Forgot your password?
by Nelle Oosterom
Two hundred years ago, Western Canada was still a largely unsettled prairie dominated by great herds of bison.
Aboriginal peoples living there were familiar with male European fur traders but white women were virtually unknown to them. This changed when Marie-Anne Lagimodière arrived in the West in 1806, accompanied by her new husband Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière, a trapper and fur trader.
Tensions soon arose when it became clear that Jean-Baptiste already had three children with an Aboriginal woman. Despite the many hardships of frontier life, Marie-Anne adjusted to her situation.
The Lagimodières eventually homesteaded in the Red River Colony and raised a large family.
One of their children became the mother of Metis leader Louis Riel. Lagimodière’s story inspired Ottawa teacher Ruth Stewart-Verger to create a CD with songs and stories of her life.
Listen to excerpts: Track 1: Carry Me Away I Track 2: Introducing Marie Anne Track 3: Carry Me Away II Track 4: I Will Not Be Left Behind
This CD and another one about suffragist Emily Murphy are available at Rasputins.ca/ruth.htm.
1 = poor, 5 = excellent
You must be a Canada's History member and be logged in to leave a comment.
No comments.
Collection of photos features images relating to the Commonwealth Air Training Program
For a time it had seemed that the only Canadian woman to be officially appointed as a war artist during World War II might not make it overseas at all.
Part 2 of a 6-part series called Nature's Past, produced by Sean Kheraj, discussing the role of climate in Canadian and global history.
Listen to this exclusive cut from an album of 1812 songs by the group Same Latitude as Rome.
John C. Weaver accepts the Francois-Xavier Garneau Medal at the 2010 CHA.