Goulet Park

Elzéar Goulet Memorial Park
Commemorates Prominent Métis

Monuments and plaques commemorating Elzéar Goulet (1836–1870) were unveiled during the summer of 2008 in the park on Taché Avenue that bears his name. Goulet was part of a prominent Métis family. As a young man, he relocated to Pembina in what is now North Dakota and became an American citizen. There he began to raise a family with his wife, Héléne Jerome. Goulet was appointed in 1861 to replace his brother Roger as the mail carrier between Pembina and the Red River Settlement. Whether by horse in the summer or dog sled in the winter his weekly trips between the two settlements made him well known and respected.

Goulet was a military leader with Louis Riel’s provisional government in 1870. He was involved in the conviction of Thomas Scott who was executed for treason by the provisional government. For his part in the execution, Goulet on 13 September 1870 was chased by an angry mob on the streets of Winnipeg in broad daylight and pelted with rocks from the shore and he drowned as he attempted to swim across the Red River to St. Boniface not far from the memorial site. Investigation of his murder identified the principal perpetrators but charges were never laid for fear that attempted prosecutions would be unenforceable. Goulet was buried in his family plot under a simple tombstone in the St. Boniface Cathedral Cemetery.