13 August 2016, Saturday
After a very restful night and a delicious breakfast we laze around in the cozy living room at La Chaumiere B&B. I work on catching up my blog. O researches new pocket sized cameras. Alas, before we left home his six plus year old camera was left in a pants pocket and took a spin through the washer and dryer. We took the chip and the battery out and dried everything as best we could. The photos on the chip are intact. The battery recharged just fine, but the camera is defunct.
After we finish these tasks, we catch up by phone with Grandpa and S. Celine, our hostess, puts in an appearance and we have a pleasant chat about Winnipeg and its diverse populace, about travel, and about US politics…again. She suggests sites for us to visit this afternoon.
We plan to walk from the quiet neighborhood of the B&B to the more touristy area of The Forks. Before we head up the street we find a note tucked under Jazz’s rear windshield wiper. It reads, “Welcome to Canada, Jay Hawk, KS.” We both get a chuckle from this. It’s about a mile to The Forks where the Red River and the Assiniboine meet. The junction of the two rivers was an important meeting place for the Cree and Assiniboine people. The Metis people lived here later. They are descended from Europeans and Aboriginals who intermarried and blended their cultures, eventually developing their own distinctive language and culture. European settlers arrived in 1812. From these early inhabitants, the city of Winnipeg grew. Today it remains a cultural crossroads with heritages and cultures from all over the world represented.
On Celine’s suggestion we go to the Canadian Human Rights Museum. It is a fascinating building with even more fascinating content. Each floor explores different elements of progress and developments in the battle for human rights, delving into tragedies and triumphs along the way. The second floor reviews Canada’s human rights record, warts and all. The third floor covers the Canadian legal system. The fourth floor covers the Holocaust and notes other genocides and the action or lack of action in response by the rest of the world. There is a guest exhibit on Malala and her fight for the education of girls. Another guest exhibit discusses various projects around the world in which women are using their knowledge of local crafts and traditions to develop projects which help support local women and give them a means to feed their families, pass on their culture and educate their children. We could spend at least another day here, but we are out of time.
We find a restaurant for supper and then walk across the Red River on a pedestrian bridge to the French Quarter. Here we find the grave of Louis Riel, founder of Manitoba and leader of the fight for Metis rights. His battles secured the recognition and rights of his people, but he was executed as a traitor by the Canadian government in 1885. Today he is recognized as a national hero.
We wander back to La Chaumiere for a quiet evening.