The village of St.
Lazare, Manitoba is the hometown of Calgary Hitmen forward and
assistant captain Brodie
Dupont. St. Lazare is a friendly, tight-knit community with a
population
of “only about 300 people”. The town is located “on the border of
Manitoba and Saskatchewan, in western Manitoba.”
St. Lazare is “about a 10 hour drive (from Calgary)” and the nearest
large city is Brandon, Manitoba which is “about an hour and a half
drive” away (click
here for a map). The climate in St. Lazare is much like that of
the rest of the prairies, being “really hot in the summer” and “really
cold in the winter.”
Brodie has close
ties with the community of St. Lazare since “about half” of his
extended family lives there, and his “dad (Martin Dupont) is the
mayor of (the) town.” When Brodie is away from his hometown he
misses his “friends and family” the most. Growing up in St. Lazare
Brodie and the other kids spent much of their free time “rid(ing)
(their) bikes, play(ing) town tag, (and) play(ing) hide and go
seek.” These days when he visits St. Lazare, Brodie’s favourite
things to do are “play hockey and golf”.
St.
Lazare is a small place, but there are still many interesting things
to see and do around the town. Some events in and around St. Lazare
include The Ride for Hope, Pioneer Days, and the Winter Carnival.
Brodie suggests that a tourist visiting St. Lazare “go see the two
rivers that connect and go see our fort where they used to exchange
fur.” The two rivers are the Assiniboine River and the Qu’Appelle
River which intersect about 10km southeast of St.
Lazare. The point where the two river valleys meet
provides a
beautiful,
scenic view and is also the location of a park named the Parc de
la Petite Fourche. The park is an ideal setting for picnics and
barbeques, and is also a great site for fishing and canoeing along
the river. Also located near the junction of the rivers is the Fort
Ellice site. Fort Ellice was a Hudson’s Bay Company post which was
founded in 1831. The fort later became a Northwest Mounted Police
post, and was in use until 1890. Not very much of the fort’s
structure is left today, but the site remains a fascinating
historical landmark.
For those who enjoy
nature and the outdoors the region around St. Lazare is a fantastic
place to visit. The area between St. Lazare and the Saskatchewan
border is one of Manitoba’s largest intact native prairie
landscapes. As a result this area is a “biodiversity hotspot”,
meaning that it is home to numerous plant and animal species that
are rare in the rest of Manitoba and Canada due to habitat
destruction (Hamel and Reimer, 2003). The scenery and wildlife
around St. Lazare and the Assiniboine and Qu’Appelle river valleys
can be easily enjoyed as the area features over 80km of summer
hiking and bicycling paths, and over 160km of snowmobile trails in
the winter.
Brodie Dupont’s
hometown of St. Lazare, Manitoba is a small, friendly community that
is a great place to grow up, and which boasts various natural and
historical attractions.
Thank-you for
reading about Brodie Dupont’s hometown! Also, a big thanks to
Brodie for taking the time to tell us about his hometown and to the
Province of Manitoba and
Canada's Digital
Collections Program for information and photos used in this article. Some
of the information and pictures in this article are also courtesy
of:
Hamel, C. and
Reimer, E. 2004. The St. Lazare area of Manitoba: A Biodiversity
Hotspot. Blue Jay 62: 203-210. The full article is available
online from the Manitoba Conservation Data Centre
here.
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