Metis veterans will be honoured at the 44th Back To Batoche Days which runs from July 17th to the 20th.
An unveiling ceremony will be held on site Saturday, July 19th. A prestigious monument will be unveiled. It is symbolic of the contributions made by Metis veterans.
Manager of Back to Batoche Days Gaylene Poulin says the Gabriel Dumont Institute was instrumental in making this a reality:
“Gabriel Dumont Institute has been fundraising for the past few years to erect a monument at Batoche in honour of Métis Veterans. This type of monument has never been erected in Canada ever. Métis have never been recognized before this service and this year we are honouring those veterans.”
The details of what the monument will actually look like is being kept a secret until it is finally displayed. Poulin says an honour run will also take place during the weekend:
“About 80 youth with soldiers and dignitaries will be running what is called an honour run from Saskatoon to Batoche on the Friday evening. They will be running in conjunction with the festival and will be at the ceremony the next day for the veteran monument.”
Organizers say they are still accepting applications for runners who want to participate in the honour run.