Bell of Batoche facts for kids
The Bell of Batoche is a special silver-plated church bell. It weighs about 20 pounds. Many people believed it was taken in 1885 from the Métis community of Batoche (which is now in Saskatchewan). This happened after a big battle called the Battle of Batoche, where soldiers from Ontario won against the Métis during the North-West Rebellion.
The bell stayed in Millbrook, Ontario, for a long time. But in 1991, it was stolen from a building called the Royal Canadian Legion hall. It showed up again in 2013, back with Métis people. However, soon after, some clues suggested the bell might actually be from Frog Lake instead of Batoche.
People started to wonder if this was the real Bell of Batoche. In April 2014, the director of Le Musée de Saint-Boniface Museum said there was enough proof. He agreed that the "Bell of Batoche" they had was actually the Bell of Frog Lake, which was taken from the Frog Lake Mission in 1885.
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The Bell Arrives in Batoche
This bell was one of twenty bells bought by Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin. He bought them for the Diocese of St Albert. A bell was bought in 1884 for the Catholic church in Batoche. This church was called Saint Antoine de Padoue. Father Julien Moulin had asked for it.
It was a tradition to "baptize" bells. So, Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin gave the bell a special ceremony on September 2, 1884. He named it "Marie-Antoinette." The bell also had a message carved into it in French: "Vital-Justin Grandin, évêque de St. Albert." This means "Vital-Justin Grandin, Bishop of St. Albert." A tall tower for the bell, called a steeple, was added to the church after 1885.
The Bell is Taken
During the North-West Rebellion, Batoche was like the main city for Louis Riel's Provisional Government of Saskatchewan. The Métis and their Indigenous allies had won some battles. These included fights at Duck Lake, Fort Pitt, Fish Creek, and Cut Knife.
But on May 12, 1885, the Canadian Militia, led by British officer Middleton, finally defeated the Métis at Batoche. Louis Riel later gave himself up on May 15, 1885.
The Bell of Batoche was supposedly taken by two soldiers as a prize from the battle. They sent it back to Ontario. Starting in 1930, the bell hung for many years in the fire hall in Millbrook, Ontario. This was where some of the soldiers who took it lived. The building later caught fire, and the bell was cracked in the blaze. By 1991, it was kept in the hall of the Millbrook branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.
The Bell Goes Missing
One night, the bell kept in the Millbrook Legion hall was stolen. Along with the bell, some medals belonging to Sergeant Ed McCorry were also taken. He was a soldier from Millbrook who had been at the Battle of Batoche. A group of Métis men were responsible for taking the bell. They called it a "gentleman's dare."
Where the bell was after that was not known publicly for a long time. Yvon Dumont, a Métis leader, said he didn't know who took it. But he later said that if a Métis person had it, he would see them as a hero, not a criminal.
Talks began to officially give the bell to the Métis Nation. Dumont even offered to pay for the damage caused when the bell was taken. However, the Ontario legion hall first refused to talk until McCorry's medals were returned.
In 2000, Jack Hillson, a minister from Saskatchewan, said that no charges would be laid if the bell was returned. People hoped the bell would come back in time for Saskatchewan's big millennium celebrations, but it did not appear.
In August 2005, Gabriel Dufault, a Métis leader, said he heard the bell was in Winnipeg. He thought it might be in a garage there. He also felt he knew who had more information about it.
In a newspaper story from October 8, 2005, Gary Floyd Guiboche, a Métis man from Manitoba, admitted he stole the bell. He had visited the bell with Dumont in 1991. He would not say who helped him. He said his partner had taken the McCorry medals as "payback."
In 2009, there were rumors that the bell was in Saskatchewan, with Métis people. But it never showed up.
The Bell Reappears
On June 20, 2013, it was announced that the bell would be given to the bishop of the diocese of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. This happened on July 20, 2013. Pictures of the bell were also shared, including one showing its crack being fixed. The bell was shown to the public on July 20, during the Back to Batoche Days festival. Billyjo Delaronde, one of the Métis men who took the bell from Millbrook in 1991, was there. He talked about how he was involved.
The bell is now kept by the Union nationale métisse Saint-Joseph du Manitoba. This is a Métis organization started in 1887. The bell will not be put back in the Batoche church steeple. Instead, it will be displayed at Le Musée de Saint-Boniface Museum in Winnipeg.
Was it the Real Batoche Bell?
A writer from Ontario wondered if the bell kept in Millbrook was ever truly the bell from Batoche. Robert Winslow, whose ancestor was a captain of the Millbrook soldiers, said he had proof. He claimed the bell had actually been taken from a church in Frog Lake after the Frog Lake Massacre.
In 2014, the CBC found evidence that seemed to support the Frog Lake origin. The Frog Lake bell was wrongly identified as being from Batoche in a local history book published in 1967. Some old handwritten papers and notes show that the real Batoche bell was given in 1937 to another Catholic mission. This mission was in St. Laurent de Grandin, about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from Batoche.
That church burned down in 1990. The fire destroyed the bell, except for its clapper (the part that hits the bell) and a few copper pieces. The church was rebuilt. The bell's remaining pieces are now kept in a locked glass case in the new church's special shrine.
The director of Le Musée de Saint-Boniface Museum was convinced that the bell they have is from Frog Lake. He believes the Roman Catholic diocese in the Frog Lake area will need to decide what happens to it next.
