The founder of the community of Lac St. Anne was a Métis
hunter, Gabriel Dumont, son of Jean-Baptiste Dumont, a
French-Canadian fur trade voyageur with the North West Company (NWC).1
After the consolidation of the two companies, Dumont was
fortunate to find permanent work with the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC)
in the area around Fort Edmonton. His three sons were not so
lucky and took up buffalo hunting on the Prairies to make a
living.
Due to the danger of possible attacks by Aboriginals, it was
necessary to travel in large groups. Gabriel Dumont travelled
with approximately 200 followers. He had chosen to settle near a
lake northwest of Fort Edmonton, which was known to the Cree as
Manito Sakahigan, which translates into Spirit Lake, but
certain Caucasians translated it as Devil’s Lake.2
When Abbé Jean-Baptiste Thibault established the mission in
1844, he renamed it Lac St. Anne, in honour of his holy patron.
The idea behind establishing a mission at the lake was to
isolate the Métis from the Caucasians at Fort Edmonton, as the
clergy considered the latter to be a bad influence. The Grey
Nuns arrived in 1859 to assist the Oblates, but the mission was
too isolated and the marshy and wooded conditions were
susceptible to early frosts. As a result, a new mission was
established at St. Albert in 1860. The old mission at Lac St.
Anne continued on, but with less ambitious plans than at its
outset.
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