Methye Portage - Missionary Activity

Missionary Activity

After 1847 when the first Oblates opened a mission in Ile a la Crosse a Catholic priest was usually present when the brigades arrived at the Portage. They were well received by the French Canadian Metis from Red River and by the Dene.
Father Petitot describes his reception in 1862. "We stayed at this mission, Father Grouard and myself until the departure of the Mackenzie brigade, that is twelve days. I took advantage of the time to raise a conical chapel which I covered with white covers and colored decorations. An altar surrounded in white cloth stood the whole time we were there. It was in this improvised little temple that I had the joy of singing High Mass on the Sunday after our arrival, and to celebrate the holy mysteries each day in front of more than three hundred and fifty people, both metis and Indian."

In July 1845 Louis Laferte dit Schmidt, who was born on December 4, 1844 at Old Fort near Fort Chipewyan, was baptised at the Portage by Father Jean-Baptiste Thibault. Another noted baptism at the Portage was Francois Beaulieu who was baptised in 1848 by Bishop Alexandre-Antonin Taché.