The story of Chief Peguis and the Peguis First Nation reservation is encapsulated in the Saulteaux/Swampy Cree name of the land tract: Oshki-ishkonigan, meaning “New Settlement.” The current location of Peguis, after all, is a new settlement, created after Chief Peguis’ band was first settled on a portion of very high quality arable land north of Selkirk, Then, when the white settlers realized how good the land was, that settlement was taken arbitrarily from the tribe and they were moved to an area of very poor land, well north of the forks of the Red & Assiniboine Rivers.
A common refrain heard from people unfamiliar with First Nations people is that, first, the bands agreed to the formation of the reserves and second, that they were given land more suitable to the hunting and fishing lifestyle they historically had lived.
Neither is true, in almost all instances of the signing of treaties from the 1880’s to 1910. Our Supreme Court has ruled that the treaties were not signed in good faith, were not followed by the white government or white settlers and were misrepresented, yet the myths remain. Second, the land around the forks, now Winnipeg, offered much better hunting, fishing and harvesting than any of the reserves that were established by the white government.
But the dishonest taking of the land around Selkirk from the Peguis band was only the second part of a disturbing story.
Chief Peguis and his people had arrived from Sault Ste Marie area in the 1790s, travelling nomadically as the tribes of the era often did. When the white settlers arrived decades later, Peguis assisted them in any way he could, guiding them through agreements with the other First Nations and white settlers, and helping to settle conflicts in which the fur traders found themselves.
In 1817, he entered into land sharing agreements allowing white farmers to share or rent the land, but not, at any point, entering into a sale agreement (since the concept of owning land was alien to the first nations people).
He sided with the white population during the Metis uprising, hoping to broker peace. But, as often happened, the white settlers and government reneged on the agreements and forced Peguis’ people into the St Peters reserve north of Selkirk, then forced them to relocate to the central Interlake when the white immigrants wanted the land for themselves.
Like much of the story of the relationship between early settlers and the First Nations people, the bands sought cooperation and often assisted the new people to overcome the hardships of pioneer living but were rewarded with abuse and being taken advantage of.
In later years, even after being betrayed, Chief Peguis converted to Christianity, joining the Anglican church. He died in 1864, at the age of 90, and just 6 years before Manitoba became a province of Canada, just 3 years before Canada became a nation. He is buried at St Peter’s Cemetery, north of Selkirk.
https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/peguis/History.html?nodisclaimer=1
https://selkirkmuseum.ca/events/peguis-selkirk-treaty/#:~:text=Forgetting%20the%20Terms,secured%20ownership%20of%20the%20land