Cree win Fort Battleford battle

Cree win war of words over ‘siege’ of Fort Battleford 125 years ago

By Bob WeberThe Cree have finally won the “siege” of Fort Battleford–125 years after the battle was fought.

Parks Canada has agreed to stop using the word “siege” in its posters and programming to describe the sometimes violent, sometimes tragic events at the frontier community during the Northwest Rebellion. An aboriginal historian had pointed out that while settlers gathered in the fort in fear, no attack ever came and there was no siege.

“We don't want to use any wordings that could give people the wrong idea,” said Mark Calette, Parks Canada's supervisor of historic sites in southern Saskatchewan.

For years, Parks Canada has re-enacted the fort's role in the Northwest Rebellion and advertised the confrontation on posters and other material as the “Siege of Fort Battleford.”Comment:  For more on the subject, see Siege Re-Enactment Is Unfair.