West Region
Welcome to St. Laurent, ain village de fières Michifs—a proud Métis community—located just under 60 kilometres north of Winnipeg, on the shores of Lake Manitoba. St. Laurent has the largest concentration of Métis people in North America! For a taste of authentic Métis culture, come to St. Laurent, where you are likely to run into someone who still speaks the traditional Michif language.
St. Laurent is also a popular summer destination for scores of vacationers and cottagers who flock to the community to enjoy the area’s sandy beaches along Lake Manitoba. St. Laurent is also home to Manipogo, a legendary sea serpent similar to the Loch Ness Monster and said to swim the waters of Lake Manitoba. Every March, the St. Laurent community celebrates Métis culture at the end of the fishing season with the Manipogo Festival, named after the famous sea monster!
The unique character of this Métis community was showcased in an exhibition on Aboriginal peoples presented in 2004 at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
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.
