Page 171 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Canada

A lone bison wandering the CANADIAN MOUNTIES
landscape of Grasslands The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are a symbol
National Park of national pride. Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A.
Macdonald, founded the Northwest Mounted Police in 1873
to maintain order in the new country. Today’s Mounties
are a 28,400-strong police force responsible for imposing
20 "-= federal law across Canada. Their duties range from
Batoche National counting migratory birds to exposing foreign espionage.

Historic Site Modern Mounties have jets, helicopters, and cars at their
disposal, with horses used for ceremonial purposes only.
⌂ Rte 225 off Hwy 312
§ (306) 423 6227 # Mid-
May–Jun & Sep–mid-Oct:
9am–5pm Mon–Fri; Jul & battle field. The 2.5-sq-miles a typical prairie town, including
Aug: 9am–5pm daily (6-sq-km) park houses the its railroad station. The town
bullet-ridden St. Antoine de also houses the Ukrainian
The original village of Batoche Padoue Church and Rectory, Museum of Canada and the
was the site of the Métis’s last as well as the cemetery where Remai Modern, an art gallery.
stand against the Canadian the Métis leaders are buried. The South Saskatchewan
Militia, led by Louis Riel and An interpretive center features River meanders through the
Gabriel Dumont in 1885 (p68). an audio-visual pre sentation city and is bounded by many
From the 17th century, white on the history of Batoche lush parks, including the
fur traders in the west had through the eyes of the Métis. outstanding 759-acre (307-ha)
married Aboriginal wives and Wanuskewin Heritage Park.
adopted tribal languages and This is devoted to Northern
customs. The resulting mixed 21 Plains First Nations history,
raced peoples, the Métis, with arch aeological sites that
had originally rebeled in Saskatoon confirm the exis tence of
1869 in the Winnipeg area in k ~ £ @ n 101–202 Fourth hunter-gatherer communi ties
defense of their land rights. Ave N; www.tourism some 6,000 years ago. Some of
When history began to repeat saskatoon.com the digs are open to the public
itself in 1885, Métis rebels in the summer. The park’s hills
recalled Riel from exile in Now an agricultural and and marshy creeks are still
Montana to declare a provis- commercial hub in the middle held to be sacred lands by the
ional government at Batoche. of prairie country, Saskatoon Northern Plains peoples, who
Violence erupted into what was founded in 1882 as a act as interpretive guides.
was to become known as the tem perance colony. The
North-West Rebellion. Riel region’s history is told in the Wanuskewin
surrendered, was tried for local branch of the Western Heritage Park
treason, and hanged in Regina. Development Museum, which "'\= ⌂ Off Hwy 11
Today, the Batoche National focuses on the town’s boom # 9am–4:30pm Mon–
Historic Site of Canada occupies years in the early 1900s, Fri, 11am–4pm Sat
the site of the village and re-creating the main street of ∑ wanuskewin.com

The skyline of Saskatoon,
reflected in the South
Saskatchewan River
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