Photo: Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site Selkirk Manitoba

Two costumed interpreters, recreate what life would have been like at the time that Lower Fort Garry was a working fort. This is now a National Historic Site and popular tourist attraction located in the town of Selkirk in Manitoba.

This fort was built by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1831 on the banks of the Red River, which was a new location, about 20 miles west of the original Fort Garry, which is now located in the modern city of Winnipeg in Manitoba. It is actually the oldest stone fort that is still intact in the whole of North America and played a key role in Canadian history, as treaty number one was signed here.

This treaty was signed on August 3, 1871, and was the first treaty in Western Canada which was formed between the Crown and the seven Ojibway tribe and Swampy Cree First Nations chiefs. This treaty transferred land from the Crown back to the First Nations tribes that now forms part of modern-day Manitoba. However, almost completely after the treaty was signed, the two sides disagreed on it and the treaty failed.

Parks Canada now operates this fort and it is a National Historic Site; visitors can come and visit and watch 'actors' perform the daily duties of a working 19th century trading fort. These buildings are the largest group of original fur trading buildings in the whole of Canada.

Costumed interpreters pulling a Red River cart with a teepee in the background at the Aboriginal Encampment of Lower Fort Garry - a National Historic Site, Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada.