Roman Catholic priests first visited the Saulteaux and Métis at this fishing site in 1826. By the 1840s, it became one stop on a circuit known as the Lake Manitoba Mission, which included Duck Bay and Manitoba House. In the 1850s, the community grew with the arrival of Métis seeking land and free-traders using the Lake Manitoba route to the northwest.
In 1864, Father Laurent Simonet OMI because the first resident priest here. The mission, renamed St. Laurent, became a well-established parish, with a church, school, and an Oblate novitiate. Until the early 20th century, St. Laurent remained the base for the itinerant missions around Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipegosis, including Duck Bay, Swan Lake, Ebb and Flow, Crane River, Waterhen River, and Shoal River.
A church building, erected in 1963, replaced an earlier structure on the site. A bell in front of the church was cast in 1898. A monument commemorating those who died in the First World War, Second World War, and Korean War stands nearby. The St. Laurent Cemetery is situated behind the church.
St. Laurent Roman Catholic Church (October 2021)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Bell at the St. Laurent Roman Catholic Church (July 2010)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
St. Laurent war memorial (August 2021)
Source: George PennerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.40969, W97.93700
denoted by symbol on the map above
We thank Rose Kuzina and George Penner for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 29 September 2022
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