Lebret ( 2016 population: ) is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

within the Rural Municipality of North Qu'Appelle No. 187 and Census Division No. 6. The village is situated on

Mission Lake Mission Lake, also known as Lebret Lake, is a lake in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is one of four lakes in the Qu'Appelle Valley known as the Fishing Lakes. Echo Lake is upstream and Katepwa Lake is downstream. The lake was name ...

of the

Fishing Lakes The Fishing Lakes, also called the Calling Lakes or the Qu'Appelle Lakes, are a chain of four lakes in the Qu'Appelle Valley cottage country about to the north-east of Regina in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The lakes are in a regio ...

in the

Qu'Appelle Valley The Qu'Appelle River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba that flows east from Lake Diefenbaker in south-western Saskatchewan to join the Assiniboine River in Manitoba, just south of Lake of the Prairies, near t ...

. Lebret is located along Highway 56, about northeast of the City of Regina. The village was named after "the parish priest, Father Louis Lebret, who became the first postmaster of the community and, although he only held the position for a little more than six months, the office was named Lebret and the name became that of the community."http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/lebret.html David McLennan, "Lebret" in ''The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan''. Viewed 14 October 2012.

History

The site of Lebret first came to non-First Nations attention in 1814 when Abbé Provencher visited. A further such visit occurred when Abbé Picard from Pembina arrived in 1841 and wintered with John McDonald, previously of the North-West Company. "A Short History of Fort Qu'Appelle and Area," "Lebret." Viewed 14 October 2012. The next record of visit is of Bishop Taché passing through in 1864 enroute to Ile á la Crosse, returning with a party and staying in Fort Qu’Appelle. He chose the site which later became the village of Lebret for the Catholic mission, established the next year in 1866 (one of the earliest) in what became the Province of Saskatchewan in 1905. It "became the main centre of Catholicism for the Métis and First Nations people in the region and a base for Oblate priests who travelled the southern plains to points such as Wood Mountain and the Cypress Hills." The federal government financed the Qu'Appelle Indian Residential School in Lebret. which started in 1884 and run by the

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest later recognized as a Catholic saint. The congregation wa ...

. The first post office was opened in 1886, named Lebret which was given to the community. The Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions arrived in 1899 and founded Saint Gabriel's Convent in 1906. Lebret incorporated as a village on October 14, 1912. The fieldstone Sacred Heart Church built in 1925. Churchgoing vastly waned among the Baby-Boom Generation to all but fundamentalist denominations beginning in the mid-1960s but full-house concerts were held in Sacred Heart Church by choirs of the nearby Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts in Fort San. This ceased when the Summer School closed in 1991 due to lack of funding. Lxx0044 Lebret stations on the hill

In 1929 the landmark stations of the cross and the small chapel shrine on the hill overlooking Lebret were erected. Until the latter half of the 20th century Lebret was an important religious and educational centre. In addition to the residential school and the convent, there was a public school, and the Oblates established a theological training centre, Sacred Heart Scholasticate, on the south side of Mission Lake. The scholasticate closed in the 1960s, the convent in the 1970s and the public school in 1980, its pupils transferring to Fort Qu’Appelle. The residential school was signed over to a First Nations school board in October 1973, at a ceremony presided over by the then Minister of Indian Affairs,

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a retired Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. He served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, leader of t ...

. The school, which eventually became known as White Calf Collegiate, closed in 1998. It is still stated, though with its continuing relevance not dwelled upon, that "French Canadians continued to supplement the Métis in the Qu’Appelle Valley" and that " e mission at Lebret was established in 1866. Lebret is well known for the "Garbage House" Made famous by Adam Opdahl" Today, Lebret remains a picturesque, yet very quiet, community with Fort Qu'Appelle now relatively unique in retaining its vitality and even sometimes increasing in population while other towns once of equal significance and size steadily dwindle in population and economic activity.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Lebret had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In the 2016 Census of Population, the Village of Lebret recorded a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

Economy

At various times during the village's history, there were numerous businesses including a

gas station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

, diner, grain elevator, pawn shop, ice cream store, and

hardware store Hardware stores (in a number of countries, "shops"), sometimes known as DIY stores, sell household hardware for home improvement including: fasteners, building materials, hand tools, power tools, keys, locks, hinges, chains, plumbing ...

.Population and Dwelling Counts, for Canada and Census Subdivisions (Municipalities), 2001 and 1996 Censuses - 100% Data
/ref>

Image gallery

Image:Stationslebretkjfmartin.jpg, The stations of the cross north of the village, across the highway Image:Lxx1255 Boating, bathing and fishing, Como Park, Lebret.jpg, Como Park, now part of the resort village of Sandy Beach on Katepwa Lake, about five miles southeast of Lebret File:Quappelle-indian-school-sask.jpg, Qu'Appelle Industrial School in 1885. Parents camped outside the gate in order to visit their children. Destroyed by fire in 1904. Image:Lxx1200 The Mission, Lebret.jpg, This Qu'Appelle Industrial School built in 1905 replaced the one destroyed by fire the previous year. It, too, burned in 1932. Image:Lxx1202 Qu'Appelle Industrial School 1907.jpg, Qu'Appelle Industrial School was built in 1905 to replace one destroyed by fire the previous year. It, too, burned in 1932.

References

External links