Timeline of St. Norbert

6000 BC – 780 AD: Spearheads and native pottery found.

First Nations people lived, hunted, fished and gathered in St. Norbert on the banks of the Red and La Salle Rivers. There was spearheads and native pottery found on these lands.

Era: Pre-History ( – 1610)

1600 – 1800

Allied Aboriginal groups: Assiniboine, Cree and Ojibwa (Saulteaux) inhabited the area of St. Norbert. These groups worked together against the Dakota (Sioux) People. The 3 groups used the Red river for transportation to trade and it was a great raiding route. The La Salle River’s wooded banks offered a great spot for ambushes.

Era: Exploration (1610 – 1800)

1670: Hudson Bay Company is Formed

Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Medard Chouart landed in present day Manitoba on the banks of the Hudson Bay in 1688. Prince Rupert, the cousin of Charles II of England, granted the French traders exclusive trading rights to the water shed lands of Hudson Bay in 1670 creating the Hudson Bay Company.

Era: Exploration (1610 – 1800)

1734: Europeans Arrive

Era: Exploration (1610 – 1800)

1750-1821: the Fur Trade Period

The La Salle River was a popular spot for fur traders on their way to the Pembina River or the Lake of the Woods.

Era: Exploration (1610 – 1800)

1790: Salteaux Camp Move to Red River

Era: Exploration (1610 – 1800)

1800: Alexander the Younger camped on the banks of the La Salle

His large brigade camped here on their way to Pembina. He wrote about the contrasts of vegetation of the Red and La Salle Banks.

Era: Exploration (1610 – 1800)

1812: Metis conflict with HBC

HBC gave Lord Selkirk 116,000 acres on the Red River to welcome Scottish Settlers. The Metis feared losing their land because they had no legal title.

Era: Fur Trade (1800 – 1821)

1817: Lord Selkirk Treaties

Treaty 1, early known as the Selkirk Treaty. This is the first legal document recognizing indigenous lands in Western Canada.

Era: Fur Trade (1800 – 1821)

1820: Metis Families to St. Norbert

Era: Fur Trade (1800 – 1821)

1819: Grey Nuns Arrive in the Red River Settlement

Grey nuns from Montreal were requested in St. Boniface and traveled 58 days by canoe to get to the Red River.

Era: Settlement (1821 – 1869)

1821: HBC merges with North West Company and beginnings of St. Norbert

After years of unrest between the two fur trading companies England forced them to merge with threat of the British Army coming over to settle the disagreements. This caused many workers of the two companies to lose their jobs. Metis that were once employed by the companies settled on river lots along the red river becoming farmers and going on large bison hunts with their community and family. This increased the population of many parishes and towns including St. Norbert.

Era: Settlement (1821 – 1869)

1835: HBC Census

HBC conducted a census and discovered that 72 heads of family were living in St. Norbert.

Era: Settlement (1821 – 1869)

1836: River Lots Surveyed

Just like Quebec’s River lot system all of the Red River Settlement was surveyed. This system provided each lot owner with a wooded lot and access to the river water.

Era: Settlement (1821 – 1869)

1844: Grey Nuns Arrive

Sister Eulalie Lagrave of the grey nuns in the St. Boniface started to travel to St. Norbert 2 days a week to teach Catechism classes.

Era: Settlement (1821 – 1869)

1856: St Norbert Church was built

This log church was home to our very first priest ‘Father Jean-Marie Lestanc’, as well as two missionaries sent to open a boys school.

Era: Settlement (1821 – 1869)

1857: Tache Establishes Parish

Tache named the Parish ‘St Norbert’ after the patron Saint of Bishop Joseph-Norbert Provencher- the first bishop of St. Boniface.

Era: Settlement (1821 – 1869)

1867: Confederation

On July 1st, 1867, Canada became a country.

Era: Settlement (1821 – 1869)

1869: Meeting of Metis

The Metis used St. Norbert as one of their meeting spots to discuss the future of Manitoba. Here they created the National Metis Council and began discussions of the Provisional Government.

Era: Time of Troubles (1869 – 1871)

1869: La Barriere Erected

A group of about 40 men created a 3-foot barrier at the north side of the La Salle River crossing on the Pembina Trail into St. Norbert, blocking the road. This was created to stop McDougall from entering the territory and was successful.

Era: Time of Troubles (1869 – 1871)

1869: Stepping on the Chains

On the edge of Andre Parisien’s lot on the outskirts of St. Norbert and St. Vital (around the intersection of Waverly and Bishop Grandin present day), 12 men lead by Louis Riel stepped on the Canadian surveyors’ chains and halted surveys of the Red River settlement.

Era: Time of Troubles (1869 – 1871)

1870: Manitoba Act

Beginning with Canada purchasing Rupert’s land from the Hudson’s Bay company. The Manitoba Act is the legal document making Manitoba Canada’s fifth province. John Black, Reverend Noel Jean Ritchot and Alfred H. Scott went to Ottawa as delegates of Manitoba to share the wishes of the people in the Red River Valley. This included; keeping French and English as the official language in Manitoba, Metis land arrangements, schooling options in French, English, Catholic and Protestant. Click Here for more info

Era: Time of Troubles (1869 – 1871)

1875: La Chapelle de Notre-Dame-du-Bons-Secours erected

Father Ritchot built this outdoor chapel as promised after no bloodshed between the Metis and Governor McDougall during the Red River Resistance

Era: Development (1871 – 1889)

1878: The first Railway

On the east side of the Red River the St. Paul, Minnesota and Manitoban railway steamed through the prairies.

Era: Development (1871 – 1889)

1883: Catholic Cathedral Fire

The old small wooden church burnt and caused another, with substantial improvements made of brick, to be built and finished by 1889.

Era: Development (1871 – 1889)

1885: Battle of Duck Lake

The beginning of the North-West Rebellion. Click Here for more info

Era: Development (1871 – 1889)

1885: Battle of Batoche

Louis Riel and less that 300 metis and First Nations people fought the 800 North West Field force. The Indigenous people were upset and dissatisfied by the way the government had been treating them and their lands. They were trying to keep white settlers from taking over their new lands in Batoche after they’d already been pushed out of the Red River Settlement. Click Here for more info.

Era: Development (1871 – 1889)

1887: The second Railway in St. Norbert

The Red River Valley Railway, later became Northern Pacific and now Canadian Northern ran on the west side of the Red River running over the La Salle River.

Era: The Wait (1889 – 1970)

1889: St Boniface Catholic Diocese

St Norbert was one of the three churches in this diocese, the other two being the St. Boniface Cathedral and St. Mary’s.

Era: Present (1970 – )

1892: Monks arrive in St. Norbert

Father Ritchot offered land to the Trappists from Bellefontaine France. Four monks arrived to come into possession of land in the banks of the La Salle River. The monastery included a farm, dairy and services of a variety of trades men.

Era: The Wait (1889 – 1970)

1903: Orphanage

With the help of Father Noel-Joseph Ritchot the Sisters of Mercy founded an orphanage named Asile Ritchot. Or Asile Bethleen.

Era: Present (1970 – )

1929: St Norbert Parish Fire

The Church fell to another fire and wasn’t finished being rebuilt until 1937.

Era: Present (1970 – )

1950: Flood

At the time it was the 4th largest flood at the time in the Red River Valley. This destroyed a lot of St. Norbert homes. The damages of this flood were 125.5 million, about 1 billion in todays market. It was the largest evacuation in Canadian History and was the reason for Duff’s ditch, the Red River Floodway, to be built around Winnipeg.

Era: Present (1970 – )

1972: St Norbert became apart of Winnipeg

In the Unicity act of 1971 St Norbert became apart of Winnipeg. Officially on January 1st, 1972 the unicity act went in to effect.

Era: Present (1970 – )

1975: Monks relocate

The Monks wanted a more secluded spot and moved to Holland, Manitoba.

Era: Present (1970 – )

1979: Formation of St. Norbert

Originally Heritage St. Norbert was formed due to the issue with a French school in St. Norbert, this brought together the group and then there were other issues raising the importance of an organization. The bank of Montreal, an important historical building, was demolished. There was also talk of a huge suburb to be built where the behavioral health stands today. February 26, 1979 our constitution was signed and we officially became an organization to get our projects underway.

Era: Present (1970 – )

1983: Monastery Fire

Vandals set fire to the monastery, but spared the guest house that is now used as St Norbert Art Center.

Era: Present (1970 – )

1997: Flood

This was the biggest flood on the Red since 1826. In St. Norbert countless volunteers and city officials constructed a sand bag dike in order to try and save our important historic suburb with hundreds of homes and people living here. Farther up the river private contractors, the military and provincial highway department built the Brunklid dike due to fear of the La Salle River, that drains into the Red, being over flowed by the Red before it drains.

Era: Present (1970 – )

2009: Flood

The 2009 flood was the 4th largest in Manitoban history.

Era: Present (1970 – )