This little log cabin was built as a mission house by Ovide Charleois – the first Bishop for the Diocese of Keewatin – when he was a missionary of the Oblate Fathers. The Roman Catholic Mission was begun in 1887, and this was the first Catholic Church of the north. It is now the second oldest building in The Pas.
Logs for the building were cut at Cumberland House about 160 kilometres away and transported by canoes on the Saskatchewan River. Glass for the window panes and shingles for the roof were also brought the same way. These came from Prince Albert some 800 kilometres up the river.
Bishop Charlebois used a crosscut saw and a broad axe to construct the building.
During the several years that he administered to the Native peoples he slept in the tiny attic.
His tomb is in the adjoining Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, that was built in 1922. The preservation of this cabin is a tribute to one of the truly great men who served in the north.
Photographed 1987