Duck Lake, known in French as Lac-aux-Canards, takes its name from the lake to the town's south-west. It was one of the five Southbranch Settlements, founded by French-speaking Métis who came from Manitoba in the 1860s and 1870s. A Roman Catholic mission was established here in 1874 by Father André, and by 1888 the village had a school, a post office (called Stobart), a flour mill and a trading post. In those years the area was part of the District of Saskatchewan in the Northwest Territories.
In 1885 Duck Lake was the site of the Battle of Duck Lake, a clash between Métis warriors and the Government of Canada that opened the North-West Rebellion. The village sat where the Prince Albert Trail crossed the Carlton Trail, halfway between the Métis headquarters at Batoche and the North-West Mounted Police at Fort Carlton. Gabriel Dumont, who led the Métis forces in the rebellion, is the community's best-known figure.
The town is also home to the band government of the Beardy's and Okemasis' Cree Nation. St. Michael's Indian Residential School, also called the Duck Lake Indian Residential School, was one of the last of its kind to operate in Canada and closed in 1996. All Saints Anglican Church, a Carpenter Gothic building from 1896, is a municipal heritage site, and its cemetery holds the graves of some who fought at the Battle of Duck Lake and of other local pioneers. The 1973 western Alien Thunder was partly filmed in Duck Lake.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Duck Lake, Saskatchewan” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.