In the fall of 2019, a group of St. Adolphe residents realised that there was some great potential to create a beautiful trail along the Red River in their town. The Friendship Trail, as they named it, has since become a welcoming spot of tranquillity for all who visit.
Throughout 2022, the trail became even more memorable.
The St. Adolphe Friendship Trail Volunteer Group (FTVG), which maintains the site all year round, consists of five local senior citizens: Henriette and Richard Collette, Diane Delorme, Bill Gibson, and Gerry Lagasse.
In 2022, the group sought help from Shane Ray and Liam Harder, recreational directors for the RM of Ritchot. With their aid, the group was able to secure a $2,000 grant from The David Suzuki Foundation (DSF) Healing Forest Initiative.
The Healing Forest Initiative was founded by Saulteaux Cree lawyer Patricia Stirbys and geologist and international development consultant Peter Croal in the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report. The pair didn’t have a specific plan for the forests, but they asked only that they be, according to their website, “a quiet green space dedicated to the spirit of reconciliation.”
The Friendship Trail is now one of 16 Healing Forests being sponsored by the DSF.
On September 30, the Friendship Trail played host to a Truth and Reconciliation Day gathering in honour of residential school survivors. Approximately 400 people visited the trail that day.
“We had a Red River cart on display built by Armand and Kelly Jerome,” says Gerry Lagasse. “We also had two wood carvers, Marc and Richard Collette, [and] two elders from the Manitoba Métis explaining the history of the Métis fur traders that travelled from the Hudson Bay to St. Paul, Minnesota along the Red River with their valuable fur pelts.”
In early December, the St. Adolphe Manitoba Metis Local, whose chairperson is Paul Lagasse, sponsored the purchase of three Christmas trees from the Lacoste Garden Centre.
The day after Christmas, the Friendship Trail group heard from Lacoste Garden Centre again, letting them know that the store had more than 35 Christmas trees left over from the holiday season—and they wanted to donate them to the trail.
The FTVG then received help from local resident Brock Gibson and his son Mack, who used their large snowmobile trailer to pick up the donated trees.
“One of the main reasons we wanted three Christmas trees at the beginning of December is that the volunteer group wanted to involve the St. Adolphe Daycare children to participate with a Christmas project. We brought about 100 wooden pucks for them to decorate and then brought them to hang on the three Christmas trees.”
The volunteer group now invites everyone to visit the trail and take a peaceful walk in the beautiful, healing woods.
“The trail offers physical, mental, and spiritual healing for all of us to enjoy,” adds Lagasse.