Additional Images

Provenance:

Private collection, Ontario

Note:

Design for Cree-Red River Indian Dollar was the exact work which was the basis of the engraving for a silver dollar, minted solely in 1978. Omitted in the Beardy design seen here is the Fort Garry gate, which was engraved on the left side of the composition on the final coin. Established in 1822, Fort Garry served as the administrative and judicial hub of the Red River Colony, and was an important Hudson’s Bay trading post. By the end of 1869, Louis Riel and his Métis followers had seized the fort in the Red River Rebellion. When the city of Winnipeg was established in 1873, the name ‘Fort Garry’ fell out of use, abetted by its demolition in 1884. Only the gate of the fort remains today.

The face of Beardy’s coin depicts Chief Gordon William Lathlin (1933-1976), who served as leader of The Pas Indian Band in the 1960s, in an area known today as Opaskwayak Cree Nation. Lathlin worked to expand the band’s financial base, opening several businesses and beginning the construction of a shopping mall on the reserve. After he stepped down in 1975, Lathlin consulted for several First Nation councils and Manitoba provincial departments.