While heading out to the 'burbs on Sunday, I came across a small military parade. It was members of the Sir Sam Steele Legion marching from their branch on Salter Street to St. John's park to lay wreaths at their memorial.
The padre said that the question he gets asked the most is "who is Sir Sam Steele ?"
Sir Samuel Benfield Steele, (January 5, 1849 - January 30, 1919), was connected with many major events in Canadian history, from the Fenian raids to the First World War. His actions as an officer of the North West Mounted Police, (forerunner to the RCMP), particularly during the Klondike Gold Rush, helped form the mythical image of the Canadian Mountie that persists to this day.
More about Steele and that image is here, or if you are more visually inclined, there is a Heritage Minute video!
Though he was born near Orillia, Ontario and died of influenza in London, England in 1919, Steele was considered a Westerner and was buried at St. John's cemetery in Winnipeg.
Here are some photos of the August 31, 2008 parade. (More can be found at my Flickr album of the event).
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