St. François Xavier is an unincorporated urban centre located in the Rural Municipality of St. François Xavier,

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, Canada. It is located about 15 km west of the city of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

on the

Assiniboine River The Assiniboine River ( ; ) is a long river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River. The Assiniboine is a typical meandering river with a single main channel embanked ...

. Settled around 1824 as Grantown, it is the second oldest settlement in Manitoba.

History

The area of current-day St. François Xavier, commonly known as White Horse Plains (''La Prairie du Cheval Blanc''), was home to several distinct

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

, such as the

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

and the Dakota. The lands in the area supported numerous buffalo and other game animals. Around 1824, Cuthbert Grant, who had recently led the

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

in the Battle of Seven Oaks, arrived in the area and was soon joined by many Métis families. The settlement was thereby founded, and named ''Grantown'' after Grant. The

have since had a noticeable role in the municipality and throughout the province. In 1851, Father Louis-François Richer Laflèche accompanied the

Métis buffalo hunt The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They hav ...

ers from the Parish of St. François Xavier on one of their annual hunts on the

prairies Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

. The hunting group, led by Jean Baptiste Falcon, son of Pierre Falcon (a Métis songwriter), was made up of 67 men, a number of women who came to prepare the meat, some small children and 200 carts. In

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

they encountered a band of

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

. Laflèche dressed only in a black

cassock The cassock, or soutane, is a Christian clerical clothing, clerical coat used by the clergy and Consecrated life, male religious of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, in addition to some clergy in ...

, white

surplice A surplice (; Late Latin ''superpelliceum'', from ''super'', "over" and ''pellicia'', "fur garment") is a liturgical vestment of Western Christianity. The surplice is in the form of a tunic of white linen or cotton fabric, reaching to the kn ...

, and stole, directed with the camp commander Jean Baptiste Falcon a miraculous defence against 2,000 Sioux combatants, using a

crucifix A crucifix (from the Latin meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the (Latin for 'body'). The cru ...

at the Battle of Grand Coteau in North Dakota. After a siege of two days (July 13 and 14), the Sioux withdrew, convinced that the

Great Spirit The Great Spirit is an omnipresent supreme life force, generally conceptualized as a supreme being or god, in the traditional religious beliefs of many, but not all, indigenous cultures in Canada and the United States. Interpretations of it v ...

protected the Métis. The St. François-Xavier post office was opened in 1871 and closed in 1975.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population 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 ...

, St. Francois Xavier had a population of 845 living in 272 of its 278 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 662. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Notable people

Notable people buried at the St. Francois Xavier Roman Catholic Church and Cemetery include: * Cuthbert Grant * Patrice Breland * Pascal Breland * Pierre Falcon * Bruce Hardy

References

* ''Geographic Names of Manitoba'' (pg. 238) - the Millennium Bureau of Canada

External links

RM of St. François Xavier (Official website)
{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Francois Xavier, Manitoba Saint Francois Xavier Unincorporated urban communities in Manitoba Unincorporated communities in Central Plains Region, Manitoba

History

Demographics

Notable people

See also

References

External links