Article by Laura McKay, on behalf of Heritage Winnipeg Corp.

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For the month of Jul y, The Forks is offering a n Oral History Walking T our. Running every W ednesday (July 8, 15, 22, & 29 ) start ing at 1 0:00am, this tour gives you the opportunity to see the Forks thr ough the eyes and interpretations of Clarence & Barbara Nepinak, two Indigenous elders who have been influential in the creation of The Forks as we know it today.

Taking 1-2 hours, the tour is a little different each time, as it is taken purely from the memories of your tour guides. There is no registration re quired and the tour i s free , as well as suitable for all ages. Just rem ember t o wear good walking shoes and br ing mosquito repellent !

é drale de Sain d Numbe the bus route from your location T ransit Navigo website. using the Winnipeg fteen minutes. You can planbus route from your location en to fi al in about t dr he Cathe distance of t walking t. Boniface-Wolseley, will get you from Portage Avenue to within easy , S Bus en r T he EastbounNumbe t-Boniface. e St. Boniface Cathedral/La Cathdrale de Sain t of th the fron e met for the tour at

Clarence Nepinak began the tour by giving us a bit of background on his own family his tory. A member of the B ear Clan, Claren ce's ancestors moved from the area around Sault St. Marie

. As th e area became more and more trapped out, they headed west in the 1860s, not unlike ma ny others at the time. Starting the tour at the Cathédrale de S aint-Boniface allowed us to mimic this movem ent w estward , like so m a ny before us.

Beginning at the Cath é dral e a lso gave us the opportuni ty to see t wo im portant grave s ites: that of Chief One Arrow, and that of L o u is Riel.

row was a n Indigen ous leader who was incarcerated for his fr iendship with Louis Riel. He eventually died while still imprisoned, and his final words to the C anadian government, "Do not mistreat my people," are engraved on his tombstone. In 2007, his remains were re turned to his home reserve .

More in form ation about Ch ief One Arrow can be found here:





Across the bridge we were joined by Barbara Nepinak, who told us about the symbolism of the rocks and water of the fountain nearby. Rocks are like grandfathers, she told us, but water gives life, and thus it is a symbol for women, who are also life-givers. It makes a person look at the fountain quite differently, I must admit.

Close to the CMHR is a memorial , in the form of a meeting place, to the s urvivors of res idential school s . Nep inak shared with us that he himself was a survivor of the residential school s ystem, ha ving been in one school or another for eleven years of his li fe. The memorial itself is a be au tiful tribute an d isolated enough from the rest of the Forks to create a sense of peacefulnes s.

We also passed by an d discussed the stage , the Public Orchard, the Railway Bridge, the Memorial to Missing Aboriginal Women , and finally stopped at the naked eye observatory. I have previously he ard th e o b servatory referred to as the "sun dial" , but it 's pur pose , as ide from hous ing a fire pit, is to provide the information a nd opportunity to view the star s and constellations .

Dependent upon the time of year, the tube-like shapes aroun d the exterior have a circle in which a certain star will sit. A helpful guide engraved in the stones around centre circle tells you which ones you should be able to see when. Finally, if o ne stands in the very centre and speaks, the sound of your voic e will echo back to you - try it next time you're there. It's the sort of th ing that amuses adults almost as much as the kids.

The Nepinaks are both dynamic speak ers, gifted in holding your attention and enthr alling you with their stories. I highly rec ommend you try out the ir tou r , av ailable only in July 2015 !

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, OntarioChief One ArLouis Riel was also briefly mentioned, as well as the controversy and different perceptions of his actions, not only among the settlers but among the indigenous communities. For more information on Louis Riel, visit the Louis Riel House website here. As we crossed the bridge over the Red River to the Forks, Nepinak gave his version of why it had that name; once there were two groups of people, one on each side of the bank. One group wished to cross the river but the other would not let them; as they attempted to cross the river, they were killed, spilling their blood into the water until it ran red. And thus it is known as the Red River. As Nepinak pointed out, there are likely other versions as to the name of the river, but they likely aren't as good a story.The bridge itself is beside another, along which is traces the the history of Manitoba back to prehistoric times, with symbolism and imagery to represent Manitobans in all of their diversity. Along with giving us the meanings behind the imagery along the bridge, Nepinak told us stories from his own childhood, such as learning about the importance of environmental awareness during a trip to get wild bird eggs with his grandfather and the belief system behind dreamcatchers.The Forks is a place for people to meet, a tradition the CMHR seeks to continue. For over 6,000 years, people have been meeting there for one reason or another, the place where two rivers meet. These two rivers can take you in any direction in North America - north or south, east or west. A path made up of squares containing the symbol below leads you across the bridge. Each of the four loops represents each of the four directions these rivers can take you.