Louis Riel's sash returns to Manitoba

A ceremonial sash owned by Louis Riel has returned to Manitoba from B.C., just in time for the first annual holiday bearing the Métis leader's name.

Marion Hackworth, who lives in Dawson Creek, B.C., said the ceinture fléchée had been in her family for generations, and finally came to the attention of Métis officials during a cultural celebration in B.C. late last year.

Hackworth's late husband's great-grandmother was given the sash by Louis Riel himself a few months before he was arrested during the North West Rebellion in 1885 in what is now Saskatchewan, Hackworth told CBC News on Thursday.

"She had hidden him in her cellar during this uprising, and for hiding him, he gave her his sash," she said. "They just had it in a drawer or in a cupboard or whatever, a cedar chest, through the generations."

The sash will be on display at the St. Boniface Museum starting on Monday.

Museum director Phillippe Mailhot has seen the sash and said it is authentic.

"It's a wide sash. It's wider than the ones you usually see people wearing around Festival du Voyageur, and the age is right," he said, referring to Winnipeg's annual winter festival.

"It seems to be in excellent condition, which is quite surprising, so it was obviously well taken care of. Which again supports the tradition, because if you had Louis Riel's sash, you would probably take care of it."

Mailhot described the sash as "impressive."

"Here you have this sort of ultimate symbol of Louis's Métis background, Métis culture, and so to have that come to light after all these years, I think it's pretty significant," he said.

The sash is now in the possession of the Louis Riel Institute, but it will be handed over to the Manitoba Métis Federation at a special ceremony on Monday, Manitoba's first Louis Riel Day. 

Hackworth, who is not herself Métis, will travel to Winnipeg to attend the ceremony.

"I think it's going to be wonderful," she said. "I'm looking forward to it."