New exhibition at The Confluence highlights Fort Calgary’s legacy 150 years later

An exhibit at The Confluence on the arrival of the North-West Mounted Police 150 years ago also provides an Indigenous perspective on that time.

The Confluence Historic Site & Parkland is reflecting on Fort Calgary’s legacy as part of a new exhibit.

It’s been 150 years since the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) first arrived at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers in southern Alberta and established Fort Calgary, back in 1875.

President Jennifer Thompson says the event series will tell stories from all of the inhabitants in the region.

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“This is about looking at the colonization from indigenous perspectives and taking a much broader view of what happened here,” she said. “We’ve aligned with kicking off the day on Sept. 30, that is our National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, and this is about truthful stories, telling a broader perspective and honoring indigenous peoples who are majorly impact by the coming of the North-West Mounted Police.”

The newly renovated space at The Confluence now hosts an exhibit from by historian and adjunct curator Kay Burns, called Unfamiliar Perspectives: The NWMP and Canada’s Colonial Project.

It displays archival documents and real writings from NWMP officers that reveal insights into the culture and complex histories during their occupation.

“This was a prison system,” Thompson said. “There was a lot of records about prisoners and who was held here. The Mounties actually did enforce residential schools and we do have records of children being held in the prisons here at Fort Calgary.”

“We have tried to dig deeper into who were those children, where did they come from, where did they go after their time here -- and some of those records are really hard to find.”

Thompson says the team has been working closely with the University of Calgary and the Glenbow Museum to find out more.

“One thing that we have heard for a number of years is just how there has been Indigenous voices missing from the story of the establishment of Fort Calgary and the impact of the North-West Mounted Police,” she said. “So, we really wanted to make sure that part of the story -- both before the Mounties got here and during and after the Mounties got here -- we wanted to make sure that was part of the full picture and the full perspective of the 150th anniversary.”

The Confluence has a variety of public events organized through until the end of October, including a Circle Camp and symposium.

“We have collected a number of storytellers and keynote speakers who will be coming together for a symposium to explore all of the different perspectives when we’re talking about colonization, the establishment of Fort Calgary and even law enforcement,” Thompson said.

“The 150th is as much about the past as it is about the future,” she added. “We’ve talked a lot about what will the city look like in another 150 years, what will we be talking about then when we’re reflecting on this moment in time.”