East Region
As was typically the case elsewhere along the Red River Valley, the area around St. Jean Baptiste was settled in the early 1870s by Métis families from St. Norbert. At that time, it was called “Mission Rivière aux Prunes” because of the abundance of wild plums growing along the river banks. When they were joined by twenty families from Quebec and the Eastern U.S., Bishop Taché decided to establish a new parish, naming it St. Jean Baptiste in honour of the patron saint of French-Canadians.
The land around St. Jean Baptiste is among the most fertile in the Red River Valley. A variety of seeds and specialty crops (including soup peas) are farmed in the region,.
The Montcalm Theatre has been very active in the community for the past twenty years. Each year in March, the company presents a play that draws local audiences as well as those from Winnipeg and beyond.
St. Jean Baptiste is also home to the province’s oldest remaining rural convent, the former convent of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, established in 1897-1898.
A visit to Manitoba means travelling through Treaty 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 territory and communities signatory to Treaties 6 and 10, the original lands of the Anishinaabeg, Anish-Ininiwak, Dakota, Dené, Iiniwak, and Nehethowuk and the homeland of the Métis Nation. Its ongoing existence is thanks to these ancestors and their present day relatives who continue to love and care for the land.
