St. Catharines Bug Trapper
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The cache, designed to be a Travel Bug Exchange cache, is located in Trapper Leo Park, St. Catharine's, Ontario.
¾ of Team Burgi traveled from Clearwater, Florida, USA to the beautiful Niagara Falls/St. Catharine’s area to introduce our friend, Amadeus, to geocaching. Yes, a 3K summer road trip. Yes, of course, as we drove up we geocached (a little) and yes, of course, as we trickle our way back home, we will geocache (a lot). However, that’s another story entirely. Back to July 26, 2003:We showed Amadeus the “Twin Eagles” Travel Bug which we intended to release while we were together. This Travel Bug is designed to commemorate our bi-country friendship by traveling north and south from our home cache in Clearwater, the East Meets West in the Enchanted Forest cache, to a local St. Catharine’s cache.“Which one?” asked Amadeus.“We don’t know yet…” we replied. In comparing our local map to the cache printouts, we saw there were none near enough for his easy access. However, the Trapper Leo Park was just down the street…“Who is Trapper Leo?” I asked. With a little Internet research, I found a story worth reviewing briefly here:Leo LaChance, 48, a Cree hunter and trapper from the Big River First Nation, was shot to death in 1991 as he left a shop owned by the 25-year-old leader of the Saskatchewan chapter of a white supremacist group. The native man staggered from the scene and collapsed in the snow. A passer-by found him cold and unconscious and asked the shop owner for emergency use of his telephone, but was refused.The ensuing trial led to nothing more than a guilty plea to a charge of manslaughter and a sentence of only four years in prison. The incident did little to ease tensions between natives and non-natives in the Prince Albert community of approximately 35,000, which was about 35 per cent native at the time.Two years of increasingly adamant cries for an independent investigation into the shooting followed. Finally, two years after the murder, when the situation in Prince Albert between natives and non-natives was only getting worse, the independent inquiry into the shooting began. The book "Buried in the Silence" is the account of the murder from the beginning in 1991 to the 1993 inquiry. The author sets the context of Leo LaChance's life that describe the LaChance family, their Cree culture, the role of missionaries in Prince Albert, and a history of the treaty period in Saskatchewan. Following chapters discuss the gun shop owner, his connections to White supremacy and the RCMP, the police and their investigation, the inquiry, and the role of racism in the community. On the whole, most people at the time believed this killing to be a hate crime. However, as this book demonstrates, proving it was a hate crime is difficult given the workings of the Canadian justice system. Anyone interested in the criminal justice system, racism, and hate crimes will find this book enlightening. Fast forward to 2001, eight years after the inquiry began, ten years after the murder itself:Prince Albert's multi-million dollar Provincial Court facility was officially opened in a ceremony featuring the unveiling of a sculpture dedicated to the late Leo Lachance. "We are proud of this building because it is a symbol of a new beginning, healing and important social reform," the Justice Minister at the time said. "The sculpture will keep us mindful of past injustices as we seek justice and fairness in the future." The site where the courthouse now stands is the site of Trapper Leo’s murder. The bronze sculpture by Saskatoon artist Lloyd Pinay features an inscription reading, in part: "The sculpture serves to remind those who enter here to respect and honour all cultures - to listen, to hear, to treat all people with respect and dignity." Thanks to some research by junglehair in August, 2003, who was curious about the Trapper Leo story, here is another reference. It didn't make sense to junglehair why they would establish a park in St. Catharines for something that happened in Prince Albert. After a brief internet search of her own, she came up with this link: (visit link) It states: 'TRAPPER' LEO MONUMENT - Before starting your tour you might be interested in visiting the monument dedicated to Len 'Trapper' Leo (1914 - 1982) located north of point of interest 1. The plaque was donated by the community and was erected in recognition of 'Trapper' Leo's contributions to the Town of Merritton and the City of St. Catharines as a Reeve and Alderman and as a Trustee for the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority. Trapping Muskrats along the Welland Canal, popular in the 1940's, earned him his nickname 'Trapper'.Now, back to the cache:Somewhere in the past thirteen years, Trapper Leo Park in St. Catharine’s was developed as a place of recreation, fun and fellowship. As a show of respect for the purpose and theme of this cache, please do not take a Travel Bug unless you have a Travel Bug to leave. For those of you without a Travel Bug to exchange, there are a handful of other things, mostly bug oriented. We started the cache with:=> Twin Eagles TB -- travels back & forth from this cache to the East Meets West in the Enchanted Forest cache.=> Jitter Bug TB -- travels to jitter bug palaces and dances all over the world. Careful! She'll make you jittery if you keep her too long!=> Sujin Rarane TB -- on its way to China to protect the Gates of the Imperial City.=> Yu-Gi-Oh! cards: Insect Soldiers of the St., Flying Kamakiri #2, and Kwagar Hercules=> two square puzzles and a handful of other trinkets. Amadeus will continually check stock as necessary.Don't forget to sign the log book. Please be discreet, as there are kids who play in the area. Hide the cache well, and camouflage it as necessary. One last thing – this cache was placed in mid-summer and we are from Florida. The difficulty/terrain ratings may have to be changed based on the local weather at other times of the year, so let Amadeus or me know in your log posts or by e-mail. Thanks, and have a blessed day. Happy caching.
Additional Hints
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