The Bell of Batoche is coming home, but only for a visit.
On Friday, a Metis group held a news conference in Winnipeg to announce the bell, which has been missing for 22 years, will be returned to Batoche for a special mass and celebration on July 20.
After that, it will be permanently housed in a Winnipeg museum — but will be made available on loan to Metis groups for celebrations.
The president of the Metis Nation – Saskatchewan, Robert Doucette, expects more than 20,000 people will be in Batoche for the bell’s unveiling next month.
He says he would like to give a big hug to the keepers of the bell for the past 22 years, and is delighted such an important symbol is back in the public domain where it belongs:
“So, when an iconic thing like the Bell of Batoche is making its way back home, I think it is the duty of every Metis leader to promote the positive nature and the significance, the symbolism of that bell.”
Doucette says the bell represents struggle, pride and accomplishment for Canada’s Metis community.
He also dismisses as rubbish reports that the bell was used as hostage to secure money for its safe return.
The bell was originally taken as a war trophy in 1885 after the final battle in the Metis Resistance.
It eventually ended up in a legion hall in Ontario, but was stolen in 1991.
Now, it will return for public viewing and Metis celebrations, but its permanent home will be Winnipeg — not the church steeple in Batoche where it was taken 128 years ago.