Call for return of Louis Riel walking stick donated by military to museum
WINNIPEG — A walking stick that belonged to Northwest Rebellion leader Louis Riel has been donated to the Manitoba Museum, but there is a call for it to be returned to the Metis people.
The Royal Winnipeg Rifles Regimental Museum initially loaned the walking stick to the Manitoba Museum, where it has been on display since January.
In a statement Tuesday, the Manitoba Museum said the artifact was permanently donated to the museum in the hope that the widest possible audience would have an opportunity to appreciate its significance.
“We thought it was a really important piece of Manitoba history in order to interpret Manitoba’s founding father, and (we) wanted to ensure that, as the provincial museum, we’re telling the whole provincial story,” Claudette Leclerc, the museum’s executive director, told The Canadian Press in a phone interview.