Kevin Seesequasis took a photo last October with the Treaty No. 6 monument near Fort Carlton. (Facebook/ Kevin Seesequasis)

By Nigel Maxwell

Preserving History

Parks Canada commits to restoration of historic monument

Nov 7, 2019 | 8:00 AM

A man’s personal fight to save an important monument has not gone unnoticed.

Parks Canada has confirmed they will be contracting Beardy’s and Okemasis First Nation to look after the monument near Fort Carlton, which recognizes the signing of Treaty 6.

Band councillor Kevin Seesequasis, who initially raised concerns last month about the state of the crumbling monument, told paNOW he’s very pleased with the outcome.

“It means that the site can be given the attention it deserves,” he said.

Treaty No. 6 was designated a national historic event in 1927, and the event was originally commemorated with a plaque at Fort Carlton in 1930. On Oct. 31, Parks Canada team members met with Seesequasis to discuss his concerns and opportunities for enhancing the cairn site.

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“You know we will do what we can in order to maintain the site and make sure people know why that’s there,” he said.

As a first step, work will include repainting the fence that surrounds the monument, and installing a flag pole to fly the Treaty 6 flag. According to a statement from Parks Canada, the original plaque was removed due to outdated text on it. Seesequasis said there has been discussion to fix that as well.

“We have talked about having some information about the signing of Treaty 6 and having the articled treaty posted there as well,” he said.

Treaty 6 was originally signed in 1871 and represents an agreement between the Crown, the Plains and Woods Cree, Assiniboine and other band governments at Fort Carlton and Fort Pitt. Seesequasis said he expected the new flag to go up sometime in the next week or two.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell