West Region
Before the founding of St. Léon in 1879, the Pembina Hills region was largely the domain of Aboriginals, French trappers and the Métis, who called the area prairie ronde (round prairie) because of its rolling hills.
Beginning in 1877, many settlers came to the area from Quebec and Ontario. It is believed that Bishop Taché chose to name the new parish Saint-Léon in honour of the pontiff at that time, Pope Leo XIII.
The landscape of this “round prairie” has undergone some major changes since then. Today, St. Léon is the site of a major wind farm, Manitoba’s first!
St. Léon is also known for its annual salamander migration when the little creatures scurry across Main Street by the hundreds during the hot, humid summer days at the end of August. You can learn more about wind energy and salamanders at the St. Léon Interpretation Centre.
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.
