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Diane Paulette Payment
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Historian.
Born on 17 August 1945, daughter of Anne-Marie Lapointe (1907-1984) and Ulysse Leo Payment (1907-1951), her childhood was spent in the St. Vital area of Winnipeg. She studied at St. Boniface College and received a BEd degree from the University of Manitoba. She taught History at Louis Riel Collegiate (1967-1973) then pursued postgraduate studies at the University of Ottawa, writing a thesis entitled “The Metis of Western Canada“ and receiving an MA degree in History in 1975.
She spent thirty years working as an historian for the Parks Canada Agency, specializing in the history of women, Métis, and the Francophones of western and northern Canada. The restoration of national historic sites and interpretive programs at Riel House and Batoche (Saskatchewan) were based on her research. She conducted oral interviews with Inuit people in Pangnirtung and Qikiqtarjuaq (Broughton Island). For her contributions, she received a Certificate of Merit in Regional History from the Canadian Historical Association.
In 1994, she married Roxroy West (1952-2023). They had no children. She was a member of the Union Nationale Métisse, La Société historique de Saint-Boniface (President, 1979-1980), Manitoba Heritage Council (2000-2013), and Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (2019-2024).
She died at her Winnipeg home on 25 January 2026.
Her articles for the Manitoba Historical Society:
Review: Three Views of Riel
Manitoba History, Number 1, 1981Review: Ken and Victoria Zeilig, Ste. Madeleine: Community Without a Town; Métis Elders in Interview
Manitoba History, Number 17, Spring 1989Review: D. N. Sprague, Canada and the Métis, 1869-1885
Manitoba History, Number 19, Spring 1990Review: Michael Barnholden, Gabriel Dumont Speaks
Manitoba History, Number 26, Autumn 1993“Dollee” Chevrier (1878-1948): A Franco-Manitoban Suffragette and “Modern” Woman
Manitoba History, Number 44, Autumn/Winter 2002-2003Review: Jennifer Reid, Louis Riel and the Creation of Modern Canada: Mythic Discourse and the Postcolonial State
Manitoba History, Number 64, Fall 2010Review: Doris Jeanne Mackinnon, The Identities of Marie Rose Delorme Smith: Portrait of a Metis Woman, 1861-1960
Manitoba History, Number 74, Winter 2014
The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada
“Appointed members,” The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada [Internet Archive, 17 March 2023]
Obituary [Roxroy West], Winnipeg Free Press, 23 December 2023.
Obituary, Adam's Funeral Home.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 21 February 2026.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 21 February 2026
