Manitoba Heritage Council Commemorative Plaques

Pierre Falcon (1793 - 1876)

One of Manitoba's earliest song writers, Pierre Falcon was born of French Canadian and Cree parentage in the Swan River Department of the North West Company. He was employed in turn by the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1825, Falcon was one of the first settlers of Cuthbert Grant's village of Grantown, later St. François-Xavier. A much respected member of the local Métis population, he served as magistrate there for many years.

Falcon was best known for such entertaining ballads as "Chanson de la Grenouillére" which expressed Métis national feelings while humorously depicting local and political events that affected their lives. Transmitted orally through family gatherings and by voyageurs in their travels, only a few of his many songs have survived.