From the Smoky Lake Signal, March 27, 2002. Volume 24, Number 45

Local Historian Pauline Feniak explained National Historic Sites designation to County Council

Pauline Feniak met with Smoky Lake County Council March 22, to outline what designation of Victoria Settlement as a National Historic Site of Canada will mean to the area.

Mrs. Feniak, who is chairman of the master plan committee for the Victoria Home Guard Society that applied for the designation two and a half years ago, said she came on her own. The society will later have its own presentation. 

National designation carries an important significance, said Mrs. Feniak. We all know that the Victoria Settlement is a provincial historic site, one of the first three named in the province in 1961. The settlement, with its two buildings and graveyard, represent the mission and fur trade era. But in her research Mrs. Feniak said she discovered more about the Cree nation, which first settled the area. There are archaeological sites here that are over 6,000 years old.

When George McDougall set up his mission, went to the Red River colony in what has become Manitoba to bring back Metis settlers. It was their riverlots and the grid lots of the Ukrainian settlers that came in 1899 has been designated as the historic region. The dynamics of the settlement of the various cultures is still visible on the land and is the key to the designation.

It is a great honour for the county to have land within its boundaries declared as a national historic site, said Mrs. Feniak. It is, in terms of size, the largest historic site in Canada. "You should be aware of you are now custodians of an important part of Canadian history."

The site that has been designated includes Victoria Settlement, the river lots, Lobstick Settlement, and part of the Ukrainian settlement to the north of Fort Victoria. The designation extends to the middle of the roadway in the Lobstick Settlement area to protect the treeline.

Sheila Copps, Canadian Minister of Heritage wrote Mrs. Feniak and the Home Guard to say that Historic Sites and Monument Board of Canada met in June of 2001 to consider the historic significance and the designation, and after additional information was provided has made their decision to approve the request. The timing of a plaque unveiling ceremony has not yet been decided. It will likely be next year, said Mrs. Feniak.

Victoria Settlement is one of nine areas to be designated this year, but there is no budget for the plaque until next year.

Councillor Cholak congratulated Mrs. Feniak for the work she has done and noted that when she asked for a letter of support from the county it was forthcoming. 

Waskatenau area Councillor Cory Ollikka suggested the administration should get in touch with Historic Sites to find out how the designation will affect the area. He's been getting a lot of calls about the Victoria Trail. How should it be safeguarded? As a municipality, we don't want to do anything that would be a problem to the national designation. There are landowners who want to do brushing. How far west does the designation extend?

Mrs. Feniak said that it is not just a matter of Historic Sites designation starts and stops the trail itself has been previously designated a national historic monument, and where it looks like a trail is the best example of what the trail originally looked like. It should not be touched. It is a question of preserving it.

Councillor Ollikka agreed. But there are practical issues. It is the one chunk of trail that he gets more calls over than the rest of the roads in his division. We should know how the designation will affect it.

Any changes should be included in the county's Municipal Development Plan, part of the land use bylaw that is being rewritten this year.

County Planner Bill Dolman will get more information from the federal representatives.

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