Fort Walsh National Historic Site — Attraction in Saskatchewan

What an historic place I had no idea about which I don't recall learning in school. See the brief history below.

There is a visitor's centre at the top of the hill. If you have reduced mobility, or if it is a hot day like I went when it was 32 degrees, I recommend requesting the free shuttle that takes you up and down the hill between the fort and the centre.

As for a critique, there are Deaf accessibility signs, but there was no infrastructure in place to support audio assistance, nor was the opening video at the centre captioned for Deaf and hard-of-hearing persons. That's a major oversight, especially if they have signs for accessibility and cannot deliver on what's posted.

// A brief history: This all started with an American massacre on the local First Nations people. [There is not much info about the massacre itself, so you'll have to ask the guides. The number killed ranges from 26 to 400 First Nations people.]

Then the Canadian government came in to rush the North West Mounted Police (name reflects the North West Territories until 1905 when Alberta was established) bill to establish the national police force and have its headquarters at this newly built Fort Walsh. The musical ride was also established here. Fort Walsh was also one of the places where Treaty 6 was signed.

Unfortunately, part of Canada's dark history includes Sir John A. MacDonald who pushed out the American Indigenous Peoples who gathered here, which then rendered the demise of the fort. The RCMP headquarters moved to Regina, and the town systematically moved to Maple Creek, SK where the railway was built. What remains of the fort we see today is mostly rebuilt, although some original elements are still there, either as artifacts brought back, or...

I visited Fort Walsh in early August of 2020. I found it a little difficult to find the fort using Google maps as there is no cell service closer to the fort. Also once there I felt that the fort could use better sign posts especially at the site of the massacre. Other than that I have to say what an absolutely BRILLIANT experience I had here which was highlighted by two extremely knowledgeable curators: Clint, and Omar. These two gentleman are quite literally walking encyclopedias of the fort and the Indigenous bands that were a part of the area. I learned great deal about Treaty Six, about the different bands, what they ate, where they traveled, who the settlers were, what "wolfers" were, what they did, and also whiskey smugglers, and of course the history of the fort and the North West Mounted Police. I would sincerely like to thank Omar for taking me to the site of the massacre and explaining in detail about the events that caused.It was honestly like stepping back in time. Not only did he take me there, after I couldn't find the area of the massacre, he also drove me back to the main entrance during a rainstorm half an hour after the fort had closed, and his shift was over. Who does that? Thanks to Clint I found out that Sitting Bull took refuge here after the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Thank you for making this an incredible experience guys you both truly went above and beyond any expectations, and during the height of the Covid pandemic.

Warm regards, and a massive...

Little dissapointed from yesterday's visit.

You couldn't go to the fort unless you were part of the tour because of Staff shortages. But there were a handful of staff around so I'm still confused by that. If you had enough staff to give tours, why can't you explore the fort on your own since it's self contained and not very busy (at the time we were there). And when I've gone in the past, you weren't followed through the buildings and monitored so it all seemed confusing. If you didn't follow with the tour group and guide, you weren't allowed in the buildings. As someone who's been a handful of times, I wasn't interested in the guided tour again, but just wanted to walk around and go in the buildings and explore. It also didn't help that we tried to go in the buildings right after the guides speech was done only to have the door smugly shut in our face and told he needed to move on. So we just left. On the plus side, the guide at the teepee and the staff member at the Cafe were exceptional. Kind, warm and polite.

I love going to the Fort, however this visit was a bust. A better system and more freedom to explore, even with staff shortages could easily be sorted out,...