The Ridge property owned by Mosquito, Grizzly Bear's Head, Lean Man First Nation is located south of Battleford, beside the site of the former Battleford Industrial School. (file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)  

By Angela Brown

Planning ahead

Mosquito Grizzly Bear’s Head Lean Man First Nation awarded funding to build new Interpretive Centre

Oct 7, 2022 | 5:16 PM

The provincial government announced that Mosquito, Grizzly Bear’s Head, Lean Man (MGBHLM) First Nation is being awarded $5.82 million in joint federal and provincial funding to develop an interpretive cultural centre and art gallery at its property south of the town of Battleford, known as The Ridge.

The project is a combined initiative from MGBHLM First Nation and MGBHLM Economic Development Corporation Inc.

According to the province’s release, the project will include the construction of a new 1,342 square-metre Interpretive Cultural Art Gallery, which will provide an “Indigenous Land, Language, and Relational Healing Circle focused on Indigenous mental health and wellbeing.”

The federal government is providing $4,371,287 for this project, while the province is putting in $1,457,096, through the Investing In Canada Plan (ICP).

The property is located off Hwy. 658, near the site of the former Battleford Industrial School.

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MGBHLM Economic Development Corporation previously submitted a request to be considered for support through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program for the initiative.

Chief Tanya Aguilar-Antiman is excited to hear they were accepted for the project.

“The culture, language, and history of the MGBHLM Nakoda peoples will finally be shared in the Battlefords, the province, and the world,” she said in an email to battlefordsNOW.

Grant Beaudry, CEO for the First Nation’s Economic Development Corporation, was also thrilled with the funding announcement.

“I’m extremely happy,” he told battlefordsNOW.

The vision for the project was in place when the property was purchased from the Oblates in 2020.

Beaudry said the project will be called the Mosquito, Grizzly Bear’s Head, Lean Man First Nation Interpretive Cultural Centre, and Henry Beaudry Art Gallery. The late Henry Beaudry Sr., from Poundmaker, Mosquito and Sweetgrass First Nations, was a celebrated veteran in the Second World War and also a well-known artist.

A photo of artist Henry Beaudry Sr.’s painting called “The Warrior.” (Submitted photo/Grant Beaudry)

Grant Beaudry said the interpretive cultural centre will offer information on the history of the area and the Indigenous people.

“It will tell the story of the residential school and impact stories from survivors,” he said. “It will also tell the history from a Nakoda perspective, our involvement in the North-West Rebellion, and how two of our membership were hung at the last mass hanging of Canada at Fort Battleford [in 1885].”

Beaudry said the centre will also provide the history of the Indigenous signatories of Treaty 4 and 6.

He hopes the interpretive cultural centre will serve to help advance reconciliation efforts as well in the future.

“It will be a place of healing, a place of dialogue between First Nations, government, and churches- both Catholic and Anglican,” Beaudry added.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow