Red River carts a big part of Metis past
More than two decades ago, someone asked George Fayant and his brother if they knew of anyone who could build a Red River cart. They didn’t, and apparently no one else did either.
As carpenters and Métis men from the Qu’appelle Valley, the brothers looked at each other and decided they would try to build one of the iconic carts themselves.
They began at the RCMP Heritage Centre, where there was a Red River cart on display. The museum gave them permission to take measurements and make drawings of the cart, and from those numbers and diagrams they built their first Red River cart.
At the time, Fayant had no idea that one project would lead to him building dozens of Red River carts and sharing the history and cultural significance of the tool with people across the province.
After the first cart was completed, Fayant said people kept asking him to build more, so he did. Once word started to circulate he was building Red River carts, he began getting requests to come and talk about them.
“I don’t know when it started, ‘Hey can you do a presentation? Can you come talk about it?’ And oh my gosh, 20 years ago I never would have done this. I would have never stood up here and talked about it,” he said.
But because of his passion for woodworking and Métis culture, he kept making more carts and giving more presentations. He has now built full-scale, half-scale, one quarter scale and one sixteenth scale carts.
“I just find it very intriguing how ingenious our ancestors were. You know, there was a problem to move stuff back and forth and this is what they came up with,” he said, noting that the carts played a significant role in growing the Métis economy across Canada and the Northern U.S.
“This was a big part of how it all started I guess, so I just don’t want people to forget that.”
On Saturday at the Regina Public Library’s central branch, Fayant gave another presentation as part of the library’s celebration of Louis Riel’s 175th birthday.
The squeak of wooden wheels broke the library’s usual silence as Fayant pushed a half-scale Red River cart across the carpet in a demonstration for around a dozen people watching with great interest. He also showed how the cart’s pieces were assembled and talked about its history.
Traditional Red River carts were typically pulled by oxen and built purely out of wood, with “no nails, no glue, no screws,” said Fayant. The Métis used oxen because they could pull a heavier load than horses since a typical load weighed around 900 pounds (410 kilograms).
Especially in light of this October marking Riel’s 175th birthday, Fayant was pleased to be able to teach people about a large part of Métis history. He said he’s happy to see Riel being celebrated on a day other than Nov. 16.
“It always bothered me that that was the day we would remember Riel. That’s the day they executed him,” said Fayant. “To pick Louis Riel’s birthday as a day of celebration ... I think is very important.”