Summer

The President’s Message

This has been an interesting first year for me as president of Heritage Winnipeg and I look forward to continuing a good working relationship with the Executive and the Board. It has also been a busy year. We try to keep you informed in the newsletter about our activities and projects and in this way hope to have the interest and support of members.

The financial health of the organization has been one of my major concerns and we have undertaken a few initiatives, which we hope, will bear fruit. We have started our first Window of Opportunity Fundraising Campaign and we have begun to widen the corporate financial involvement in Heritage Winnipeg. These efforts will be ongoing.

On Heritage Day of this year we presented our 18th annual heritage awards in the elegant surroundings of the Rotunda of the Legislature. We were pleased to present an award to past president Bernie Wolfe for his lifetime commitment to the heritage community.

Our school program is evolving satisfactorily. At the invitation of Historic Resources Executive, Director Cindy Sciberras and I spent Manitoba Day at Sargent Park School and we have visited several other schools throughout the year. We often follow up our school presentations with walking tours of the Exchange. In addition, we both had the pleasure of judging at the Heritage Fair.

We are excited about several ongoing projects: we look forward to seeing the Upper Fort Garry restored to some of its former glory and we are pleased that the Hon. Peter Liba is the honorary patron of the project; we are teaming with information technology experts to make a virtual walking tour of the Exchange available; we are pursuing funding for a new and expanded edition of the Illustrated Guide.

We are presently working with Heritage Canada in organizing its national conference to be held at the Hotel Fort Garry in mid-September. The theme of the 2-day conference is "Heritage Works" and we are proud to be the host city.

The help of volunteers sustains the work of our organization. We appreciate the many hours contributed during the past year by Akua Deaba. Kimberley Moore volunteered over 100 hours to participate in the

Province of Manitoba Education and Training Program as well as the Summer Student Program. We extend special thanks to Dennis McKnight of The Innovators who contributed his time to facilitate our strategic planning session and to write a follow up report. We also thank Downtown BIZ for its support.

It is an interesting time to be involved in the heritage community. We look with approval at the many interesting projects in the Exchange District especially the impetus towards the creation of residential neighbourhoods. Heritage Winnipeg will continue to play an important role.

- Celine Kear

Look inside Heritage Canada Magazine for Celine Kear’s feature article, “The Winnipeg Exchange District,” with photography by Doug Dealy.

Manitoba Day

This year, our celebration was a great success as part of our educational outreach program. Heritage Winnipeg visited Sargent
Park School in the West End, on Monday May 12th, to celebrate Manitoba’s 133rd birthday.
From 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., we helped commemorate our heritage with grades 2 to 8, over 500 students in total. We were proud to again partner with Creative Retirement Manitoba, and this partnership again contributed to the immense success of the event. The Students enjoyed themselves and had an opportunity to interact with seniors who volunteered with a wide array of activities available all over the school, making learning a fun and positive experience.

Come Explore Transcona!

Join the 4th Annual Treasure Hunt!
Transcona Historical Museum
141 Regent Avenue West
Monday - Saturday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

The Annual Transcona Treasure Hunt is a family oriented scavenger hunt to uncover Transcona’s historical treasures. For $1.00, participants will have hours of fun and go home with great prizes! Admission to the Museum is Free.
For more info. Contact the museum at 222-0423.
(Information courtesy of the Transcona Historical Museum)

Cadomin Building

The Wilson Furniture Building (Cadomin Building) was erected in 1912, at the south east corner of Main Street and Graham Avenue. The building was designed by architect John Danley Atchison, who trained in Chicago, and is also known for several other buildings he designed in Winnipeg, such as the Boyd Building and the Curry Building.

The Cadomin building was designed as a two part commercial block, and stands on the original site of construction. Although the building had a number of occupants after it’s construction, in 1974 the Wilson Furniture Company moved in and converted the space into a furniture showroom, when they were expropriated from their previous location at 352 Main Street to make way for the Trizec Development.

Although the Cadomin Building has undergone many renovations, the second floor windows and also the roof treatments have not been altered from their original design, and the building still stands soundly at 280 Main Street.
However, after providing for Winnipegers for 120 years, The Wilson Furniture Company is closing its doors, and the building may become slated for demolition by The City of Winnipeg.


Annual General Meeting

The 25th Annual General Meeting of Heritage Winnipeg was a great success. It was held at Bergman’s restaurant, on the 6th floor of the Grain Exchange Building. A special thank you to board member David Dueck, who arranged these accommodations. Bergman’s was the perfect location to celebrate Heritage Winnipeg’s 25th anniversary, and to view Cindy’s visual presentation entitled Heritage Winnipeg Corporation: Celebrating Winnipeg’s Heritage for 25 Years. Thank you to all those who attended the meeting! Your presence, along with the delectable catering of Bergman’s created the perfect evening to celebrate 25 Years!

In Addition: Thank you to those who gave a donation towards the cost of the meeting, it is most helpful, and much appreciated!


Heritage Crisis

Over the next ten years, the heritage community expects a drastic decline in the number of trained professionals employed in this sector, due to the retirement of many of the baby boom generation. In anticipation, the Canadian Museums Association (CMA), the Canadian Council of Archives (CCA), the Canadian Library Association (CLA) and Association pour lávancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation (ASTED), assisted by the federal government’s Department of Canadian Heritage, are funding research into the retention and remuneration of heritage professionals. The research is intended to attract human resources to the museums and archives of Canada in order to preserve and retain Canadian Heritage. The outcome of this research initiative will be shared at a National Summit, expected to be held in the early fall, with a final report released later in the year.

Information courtesy of a March 14 Ottawa press release, forwarded by The Archives of Manitoba to Heritage Winnipeg

Hell's Alley

Friday June 06, 2003, the Exchange District BIZ, hosted “Hell’s Alley”, a walking tour which focuses on “a little known scene of brutal conflict during ‘Bloody Saturday’ - the last struggle of the 1919 General Strike before its conclusion.” Hells Alley is an inconspicuous alley Between Market Avenue and James Avenue, which consists a series of old loading doors and two old rail tracks peeking out from under the gravel. If you missed the “Hell’s Alley” interpretive tour, the Alley is included in the Exchange District BIZ East of Main Street Walking Tour. Held daily (weather permitting) at 11:00 am.

For more Information regarding summer walking tours, see pg. 7 & 10

A New Lease On Life

By Rodney C. McDonald

In July 2002 title to the Salvation Army Citadel (221 Rupert Avenue) and adjoining buildings (217 Rupert and 216 Pacific) were transferred to the CIER, the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources. The buildings were purchased by Mr. Barry Shenkarow and donated to CIER, a Winnipeg-based non-profit (charitable) organization.

CIER’s initial plans for the building include 7,500 square feet of office space for itself, approximately 12,000 to 14,000 square feet of leased commercial office space and, a Centre for Dialogue – similar, but smaller in scale, to the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue in downtown Vancouver.

CIER’s vision is to add the Citadel to the city’s list of preserved heritage-designated buildings and to Canada’s growing list of green buildings. The vision includes respecting and preserving the building’s heritage elements and utilizing the best of today’s green building practices, to demonstrate the link between the conservation of built heritage and the conservation of natural heritage1.

CIER’s experience with the greening of heritage renovation is demonstrated by the organization’s current office. The organization currently occupies the third and fourth floors of the Kay Building at 245 McDermot Ave2. Renovated by CIER in 1999/2000, the leased space features many cost-effective green building features that allowed the organization to create an office representative of its work as a professional environmental organization.

The estimated cost of the renovation of the Salvation Army Citadel and adjoining buildings is
$5 million. CIER is developing a capital campaign plan to fundraise the total renovation cost from the public sector and the private philanthropic community.

In addition to the generous donation of the buildings, CIER has received a $28,000 grant from CentreVenture to help with the estimated $75,000 cost to clean the Citadel and 216 Rupert, and to deconstruct the one story building at 217 Rupert. Presently, CIER is quietly focussing its fundraising efforts on raising the additional $50,000 needed to pay for the clean-up phase. The goal is to begin the clean-up by summer’s end or early fall.

CIER hopes to occupy the building by 2005. Please look to these pages for future updates.

For information of this topic see the Heritage Canada Foundation’s 2001 research report: Exploring the Connection Between Built and Natural Heritage.

An on-line tour of the office is available at: www.cier.ca/office/progress/index.html

CIER, the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, is a national Aboriginal owned non-profit (charitable) organization. Based in Winnipeg with a staff of twelve, CIER provides environmental education, research and consulting services to Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities and public and private sector organizations.

Rodney C. McDonald is the Sustainability Strategist at CIER, and a member of the City of Winnipeg’s Civic Environmental Committee. For more information about this project or CIER please contact him at 956-0660 ext. 226 or rmcdonald@cier.ca.

La Maison Gabrielle Roy

On June 19, 2003 La Maison Gabrielle Roy (Gabrielle Roy House), celebrated it’s official opening. The house at 375 Rue Deshambeault, is known for its prominent influence in Roy’s writing, along with the rest of St. Boniface. The House was built by Roy’s Father Leon in 1905, and is now a museum open to the public. The hours of operation at Maison Gabrielle Roy are
Friday & Saturday: 10:00am –5:00 pm
Sunday: 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Tuesday - Thursday - by appointment

Safe Walk Through the Exchange

The Exchange District BIZ welcomes their new staff member Brian Timmerman, who is the Safety and Maintenance Director. With this new addition, the Exchange District will see, as of June 2, 2003 Exchange District Community Foot Patrols walking in pairs through the streets of the Exchange District. They are identifiable by a “Community Patrol” on the back of their clothing. Along with patrolling the Exchange District for graffiti, unsightly posters, and nuisance complaints, they will provide a safe-walk program for employees in the Exchange. Any employee in the exchange who feels uncomfortable waiting for a bus, or walking to their vehicle can request a patrol escort.

To Contact the Foot Patrol Call:
791-3161
(if there is no answer, leave a message.)

To Contact Brian Timmerman (at the Exchange District BIZ office) call:
942-3059

Shipwreck

Our sincere apologies to all those who purchased tickets to attend the Heritage Winnipeg fundraising event “Shipwreck".

Unfortunately, the play had to be cancelled at the last minute due to technical difficulties, We would like to thank all those who purchased tickets to attend the event, and would like to extend further thanks to those kind enough to leave their ticket costs to Heritage Winnipeg as a charitable donation. Although the play “Shipwreck” was anticipated with enthusiasm, it is unfeasible to host a rain-check performance. Heritage Winnipeg does plan to host a substitute fundraiser in order to compensate for the mishap. Notice as to the upcoming event will go out as soon as the details have been worked out.

Under Construction

The office of Heritage Winnipeg will be under construction through the summer months. The office is expanding to take over the adjacent room in order to gain some much needed space. This project has been a long time in waiting, and despite the slight inconvenience, it is a welcome change!

If you would like to make a donation of cash or new or gently used office furniture please contact our office at 942-2663, or heritage@escape.ca. Any contributions would be greatly appreciated!