From the Smoky Lake Signal, Sept 2, 1981

Dedicating and Commemorating at Pakan

    This August 29 was a special day in the history of Pakan. The clerk's residence at Fort Victoria Settlement was dedicated and a special commorative plaque to George Millward McDougall was unveiled at the site.
    A crowd of over 200 listened to the speeches and watched as Solicitor General Graham Harle and local M.L.A. George Toplonisky cut the ribbon on the restored building.
    Smoky Lake Mayor Ernie Brousseau welcomed the group and Dr. Jaroslau Petryshyn, Alberta Member of Historical Sites and Monuments Board of Canada gave some historical background on the area that the people who made it famous.
    M.L.A. George Topolnisky having been born and raised 2 miles south of the spot remembered crossing on the ferry to pick up mail and then later passing through Pakan to go to high school in Smoky Lake. He noted the 1967 Canoe Pageant that stopped there, the discontinuation of the ferry in 1972, the Smoky Lake Heritage Days Program that was there in 1975 and the School Home Coming on the site in 1980.
    Mr. Topolnisky hoped that the government would continue to develop the area. He suggested using the crown owned land across the river as a recreation site, and bringing back the ferry to run as a tourist attraction between the two areas.
    Solicitor General Graham Harle took the place of Minister of Culture, Mary Les Messurier, whose mother died earlier in the week. Mr. Harle thought that of all the ministers that could be substituted to attend he was the most appropriate because as Solicitor General for the province it was his prisoners who did most of the work on the site.
    They were minimum security prisoners, some of them blew it and walked away from the site, said the solicitor. But most appreciated the chance to work. The unveiling of the plaque to honour George McDougall was done by the Regional Director for Parks Canada, William Turnbull and the great, great grandson of George McDougall, Dr. G.M. McDougall, a doctor now practicing in Calgary. He and his family are still active members of the United Church, and participate in the upkeep of the other monuments to the McDougall's, the little church on the Morley Indian Reserve. It was that area, near Calgary, while serving the Stony Indians that his great, great grandfather George Millward McDougall died in a blizzard.

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