The community is home to the St. Norbert Farmers' Market, drawing large crowds from Winnipeg and the surrounding area.

In federal politics, the area is part of the Winnipeg South riding,[5] with Liberal Member of Parliament Terry Duguid as its representative in the House of Commons of Canada.

The original inhabitants of what is now St. Norbert were First Nations peoples, including the Assiniboine, the Cree, and the Ojibwe (Saulteaux), who were drawn to this region because of its hunting and fishing opportunities.

St. Norbert’s prime location along major trade and transportation routes proved advantageous; the Pembina Trail (now Pembina Highway) passed through St. Norbert as it routed travellers from Upper Fort Garry (present-day downtown Winnipeg, and the primary southern outpost of the HBC) to St. Paul, Minnesota—the nearest railhead.

As such, along with taking part in the bi-annual buffalo hunt, the settlers took on seasonal work for the HBC, hauling goods between the Red River Settlement and St.

[7] In October 1869, a public meeting was held at St. Norbert Roman Catholic Church (built in 1856)[7] during which the Comite national des Métis was formed, with Louis Riel as secretary.

[6] Between the time following the crisis and the early 20th century, French Canadians from Quebec, most of whom were farmers, gradually replaced the Métis in St. Norbert until they formed the majority of the population.

[11] In 1891, the Abbot of Bellefontaine in France agreed to establish a Trappist monastery on a secluded piece of parish land along the La Salle River, and monks arrived in St. Norbert in 1892.

The order was dedicated to a life of prayer and hard work, following the basic tenets of St. Benedict – charity, obedience, and humility.

The monks succeeded in building a large and prosperous agricultural operation complete with a sawmill, forge, apiary, cheese house, bakery and greenhouses.

By 1975, St. Norbert had become a much more urban area, and the Trappist monks relocated to a more protected and rural location in Holland, Manitoba.

The building has twin towers, and houses the body of Father Joseph Noël Ritchot, St. Norbert’s parish priest from 1862 to 1905.

Richot was a member of a delegation that travelled to Ottawa to meet with representatives of the Canadian government regarding the 1870 transfer of land in the Red River Settlement from the Hudson’s Bay Company to the Dominion of Canada.

That dispute, eventually settled through negotiation, resulted in the inclusion of Métis land, language, and school rights in The Manitoba Act of 1870, the basis of the Red River Settlement’s entry into Confederation.