Northern Saskatchewan Metis veterans will be honoured by renaming the park near South Bay as South Bay War Veterans’ Park.
The spot is close to Isle-a-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan’s second oldest community, and has been “celebrated as South Bay for more than a century,” according to a Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S) news release dated June 12. Now, it’s getting a new designation.
MN-S citizen John Belanger spent almost 27 years in the Armed Forces and is a veteran of Kosovo and Bosnia. He welcomed news of the new name.
“A lot of people from our area continue to serve, so we will add more names,” Belanger said in a press release. “I hope this opens the door to include First Nations Veterans from the northwest past, present and future.”
South Bay has been designated a Provincial Park since 1953 and operated under the Northern Village of Ile-a-la-Cross since 2003.
Plans for the area involve developing it into a area to honour veterans; it will be known as The South Bay War Veterans’ Park, “where local war veterans are honoured for their service having fought on our behalf to protect these sacred, shares lands,” reads the news release.
Métis Nation Saskatchewan presented a cheque for $200,000 to support the development of the park to the organizing committee in a ceremony June 12.
“Our MN-S government is here to help our Métis citizens in every way, from Métis cultural and Michif language education opportunities for o=young learners to developing a tribute to our Veterans. Honour our past while creating a space that will produce new memories is what the South Bay War Veterans’ Park Legacy project is about … This is our opportunity to pay respect to our Veterans and thank them for their service. This is their moment,” Glen McCallum, MN-S president, said in the news release.
“The recreational site has been a vision of the Village since 2018. The South Bay War veterans Park plan is based on the local wisdom and experience together with technical input and feedback fro key stakeholders. The planning process engaged Elders, community members, students and visitors of in a variety of ways, providing guidance,” MN-S Minister of Veterans, Mervin ‘Tex’ Bouvier said in the news release. The area plan includes a memorial that will have “the names of 35 Métis inscribed on it. More names will be added as their involvement in the wars becomes known,” reads the news release.
