A local couple is tracing their ancestors' steps with a Red River Ox Cart this Thanksgiving weekend.

Terry Doerksen and his wife Patty had the cart made by Phil Doerksen with a lot of help from a Metis man named Armand Jerome who specializes in cart making.

A monument at the Mennonite Immigration Sheds south of Niverville"We are taking a Red River Ox Cart from where the Mennonite Landed at the fork of the Rat and the Red. Where the Metis originally took the Mennonites, we are following that path via the immigration sheds (south of Niverville) to Blumenort. Blumenort because that is where both of my parents and their families settled."

The cart is being pulled by an Ox named Zik which is short for Bizhiki. Doerksen says that is Anishinaabe for Ox or Buffalo.

Doerksen say he is calling this journey a Thanksgiving Pilgrimage.

"Originally Thanksgiving was an expression of thanksgiving to God for his provision and his leading and nowadays it is a bit of a party and sometimes who we are thanking gets left out of it,” says Doerksen, “As we are redoing this historical trip, I have had a couple of riders on my cart so far, I have asked them to share a story with me about something that God has done in the past, or with their forefathers that they are thankful for and so far, I have heard some pretty neat stories."

Doerksen adds it is also incredibly important to recognize the deep debt we owe to the indigenous and Metis peoples. In fact, he says he wrote a short story about the subject to coincide with the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Next year, Doerksen says he and Patty plan to take their ox cart from Winnipeg to St. Paul Minnesota to retrace the 540-mile journey that was once the Red River Trail linking the two communities for trade.

To read Terry Doerksen’s three short stories click here.