This site in the Whiteshell Provincial Park was used during the 1930s to accommodate workers that built a road from Rennie to Green Lake for use in fighting forest fires. From October 1940 to June 1941, it was used by about 30 people (boys, teachers, caretakers, a cook, and a cleric) from the Manitoba Home for Boys who had been displaced by military personnel from their facility at Portage la Prairie. In the spring of 1941, a Union Jack flag and the phrase “Freedom Forever” was painted on a rock by a teacher and some of the boys. A nearby road became known as Flag Road and a wayside park at the location of the former work camp is referred to locally as Flag of Freedom Wayside Park.
By the 1970s, the flag had faded and was mostly overgrown. It has been repainted by a local cottager who was concerned by the loss of history.
Flag Rock (May 2020)
Source: Elise WatchornSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.05617, W95.45050
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Industrial Training School / Manitoba Home for Boys / Agassiz Youth Centre (Crescent Road East, Portage la Prairie)
Whiteshell Cottagers Association, Facebook.
This page was prepared by Elise Watchorn and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 22 May 2021
Historic Sites of Manitoba
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