution to building Canada. If you have the opportunity to visit, you won't be disappointed. It's another gem in this vast nation we call home.

September in Manitoba

Photo credit: can131 from morguefile.com

Mid-September on the Canadian prairies is gentle this year. The temperatures are warm during the day and cool enough at night to make sleeping comfortable and a fire welcome. September has always meant a time of new beginnings for me; a new school year, new books, new paper, new ideas, and a great new scarf. This year is no different except for the slower pace.

The leaves have not yet begun to fall and the warm days tend to lull me into a false sense of security. Winter is still a long way from my thoughts as I head out for a walk in the Saturday sunshine. Still, there is a nagging question in the back of my mind about the stores in the pantry. This must be the tribal memory part of my brain talking, the part that wants to stash things away like a squirrel and ensure we don't starve in the months to come.

On the way to class yesterday, I noticed a sign on a garage proudly promoting antifreeze products that are good for days of -50 degrees. A smile spread across my face in recognition. We are hardy and strong. We love the change of seasons. We bake very good bread. And we are no fools when it comes to antifreeze. We are, indeed, Canadian.

Hecla Island - Grindstone Provincial Park

The weather reports had called for rain all weekend but we packed our gear and headed for the park anyway. It wasn't as warm as earlier in the week but we were prepared for chilly nights and wet weather. We drove past Winnipeg Beach and Gimli where many people were opening their cottages over the long weekend and from there the traffic decreased rapidly.


We were on our way north to Hecla Island. Hecla Island was first settled in the 1800s by Icelandic people. In 1875, the Republic of New Iceland was established by the Canadian government exclusively for those coming from Iceland to build new lives, fishing and farming as they had done in Iceland. But there were differences the newcomers had to face. Canadians wanted fresh fish, not the smoked fish that was popular in Iceland so ice houses had to be built. Instead of fishing on an ocean that didn't freeze, the people had to learn how to hack through the thick ice that formed on Lake Winnipeg and in the short summers, grow enough food to feed their families. Many of the original settlers were persuaded to leave by the clergy who served the community. They were convinced the settlement would fail and led all but eight of the original families to what is now Icelandic State Park in North Dakota. But other hardy Icelanders arrived and the community survived. 

View of Hecla village from the shoreline. Rugged terrain, harsh winters and isolation were some of the challenges early settlers faced.

Hecla village pier - still a very cold wind off the water but beautiful and if you are hardy, patient, and dressed warmly, the fishing is very rewarding!

One of the original fish stations, this one is now a museum that houses some of the artifacts used by the island's intrepid inhabitants.

The islanders were self-sufficient and bartered for what they did not produce on their own homesteads. A general store carried items like coffee, tea, sugar, dishes, and fabric. The church played an integral role in community life and continues to have services today. A school was built in 1922 but closed in 1966 under a school consolidation program. At this point, many families with school age children left the island. 

Early evening at the Hecla pier.

Hecla was completely isolated. Riverton was the closest town and there had been no ferry service until 1953. Even then, the trip took four hours through the Grassy Narrows marshlands. In the late 60s, the residents approached the government to have the area declared a Provincial Park. The steady decline in forestry and fishing gave the Islanders little choice if they were to survive. In 1969, the park became a reality. Eventually, a causeway was built in the 1970s and the trip by car was only 40 minutes. Hecla Island life was changed forever.

Remnants of the Hecla Ferry dock - it was discontinued after a causeway was built in the '70s. From the time of the first settlement in the 1800s, the community on Hecla Island was completely isolated with no electricity or other modern convenience until more than half the 20th century had passed.

Another piece of the past from the Hecla Island Ferry that made the trip though what is now Grassy Narrows Provincial Park. The ferry ran from the early '50s until the causeway was completed in the '70s.

Narrow inlets weave their way through this vast bird sanctuary.

Finding the way by boat through this area of wetlands must have been challenging. It took 4 hours by ferry to do what is now done in 40 minutes by car. In the summer, the mosquitoes must have been frequent companions on the ferry!

Today, the island industry is tourism. The marshland is a protected santuary for birds and offers a wonderful opportunity for photographers. Fishing spots are abundant and many are equipped with cleaning stations. Foxes dart in and out of the forest and black bears are active in the campgrounds when given the opportunity.

Pelicans are the most patient fisherman of all!

This fox stopped for a moment to watch me take the photo before he disappeared back into the forest.

In spite of all the changes, Hecla Island remains the same. Its inhabitants live in harmony with nature and it's not unusual to see a fox being hand-fed by one of the islanders. It is wild, windswept, and not just a little enchanted. 

Margaret Wemyss Laurence: A Style All Her Own

The First Lady of Manawaka

There are some writers who have had a profound influence on me. Among my favorites are Alice Munro, Carol Shields (if you haven't read Larry's Party, you are missing a gem) and Margaret Laurence. Margaret Laurence had the most effect on how I saw the world. Perhaps that's because I read her novels at a particularly vulnerable time of life - as a teen and young adult woman. So it was with great pleasure and no small sense of awe that I stopped at the small town of Neepawa, Manitoba where she spent her early years. This is Manawaka - the setting for The Stone Angel, A Jest of God (upon which the film Rachel, Rachel was based), The Fire-Dwellers, and The Diviners.

Neepawa - the real Manawaka

On the surface, it's a very ordinary farming community in rural Manitoba. Canola fields surround the town and fill the air with sweet fragrance.

Sometimes wild seed escapes and fills the cracks in the highway pavement with sudden bursts of yellow.

Margaret Laurence's childhood home.

A Masonic sword graces the parlour wall.

Elm trees line the streets and their embrace forms a kind of benevolent green gauntlet. Along one of these streets, First Avenue, is the childhood home of Margaret Laurence.

It is now lovingly tended by the Margaret Laurence Home Committee, a dedicated group of people who are not only welcoming but very knowledgeable.

She was born Jean Margaret Wemyss on July 18, 1926 to solicitor Robert Wemyss and his wife, Verna Jean Simpson. Margaret's mother died a few days after her fourth birthday. Her maternal aunt, Margaret Simpson, came to help care for the family and a year later, married Robert. He died five years later.

Little Margaret was raised by her aunt/stepmother and her maternal grandfather, John Simpson. My understanding is that he was a rather austere man of Scottish extraction. He was also a cabinetmaker and made the furniture in their front parlour.

On the wall are portraits of her grandparents and her grandfather's Masonic sword.

Despite the tragic and difficult circumstances of her early years, Margaret's writing flourished with the encouragement of her aunt and a high school English teacher, Ms. Musgrove. Upstairs is the room where she read and did her homework. Photographing it seemed somehow intrusive so I was content to read the names of the childhood novels on her bookshelf and imagine her curled up on the divan under the window.

On the wall is a collection of personal photographs from her early years.

In 1947, she graduated from Winnipeg United College (now the University of Winnipeg) and began work as  a reporter for a local newspaper covering labour news and doing book reviews. She married an engineer, John Laurence, whose job took them to England in 1949 and then to Africa; Somaliland until 1952 and then Ghana until shortly before its independence in 1957. The family left Africa with their two children and moved to Vancouver, Canada where they lived until their separation in 1962.

She had begun writing short stories during these years, as did her husband, but she continued to expand on her writing after their separation. She moved to London, England for a year and then to Elm Cottage in Buckinghamshire where she lived for the next decade. This was a very prolific period in her writing career.

Her divorce became final in 1969. Upon her return to Canada, she became writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto and a short time later, moved to Lakefield, Ontario. She purchased a cabin on the Otonabee River where she was able to relax in the rural quiet and beauty of her surroundings. It was here that she wrote The Diviners over the summers of 1971 to 1973. The book was published in 1974 and won the Governor General's award. It became part of the reading curriculum in many Canadian high schools but not without some controversy. It was banned for a while in Laurence's own town of Lakefield!

In the last decade of her life, Margaret Laurence became actively involved with environmental concerns, nuclear disarmament, literacy and many other social issues she felt would make the world a better place for people of all nations. She was deeply committed to these causes and won many prestigious awards for her efforts. She has left a powerful legacy.

The Stone Angel

The Stone Angel

A short distance away in the northeast corner of Neepawa is the Riverside Cemetery. Here you will find the stone angel - the one that inspired the book of the same name, the first of the 'Manawaka' novels.

In 1986 she was diagnosed with late stage lung cancer and on January 5, 1987, Margaret Laurence slipped from this earth on her own terms.

Her ashes are interred only steps away from the stone angel.

Thank you to the Margaret Laurence Home Committee for their ongoing efforts to maintain this historical tribute and to the Laurence family for sharing many of the personal items found in the museum.

© Alexandra Lucas 2010. All Rights Reserved.

All photos are provided with permission by SilverGenes on Flickr.

Please contact for permission to reproduce any portion of this article.

Some of her published work:

• A Tree for Poverty. 1954 (essays and translations of Somali poetry)
• This Side of Jordan, 1960
• The Tomorrow Tamer, 1963
• The Stone Angel, 1964
• A Jest of God, 1966
• The Fire-Dwellers, 1969
• A Bird in the House, 1970
• The Diviners, 1974
• Heart of a Stranger, Essays 1976
• Dance on the Earth, Memoirs 1987 (published posthumously)

Books for children:

• Jason's Quest, 1970
• The Olden Days Coat, 1979
• Six Dam Cows, 1979
• The Christmas Birthday Story, 1980

Reading Corner

	The Stone Angel (Phoenix Fiction)
	A Tree for Poverty
	The Diviners (Phoenix Fiction)
	A Jest of God (Phoenix Fiction)

Read a review of Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel.

Dealing with colonialism and anti-colonialism in Somaliland in her travelogue/memoir The Prophet's Camel Bell (1965) is discussed in this interesting article in the Somaliland Press. Laurence's views and her eventual ability to see herself through Somali eyes is summed up in her statement, "We were neither Ingrese nor Italiano. We came from another and unknown tribe.”

Canadian Authors

• Mordecai Richler: Iconic Canadian Author
  If you type the name Mordecai Richler into a search bar, you will get results as varied as the literature he penned and no small indication of controversy. What you will not find are courses featuring his work being taught in Canadian schools. Why?

Great Places in Winnipeg, Manitoba: Art City

Art City at 616 Broadway - visitors are welcome!

Urban Living

Urban life can be exciting and filled with opportunities to explore new ideas through art galleries, museums, concert halls and evening courses at a downtown campus. Many cities are revitalizing some of the core areas and converting old buildings into stylish lofts and luxury condos.

Old neighborhoods surviving and reviving

Unfortunately, this same area also provides substandard housing at lower cost, drawing people who are living on fixed incomes, social services or working in low-paying jobs like retail or restaurant positions that serve the downtown area. The more exciting aspects of urban living are usually cost-prohibitive for those on lower incomes.

Issues

City life also draws those with a more negative income source, resulting in a high crime rate and unsafe streets. For the older residents and the working poor, nothing is affordable and life opportunities seem to shrink. For children, after school life means staying home alone or hanging out on the street with friends, neither of which is very productive and can lead to serious problems.

Solutions

What if you hand people a camera loaded with film, give them a darkroom to process the images and teach them how to use it all? Maybe hands-on learning in clay at the potters’ wheel would be interesting. Digital art and poster making, painting, drawing and music are all creative outlets and help people of all ages bloom and feel worthwhile.

Art is everywhere

Positive self-esteem is critical for both healthy individuals and a thriving neighborhood community, regardless of income level but that is not the only benefit.

Creativity helps people think outside the box and one of the proven benefits is more effective problem-solving. This makes people and communities stronger and healthier and tends to add a lot more fun to life for everyone involved!

High-quality courses in a safe and friendly environment

Art City on West Broadway in Winnipeg does all this and more. This is community living at its best. Every weekday between 4pm and 8pm there are drop-in courses offered at no cost and all materials are supplied free of charge.

Here’s a quick rundown on some of the courses offered:

• Traditional Black & White Photography
• Digital Art (visual and music - learn how to create your own)
• Digital Photography
• Pottery (functional bowls & cups, figure sculpting, mold making and more)
• Screen-printing
• Sculpture, drawing & painting
• Hip-hop dance
• Music
• Video

Some courses are designed for those 12 and under, others for teens 13-17, some for adults, and many more for people of all ages. It’s a great way for friends and families to explore new ideas together. Visitors from all over the world stop in to enjoy the local atmosphere. There's nothing like creativity to break language barriers and start friendships.

For more information and a full calendar of courses, visit Art City in Winnipeg. Come and discover your inner artist or share your knowledge with your community!

Art City

616 Broadway
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada

Read More from Manitoba

Margaret Laurence

The Stone Angel - A review of the novel by Margaret Laurence

Upper and Lower Fort Garry

Part of exploring Canada is experiencing its history. Manitoba has a rich past filled with legendary characters who helped forge this nation. People like Metis leader Louis Riel who was hanged for treason and is now recognized as the father of Manitoba, Thomas Douglas (Lord Selkirk) who established the first agricultural colony, Chief Peguis who saved the first settlers from starvation, Warden of the Plains Cuthbert Grant, and Nellie McClung who got Manitoba women the vote in 1916 - the first in Canada. As a comparison for just what an achievement this was, Quebec did not follow suit until 1940! 

How did it all start and why here?

In 1806, Fort Gibraltar was built by the North West Company where the Assiniboine and the Red Rivers meet. What was the North West Company? It was a group of Montreal traders who were trying to stop the Hudson’s Bay Company from expanding into the west. Where these rivers meet is called The Forks and it has been a meeting place for aboriginal people for 6,000 years. It seemed like a natural place to build a fort that would serve as a trading and forwarding post. 

Shooting the Rapids 1879, Frances Anne Hopkins. Library and Archives Canada

Fur traders travelled from Montreal through the waterways across Upper Canada to the western shores of Lake Superior in boats very much like this one. It is an Algonquin canoe called a ramaska. Frances Hopkins was the wife of a Hudson's Bay employee and she accompanied him on trips like this one, returning to Montreal with furs collected from other traders and trappers further north. With her paints, she captured forever the images that were a way of life for so many. 

Travelling further west required a lighter vessel and they used what was known as a northern canoe to move goods. The painting below shows a typical Hudson's Bay company northern freight canoe. 

Voyageurs in a North Canoe 1869, Frances Anne Hopkins. Library and Archives Canada 

Voyageurs at Dawn 1871, Frances Anne Hopkins. Library and Archives Canada

Although these paintings depict later journeys, they are first hand accounts that show the reality and how little had changed since the late 1600s. 

Things went well for about 10 years and then in 1816, the fort was destroyed and rebuilt. The second Fort Gibraltar became Fort Garry after the North West Company joined forces with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1822. 

Another 10 years passed and then the new fort was devastated by a major flood in 1826. A new site on higher ground was chosen about 20 miles north and Lower Fort Garry was built in 1830. The site was ideal from a transportation point of view because portaging was no longer necessary. However, most of the people were settled near the original fort and travel was difficult. Summers were hot and thick with mosquitoes and winter winds sent temperatures plummeting to -40˚F and below.

Upper Fort Garry (on the hill to the left) in 1870

You would think that having built three forts already, that would be enough. However, it became apparent that people were not going to make the 20 mile trek to the new fort so the original fort, now called Upper Fort Garry, was rebuilt in 1835. In 1882, it was sold and it’s walls demolished. All that remained is the gateway and it still stands today in downtown Winnipeg. 

Upper Fort Garry gate is all that remains of the fort.  Photo: Alexandra Lucas

This leaves us with Lower Fort Garry and what to do with a fort that nobody wants to use for business. At first, it was ideal because it avoided the portage problem. It was located along the river before the St. Andrews Rapids so boats did not have the tedious task of unloading, transporting goods and vessels overland, then reloading cargo and relaunching boats. Unfortunately, this had been a necessary step to ship goods to Upper Fort Garry. You can imagine how unpopular this was when you consider these boats, called York boats, had already made a 700 mile journey from Hudson's Bay with dozens of portages. Each boat carried about three tons of supplies, all of which had to be carried by the tripmen in 200 pound packs overland. These were heavy vessels, too, and capable of handling sail.

Can you imagine travelling 700 miles in this boat?  Photo: Alexandra Lucas

Fort Garry was never actually a main fur trading post. While some pelts were traded here, most came in from neighbouring areas and they were repacked here for shipment to England via Norway House and York Factory.  Tripmen took the boats along the same gruelling 700 mile trek back up to the northern posts for loading on to ships bound for England.

Sailing to England was no picnic either. Steamships made their way north through Hudson's Bay, out through Hudson's Strait into the Labrador Sea and then across the North Atlantic. The photos below are a little more recent but illustrate the conditions very well.

Hudson's Bay Company steamer S.S. Pelican at Churchill Factory 1909

Sailing through the ice at Hudson's Strait

York Factory route from the Forks adapted from a map courtesy Pfly on Wikipedia.

Feeding these men as well as the workers in the north was a problem. It was expensive shipping food from England and it certainly wasn't very fresh by the time it reached Fort Garry. Lower Fort Garry was the answer. People who lived at the Red River settlement had farms and they sold the extra produce to the Hudson's Bay Company.  This was shipped to the Hudson's Bay factory communities. Many aboriginal people traded leather goods, crops, and fish and others worked for the company by taking part in the annual buffalo hunts. This continued well into the 1860s with more and more aboriginal people working on company farms. The Hudson's Bay Company general store had everything from food supplies to dry goods including the famous Hudson's Bay blankets.

Brightly coloured blankets are a trademark of the Hudson's Bay Company.  Photo: Alexandra Lucas

Farming life was not easy and the housing was basic even for the farm manager.  
Photos: Alexandra Lucas

By the 1840s, construction had begun on several industrial buildings including a grist and sawmill, blacksmith shop, lime kiln, and brewery and distillery. There is a mix of many different architectural styles and materials from limestone to wood frame.

On the left is the fur loft and on the right is the retail store.  Photo: Alexandra Lucas

The Governor's house is located in the centre of the fort, surrounded by thick walls built more for impressing the visiting officers of the Hudson's Bay Company than for military purposes.

Entrance to the Governor's House at Lower Fort Garry.  Photo: Alexandra Lucas

A bedroom in the Governor's house just as it was in the 19th century.  
Photos: Alexandra Lucas

Kitchen in the Governor's home at Lower Fort Garry.  Photo: Alexandra Lucas

Left: Pie in a pot from an outdoor over. Right: Storage shed in the Governor's house.
Photos: Alexandra Lucas

The warehouse (right) and the doctor's office (left).  Photos: Alexandra Lucas

Over the years, the fort served as a base for the Hudson's Bay Company and periodically the military, a training facility for the North-West Mounted Police (1873-74), a penitentiary, and a mental hospital (1885-86). The most infamous mental patient was Honoré Jaxon, Louis Reil's secretary who was found not guilty of treason by reason of insanity.

In 1871, Treaty #1 (shown below) between the seven chiefs of the Ojibwa and Swampy Cree and the Crown was signed at Lower Fort Garry. It transferred the land that is now part of modern Manitoba.

Photo: Alexandra Lucas

Today, there are harvest celebrations, ghost tours, and Christmas celebrations at Lower Fort Garry. Located just south of Selkirk at St. Andrews, it's an easy drive from Winnipeg and worth the visit. It gives us a new respect for our forefathers and the challenges they faced building this country. For a calendar of events, go to Parks Canada.