Manitoba Heritage Council Commemorative Plaques

Chief Peguis

Chief of the Saulteaux Indians, Peguis led his people in the 1790s from Sault Ste. Marie to settle on the banks of Netley Creek, south of Lake Winnipeg.

A friend and benefactor of the Selkirk Settlers, Chief Pequis supported the Hudson's Bay Company in its bitter rivalry with the North West Company. In 1817 he signed a treaty with Lord Selkirk ceding lands along the Red and Assiniboine rivers for settlement. In association with the Reverend William Cockran he helped to establish an agricultural settlement among the Saulteaux at St. Peter's, Dynevor—the first Anglican mission of its kind in the West.

For thirty years Chief Peguis was spokesman for his people against the misuse of Indian lands and was an ardent defender of Native rights until his death in 1864.