An artifact many consider sacred has been returned to the Metis homeland.
On a cloudy, windy day, thousands of Metis turned out at Batoche to welcome home the bell affectionately called “Marie Antoinette”.
They packed the big top to witness history as it was presented to a Catholic bishop by the men who took it from a legion hall in Ontario.
The leader of the group, Billy-Jo Delaronde, told the crowd he felt free now that the bell had been returned to the site of the famous battle.
Metis Nation – Saskatchewan president Robert Doucette guessed the last time the bell was rung there was to warn Metis of approaching enemy forces.
Later outside, he told reporters it had taken three years of negotiations to arrange the bell’s return.
A lengthy program of songs, prayers and speeches ushered in the bell’s unveiling.
Audrey Poitras, Allan Morin, Paul Desrosiers and Bruce Dumont led readings in English, Michif, Cree and French, while a Catholic mass was also performed by Bishop Albert Thevenot.
When the bell was brought in, the entire crowd stood up while dozens of people rushed forward to get pictures of its presentation.
Delaronde, dressed in a white robe, officially turned it over to Thevenot.
Birds were flying through one end of the the big top to the other on a regular basis, while sweetgrass wafted over the bell in a traditional smudging ceremony led by Shirley Isbister.
Thevenot told the crowd it was an honour to be there for the ceremony.
He also told them he was of Metis descent.
“It’s from my grandmother’s side in Ontario,” he said later during an interview outside.
Then the crowd hushed while the bell was rung.
Delaronde dedicated the first ring to the late Metis elder and activist Harry Daniels.
Delaronde told the crowd from the pulpit that it was one eerie night in 1991 that he Tony Belcourt, Ivan Dumont, Ronald Masur and Ron Rivard met outside the hall in Millbrook.
“Metis Mission Impossible was about to roll out,” he told the crowd who laughed loudly.
Delaronde wouldn’t reveal exactly what occurred, or who actually took the bell.
“I’ll leave that to your musings.”
But he did say one of the toughest things was hiding it, because his son Jared, a toddler, would happily inform house guests that he had it.
He said his son would tug at people’s pant legs and say, “Do you want to see the Bell of Batoche? I’ve got it you know!”
Delaronde said he had recently spoken with relatives of Riel who told him the Metis leader’s spirit could be released now that the bell had been returned and mass had been carried out.
He said many of the Metis had been refused religious rites by the soldiers and that some relatives worried their souls had been damned as a result.
“In plain Roman Catholic talk, the priests were saying if you take up arms with Riel and Gabriel (Dumont) then we will not administer any religious rites to you, your woman or your children…our people believed that their souls were dammed forever. And for what? For nothing more than trying to save a nation.”
Afterwards, the bell was wheeled out by carriage to the elder’s lodge.
Lennard Morin of Cumberland House said he didn’t expect the day would ever come.
Ile a la Crosse resident Louis Gardiner said he hoped the bell would be taken to all the citizens in the Metis Nation so they could see it for themselves.
He also said he considers the bell the “Metis Stanley Cup,” and that it was too bad it had taken this long for it to be returned.
“A lot of Metis (elders) have passed on.”
Percy Doust, a local president in Nipawin, said the return of the bell was one of the most important things he had ever witnessed.
The bell will be taken to the cemetery on Sunday morning where it will be rung to honour the memories of the fallen.
Preparations are then expected to be made for the bell to tour communities in Canada.
Doucette said he hopes Saskatoon will be the destination on November 16.
“Today, a lot of people are leaving Batoche feeling invigorated again, and feeling good about being Metis — and that’s what this whole journey was all about.”