Plans are in the works to erect a tipi on the grounds at the Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach.
Executive Director Gary Dyck says it was Reid Bouvier, a Métis teacher at the SRSS, who brought the idea to the museum.
“And he’s good friends with Tipi Joe from Winnipeg area who is kind of a leading expert on building (tipis) and the history and the ceremony of it,” says Dyck. “So, he's going to be coming out and we're going to be opening it up to the public to come and join in, check it out, even just to watch it and learn from it. I think it's going to be a really special event.”
The plan is for Tipi Joe, along with Bouvier and his students, to work on the tipi next year, sometime in spring.
Dyck says this planned addition at the museum makes sense, considering the shared history between Mennonite settlers and Indigenous people.
“You know, growing up and in our history too, we've been, the best word I can maybe use is ‘ambivalent’ about our Indigenous neighbors, and the Métis, too. We have not cared enough. They've helped us when we first came a lot and we've been on their land. We have done very little to honor, to acknowledge that, to connect well. We've kind of kept the distance.”
Dyck says having a tipi at MHV is a step toward reconciliation.
“I think there's so much misunderstanding and so we want to help improve that,” he adds.
The tipi will go up next spring and it will be located near the pond, accessible to museum visitors and visible to travellers along Highway 12.