Manitoba

The province of Manitoba lies midway between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, with the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan to the west and Ontario to the east. To the north of the province's prairie lands is the Inuit homeland of Nunavut and the Hudson Bay. To the south of Manitoba's lakes region are the American states of Minnesota and North Dakota.

General Information

Name: The name Manitoba is generally credited to an English combination of the Cree words Manitou bou, meaning "place (or strait) of the great spirit," although it is also similar to the Assiniboine phrase Mini tobow, which means "lake of the prairie." Manitoba also is known as the Keystone Province.

Provincial Symbols

• Bird: Great gray owl (Strix nebulosa)
• Flower: Prairie Crocus (Anemone patens)
• Tree: White spruce
• Motto:Gloriosus et Liber (Latin, "glorious and free")

Capital: The capital of Manitoba is Winnipeg, at the junction of the Assiniboine and the Red Rivers. Incorporated as a city in 1873, it is both the manufacturing and transportation hub of the province. With a population of 778,489 (2016) in the Winnipeg Census Metropolitan Area, it had a growth rate of 6.6 in the nation over five years. It is also the province's cultural hub. It is located near the geographic center of North America.

People & Culture

Population: Manitoba's rate of population growth slowed from 1970 to 2001, going from 988,247 in 1971 to 1,091,942 in 1991. During the 1920s, the province was home to approximately 7 percent of Canada's total population. By 2016, that number had dropped to about 3.6 percent, according to Statistics Canada. In 2021, the population of Manitoba was estimated at 1,383,765 people.

Population density in 2016 was 2.3 people per square kilometer. More than half of the population lives in Manitoba's two largest cities, Winnipeg (population 778,489 in 2016) and Brandon (population 58,003 in 2016), both of which are near the border with the United States. Most other communities in the province have fewer than 15,000 inhabitants.

Native People: The province's diverse ethnic mix includes a wide variety of Aboriginal (First Nations) inhabitants, including Assiniboine, Ojibwe, Cree, Dene, and Inuit, as well as the descendents of British and French settlers.

One additional unique enclave in Manitoba is the Icelandic community in Gimli. The original settlers fled volcanic eruptions in Iceland in 1874. They worked their way up the Red River, moving south to settle near present-day Gimli in 1875.

Additional immigration during the twentieth century brought groups from Ukraine, Germany, Poland, and Russia. The North End of Winnipeg retains a predominately Ukrainian character.

About 35 percent of the population is of British decent. Those of Aboriginal or mixed European and Aboriginal descent (commonly called Métis) made up more than 15 percent of the population. There is also a significant German Mennonite population.

Arts & Entertainment: Manitoba officially became a province in July 1870. By 1871, a public school system was established along with the University of Winnipeg, home to the well-known Institute of Urban Studies. Soon to follow was the University of Manitoba (1877), in Winnipeg, which also houses museums of zoology and mineralogy. It is now the largest university in Manitoba. Brandon University was established in 1899. This smaller university offers a native studies program.

In addition to other art galleries and museums, including the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the city is home to theater as performed at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, Rainbow Stage, and Le Cercle Molière. Performance groups include the Manitoba Opera, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

Environment & Geography

At 649,950 square kilometers (250,947 square miles), Manitoba is one of the largest Canadian provinces, although at its widest point it is less than 805 kilometers (500 miles) across. Inland water accounts for 101,590 square kilometers (39,224 square miles) of the province's area. Lake Winnipeg, at 24,387 square kilometers (9,416 square miles), is the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world. It is estimated that there are more than 38,500 lakes in total that were left behind by ancient glacial movements.

Topography: The southern region of Manitoba is a flat plain of rich prairie land, with more than twelve million farmed acres. More than half of the province is set on the northern Canadian Shield, a rocky area often covered by forest but generally not suited for agriculture. Far northern portions include scraggy tundra lands that support only brush and hardy plants such as moss and lichens.

Elevation changes are moderate, ranging from about 500 to 1,000 feet above sea level. The Manitoba Escarpment to the southwest is the site of the province's highest elevation of 2,727 feet, at the peak of Baldy Mountain.

Rivers, including the Winnipeg, Red, Assiniboine, Nelson, and Churchill empty eastward into Hudson Bay. Sportsmen refer to Manitoba as the Province of Lakes, many of which remain very clean in comparison to those found in the Midwestern United States. Manitoba's largest lakes include Winnipeg, Cedar, Manitoba, and Winnipegosis.

Plants & Animals: Many varieties of trees are common throughout Manitoba, including aspen, ash, poplar, oak, maple, and elm in the south and spruce, pine, and birch in the north. There are about 26.3 million hectares (65 million acres) of forested land, nearly half of the province's total area, that support wildlife including martin, mink, otter, lynx, and wolves. Tundra lands also support caribou and arctic fox. More common to the south are deer, bear, beaver, raccoon, and muskrat.

Fish commonly found in Manitoba include pike, trout, walleye, and pickerel.

Climate: The weather in Manitoba varies sharply with the seasons, from winter lows of −40 degrees Celsius (−40 degrees Fahrenheit) to summer highs near 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit). Even in the southern city of Winnipeg, January averages only −17.8 degrees Celsius (about 0 degrees Fahrenheit). July average temperatures are near 19.5 degrees Celsius (67 degrees Fahrenheit). At Churchill, in the north along Hudson Bay, the January average is −27 degrees Celsius (−16 degrees Fahrenheit) and the July average is 12 degrees Celsius (53.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Average precipitation is light in the north, except for elevated areas. Isolated areas get heavy snowfall, and most of the province remains snow covered from November to April, with an average annual snowfall total of 43.2 centimeters (17 inches) in Churchill and 51.4 centimeters (20 inches) in Winnipeg. Manitoba is occasionally hit by severe blizzards, as in 1966, when a storm swept over Winnipeg with about fourteen inches of snow blown in huge drifts by seventy-five-mile-per-hour winds. June, July, and August are typically the only months that are free of frost.

Economy

During the eighteenth century, Manitoba's economy was based on the European fur trade. Today, fur trade and fishing combined make up only a tiny percentage of the annual gross domestic product (GDP).

The forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil, and gas industry employed 6.4 percent of the workforce in 2016, according to Statistics Canada. Historically, forestry has been done principally in northern Manitoba, with main production coming from stands of spruce, aspen and pine trees. The town of Gimli on Lake Winnipeg has a significant commercial fishing industry.

Mining accounted for about 2.69 percent of Manitoba's 2020 GDP. Nickel is by far the leading mineral product of Manitoba, making the province a leading world supplier. The town of Thompson in the northern forest area is largely devoted to nickel production. Other valuable minerals mined in Manitoba include copper, zinc, oil, sand and gravel, silver, and gold. Significant mining towns are Flin Flon, Lynn Lake, and Ruttan Lake.

The province's central location makes it an ideal transportation and shipping hub. Winnipeg is a major center of rail traffic. The city is located on the Trans-Canada Highway, the major east-west road of Canada, and is home to one of the country's busiest air terminals. Churchill provides a direct port to the Atlantic Ocean but supports minimal traffic as it typically remains ice-locked for most of the year. Transportation and related industries made up 5.8 percent of the province's 2020 GDP.

Manufacturing also developed in Winnipeg and other communities in the early twentieth century and, together with construction, accounted for about 16.5 percent of Manitoba's 2020 GDP. Much of the industry is related to the county's agriculture and mining output, including distilling. Heavy manufacturing slowed during the 1970s, as some firms moved to other provinces with cheaper energy costs. Today, transportation equipment remains one of the leading manufacturing products. Over 5,000 workers were employed in the aerospace industry in 2020.

Low-cost hydroelectric power is common in Manitoba. Government-owned Manitoba Hydro has constructed or initiated numerous addition projects since the 1970s in an effort to lower energy costs.

Manitoba's tourism industry is limited but growing, building on a foundation of a strong interest in freshwater fishing, canoeing, and boating.

Agriculture: In the early nineteenth century, Scottish and other settlers began converting southern prairie lands into farms. In 2016, there were 14,791 farms in Manitoba, averaging 1,193 acres per farm for a province-wide total of more than 11.5 million acres of cropland and more than 4.3 million acres of pasture land.

Acreage is devoted to wheat, canola (rapeseed), oats, barley, and flaxseed. Much of the crop production is destined for export.

Livestock farming is secondary to crops but still substantial. In 2016, the province produced almost 12 percent of the nation's beef cattle and about 25% percent of its hogs. Dairy products, poultry, and eggs are other important agricultural products. Agriculture made up about 6 percent of Manitoba's GDP in 2020.

Government & History

Government: The Manitoba Act of 1870 established not only the physical boundaries of Manitoba, but also the shape of its government. The province's parliamentary system is limited to a unicameral (single-house) legislative assembly whose fifty-seven members serve five-year terms. It is led symbolically by the lieutenant governor but in fact by a premier who is the leader of majority elected political party. The premier appoints ministers from the legislature to form the executive council. These ministers act as his cabinet and administrators for various departments, including energy, justice, education, health, and transportation.

In the bicameral Canadian Parliament, Manitoba is represented by four appointed senators and fourteen elected representatives to the House of Commons. Party politics during the late twentieth century were fairly evenly split between the Progressive Conservative (conservative) and the New Democratic Party (NDP) (liberal).

There are no counties in Manitoba. Municipalities are governed by a mayor or reeve (council leader) and a council.

History: Aboriginal inhabitants, most prominently the Assiniboine and Ojibwe tribes, first came into regular contact with Europeans in the early seventeenth century. British explorer Henry Hudson first sailed into the bay that now bears his name in 1610, but his fellow countryman Thomas Button is commonly credited with being the first European to explore what is now Manitoba.

In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Manitoba became the site of intense competition between French and British interests for the then-booming fur trade. Trappers from British-led Hudson's Bay Company, founded in 1670, fought with French traders from Montreal. The French, often allied with aboriginal peoples, took control over most of the Hudson's Bay outposts by the end of the seventeenth century.

After Britain officially won control of the region from France in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht, the Hudson's Bay Company again gained the upper hand. British control was further strengthened in 1763 as France again ceded control over Canadian territories as part of the settlement of the French and Indian War. However, the competition for the fur trade continued. In 1784, a combination of Scottish, French, and aboriginal interests formed the Montreal-based North West Company.

North West interests, as led by Métis traders, fiercely resisted early attempts at British colonization. An outbreak of violence in 1816 in which twenty colonists were killed became known as the Seven Oaks Massacre.

The increasing bloodshed and declining profits finally led to a merger of the North West and Hudson's Bay firms in 1821. This helped stabilize the region politically and paved the way for colonization. Both Roman Catholic and Anglican missionaries came to newly formed settlements during this time.

In 1869, the Hudson's Bay Company and the British government reached a tentative agreement to transfer the territory to the newly-formed Dominion of Canada as the fifth province. The Hudson's Bay Company received $300,000 for its land interests.

But in 1870, the Métis people of the Manitoba area, led by Louis Riel, staged what became known as the Red River Uprising. They took control of Fort Garry (now a national park), near the Selkirk settlement on the Red River about twenty miles north of what is now downtown Winnipeg. Their protest was recognized in the passage of the Manitoba Act in May 1870, which paved the way for creation of the province and at the same time recognized the Métis and called for lands to be set aside for their use.

When Manitoba first entered the Canadian Confederation on July 15, 1870, it was so small that it was commonly called the Postage Stamp Province in reference to its tiny size (about one-eighteenth its present size) and square shape. Further negotiations within the confederation cut back the boundaries of the Northwest Territories, extending the northern border in 1881 and again in 1912 to its present position.

Entry of the railroad in 1882 brought additional commerce and population, including fledgling farmers seeking homestead lands. The population soared from about 25,000 at the time of the province's founding to 461,000 by 1911. It then slowed dramatically as World War I brought economic uncertainty to the region. It was not until World War II that the province fully recovered by establishing the diverse manufacturing base now centered in Winnipeg.

In 1942, the Greater Winnipeg Victory Loan campaign organized a simulated Nazi invasion and occupation of Manitoba in an attempt to raise money during World War II. The event, known as If Day, featured fake fighting and explosions, and required donations to take back different sectors of the city; If Day raised over $65 million.

Manitoba is prone to floods. Between 1950 and 2020, the province was hit by multiple floods that caused millions of dollars in damage, including the 1950 Red River Flood, the so-called Flood of the Century in 1997, and the 2009 Red River Flood.

Trivia

• The town of Flin Flon is named for Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, a dime novel character in the book "The Sunless City," a favorite of area gold prospectors in the early 1800s.
• Riding Mountain National Park, the province's first, was founded in 1930. It is home to Park Theatre, a cinema constructed of logs.
• West Hawk Lake, thought to be formed by a meteorite, is the province's deepest.

Bibliography

"About Manitoba." Manitoba, Travel Manitoba, 2021, www.travelmanitoba.com/trip-essentials/about-manitoba/. Accessed 10 Nov. 2021.

Brown, Craig, ed. Illustrated History of Canada. McGill-Queen's UP, 2012.

"GDP Distribution of Manitoba in Canada 2020, by Industry." Statista, 11 Oct. 2021, www.statista.com/statistics/608342/gdp-distribution-of-manitoba-canada-by-industry/. Accessed 10 Nov. 2021.

"Investing in Manitoba." Manitoba, Province of Manitoba, www.gov.mb.ca/business/investing/index.html. Accessed 10 Nov. 2021.

"Manitoba." Census Profile, 2016 Census, Statistics Canada, 24 Apr. 2018, www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm. Accessed 22 Aug. 2018.

"Population Estimates, Quarterly." Statistics Canada, 29 Sept. 2021, www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1710000901. Accessed 10 Nov. 2021.

Stunden Bower, Shannon. Wet Prairie: People, Land, And Water in Agricultural Manitoba. UBC P, 2011.

Thomas, Paul G., and Curtis Brown, eds. Manitoba Politics and Government: Issues, Institutions, Traditions. U of Manitoba P, 2010.