Fort Dufferin Memorial
History of the Site
From 1872 to 1874, Fort Dufferin was the headquarters and winter home to the British-Canadian contingent of the International Boundary Commission. In mid-1874, a contingent of the newly-formed North West Mounted Police (later the Royal Canadian Mounted Police), assembled here prior to its march into what is now Alberta.
It was at Fort Dufferin where Mennonites organized themselves, confirming their church leader, the Aeltester (Bishop) Johann Wiebe, and appointing а settlement director (Obervorsteher), Isaak Mueller.
In 2015, the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society, Boundary Trail Heritage Region, and Post Road Heritage Group erected a monument at Fort Dufferin. It commemorates more than 18,600 European and eastern Canadian (including Mennonite) immigrants who came to Manitoba aboard Red River steamboats in the period between 1875 and 1879.
One of the buildings that once sat at the site still exists. A monument at the entrance to this site, near Emerson in the Municipality of Emerson-Franklin, bears two plaques. One plaque, erected in 1997 by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, describes the westward march of the North West Mounted Police. The other plaque commemorates two constables in the force, W. C. Brown and A. McIntosh, who died in 1874 at Fort Dufferin and are buried in unmarked graves near the site.
Project Details
Project completed by the MMHS, Boundary Trail Heritage Region, and Post Road Heritage Group.
About the Society
We seek to foster an understanding of and respect for the history and beliefs of the Mennonite people in the past and present, and to challenge them to give new expression to this heritage in the future.
Become a Member
Help document and celebrate the Mennonite story, ensuring our history is passed on to future generations.