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.
Joseph Gautreau talks about the many Koreans he met while overseas.
Choosing Canada’s Great Women is not easy. Listen to Charlotte Gray, one of the judges on our panel, as she describes the pleasures and pitfalls of ranking the great women of history.
Dr. Mary Lynn Stewart, the president of the Canadian Historical Association, recently presided over the CHA’s annual meeting, held this year in Montreal to coincide with the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Ryan Kessler explores the early days of the NHL with a series of online articles and podcast interviews.
Dr Laura Detre, an instructor of history at Washington & Jefferson University, talks to us about the “Last Best West” program — a Canadian immigration strategy to encourage settlement in western Canada.