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The suburb of St Boniface , a ten-minute walk east of the downtown area just across the Red River (or by bus #10 or #56 from Portage Ave), was a centre of early French-Canadian and Metis settlement. Founded by two French-Canadian Catholic priests in 1818, it retains something of its distinctive character and even today, 27 years after its incorporation into the city of Winnipeg, roughly 25 percent of its population speaks French as a first language. Walking tours of St Boniface run from June to August (Mon-Fri 10am, 1pm & 3pm; 1hr; free; tel 235-1406 or 945-1715). St Boniface's principal historic sights are situated beside the river, along avenue Tache. Walking south from the Provencher Bridge, the massive white-stone facade on the left is all that remains of St Boniface Cathedral , a huge neo-Romanesque structure built in 1908 and largely destroyed by fire in 1968. Its replacement, just behind, was designed with an interior in the style of a giant tepee. The large silver-domed building immediately to the east is the College Universitaire de Saint-Boniface , formerly a Jesuit college and now the French-speaking campus of the University of Manitoba. Here you'll see a controversial modern statue of Louis Riel that portrays him as naked and deformed. Its original location was on the grounds of the Legislative Building, but it caused such a storm of protest that it was removed to here in 1994. In front of the cathedral is the cemetery containing Riel's grave, whose modest tombstone gives little indication of the furore surrounding his execution in Regina on November 16, 1885. Only after three weeks did the authorities feel safe enough to move the body, which was then sent secretly by rail to St Boniface. The casket lay overnight in Riel's family home in the suburb of St Vital before its transfer to the cathedral, where a Requiem Mass was attended by most of the Metis population. That same evening, across the river, Riel's enemies burnt his effigy on a street corner, a symptom of a bitter divide that was to last well into the twentieth century. Le Musee de Saint-Boniface (June-Sept Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 10am-8pm; Oct-May Mon-Fri 9am-6pm; $2; guided tours available by reservation on tel 237-4500) is housed in an attractive whitewashed building across from the cathedral. The oldest building in Winnipeg and the largest squared-oak log building in North America, it was built between 1846 and 1851 as a convent for the Grey Nuns, a missionary order whose four-woman advance party had arrived by canoe from Montreal in 1844. Subsequently, the building was adapted for use as a hospital, a school and an orphanage. Inside, a series of cosy rooms are devoted to the Red River Colony, notably an intriguing collection of Metis memorabilia that includes colourful sashes - the most distinctive feature of Metis dress. You can also see the battered wooden casket used to transport Riel's body from Regina to St Boniface. There's also a lovely little chapel, whose papier-mache Virgin was made from an old newspaper that one of the original Grey Nuns found outside Upper Fort Garry when she walked across the frozen river to buy food.
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