Winnipeg

Winnipeg, located just sixty miles from United States border, is the crossroads of Canada. It is the capital and economic center of the Manitoba province. Known as a center for manufacturing, grain production, and distribution, it is located at the approximate geographic center of the country. Winnipeg is also the point at which the rocky Canadian Shield ends and the plains begin. As such, the city acts as a gateway to the vast Canadian west.

Landscape

Winnipeg is located between the provinces of Saskatchewan and Ontario, and lies north of the US states of North Dakota and Minnesota. The city sits at the junction of the Red River, which flows north, and the Assiniboine River, which flows east. This intersection is also known as “the Forks,” and has been a trading crossroads for thousands of years. The layout of the city’s streets was determined by the river and the trade routes already in place.

Winnipeg gets its name from the lake located forty miles to the north. The name comes from the Cree words “win,” meaning muddy or murky, and “nipi,” meaning water.

The city is 760 feet above sea level and receives the most average sunshine of any city in Canada. The average summer temperature is 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit), and the average winter temperature is to -12 degrees Celsius (10 degrees Fahrenheit). The annual rainfall in the metro area is 16.4 inches, and the average snowfall is 110 centimeters. The winters are long and cold, and residents claim that the corner of Portage and Main is the windiest corner in North America. A network of covered walkways helps people avoid the windy conditions.

The city lies at the western edge of the Canadian Shield, at the beginning of a vast sea of grass that stretches through Saskatchewan into Alberta. This land is much better suited for agriculture than the glacier-scoured rock to the east.

People

Since Winnipeg became Canada’s “gateway to the west,” it has seen an influx of many different ethnic groups. The aboriginal people hunted bison on the Canadian plains and migrated with the herds. The first European settlers arrived with the establishment of a few key trading posts. The first settlements were made up of Scots and French, and the city eventually became home to Ukrainians, Chinese, and Italians.

When the Canadian-Pacific Railway was finished in 1885, the city was divided into north and south sides. The Jewish and Slavic population lived on the north side, and the wealthier Anglo-Canadian population lived on the south side. Overt racism and discrimination was rampant in the city until the 1920s, when immigration began to slow down.

Since the initial population surge at the turn of the century, the population has increased slowly but steadily. In 2016, the population of Winnipeg was approximately 705,244.

In recent years, the city has seen increases in the population of Asian, Polish, and native people. According to the 2016 estimates from Statistics Canada, First Nations people made up 6.2 percent of the population and 6.8 percent of the population was Métis (resulting from the intermingling of Anglo-Canadian settlers and natives).

The Ukrainian presence is more pronounced in the north of the city. A key sign is the number of Russian Orthodox churches, with their distinctive domes. In the West End portion of the city, there has been a recent influx of Portuguese, Indian, and Vietnamese people.

The largest group of immigrants to arrive during the 1990s came from the Philippines.

Though it is not the largest Canadian city, Winnipeg has become the envy of other prairie cities because of its cultural activity. The city is associated with writers Carol Shields, who won a 1995 Pulitzer Prize for The Stone Diaries, and Sandra Birdsell, author of the novel Katya. The city supports both a ballet and a renowned symphony, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery boasts the world’s largest collection of Inuit sculpture. The city also has the Manitoba Theatre Center, one of the country’s most important regional theatres.

Economy

Winnipeg, even before it was incorporated, was crucial as a crossroads for trade. The city has continued to be a manufacturing center, and is sometimes referred to as the “Chicago of the North.”

Winnipeg’s golden age began with the completion of the Canadian-Pacific Railway in 1885. This resulted in an economic boom that lasted for the next thirty years. Grain replaced furs as the city's most important trading commodity. Until other industries became more prevalent in the mid-twentieth century, the Winnipeg economy was tied to the fluctuation of wheat prices.

The city entered a recession in the 1920s, and did not recover until after World War II. Since that time, the city has diversified to include finance and manufacturing. Winnipeg's monopoly on agricultural products and distribution was gradually surpassed by other cities to the west. Manufacturing is the city's largest industrial sector, accounting for around 12 percent of Winnipeg's economy.

The city is also known as a “shopper’s paradise,” because of its lack of a general sales tax. In the late 1980s, parts of Winnipeg’s downtown were renovated using a combination of municipal and provincial funds. The downtown area links offices, apartments, and shopping centers with a series of enclosed walkways.

Landmarks

The key landmark from the era of the railroad boom was the “Gingerbread” City Hall, built in 1896. An extremely ornate, Victorian-style building, it can now only be seen in pictures, since it was demolished in 1962.

Other notable attractions include Assiniboine Park, which has a large, first-class zoo, renowned throughout Canada. It also features both French and British formal gardens, as well as a bronze sculpture garden with works by local artist Leo Mol.

The Forks National Historic Site offers a comprehensive history of the city. Once the terminus for the crucial railroad, it is both a restored historical landmark and a collection of shops. North of town is Lower Fort Garry, the site of the original Hudson Bay’s Company fort. It is the only remaining fur trading post constructed of stone in Canada.

The Legislative Building is also noteworthy for being constructed of limestone with a façade of fossils. The Golden Boy statue stands on the building’s dome, holding a lit torch in one hand and a bundle of wheat in the other. The statue was constructed during World War I by French sculptor Charles Gardet.

The Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature illustrates the various stages of civilization throughout the province, beginning with the First Nations people of the region.

History

The city began as a fur trading post. Pierre Gaultier de Varennes built Fort Rouge for the North West Company at “the Forks,” the crossroads created by the two intersecting rivers and used by natives for thousands of years. The Hudson's Bay Company also built Fort Garry to the west of what is now Winnipeg.

The nucleus of the city was really established in 1862, when Henry McKenney built a general store at the center of modern Winnipeg’s downtown. The city, which was initially part of the Red River Colony, was incorporated in 1873.

A year later, Winnipeg was still nothing but a collection of shacks. That changed when the Canadian-Pacific Railway was built in 1895. Population, immigration and industry soared at a rate that the city has not seen since. In 1911, the city ranked fourth in Canada in terms of manufacturing activity. The economic growth peaked in 1914 when a recession set in, followed by the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. More hardship followed with the Great Depression.

Much of the city has been rebuilt since the devastating Red River Flood of 1950. Under the leadership of Manitoba Premier Duff Roblin, Winnipeg constructed a flood protection channel, promptly dubbed “Duff’s Ditch.”

After the 1960s, Winnipeg continued to grow into a modern metropolitan city, with a number of industrial complexes, new shopping centers, and the construction of a “river walk” at the Forks. Manufacturing became the main force in the city’s economy, as transportation and warehousing decreased to 6.2 percent.

In 1972, Winnipeg united with the surrounding thirteen municipalities. The resulting consolidation was referred to as the “Unicity,” which included such areas as the Francophone St. Boniface, and the “little Italy” of Corydon Avenue. It was the first North American city to move from a split-level metropolitan government to a single administration.

As a result, the Unicity is one of the most diverse cities in Canada. Though it is not as big or as glamorous as the major cities on Canada’s coasts, Winnipeg has been crucial to the development of Canada as the gateway to the country's west.

Trivia

• Winnipeg is home to the Rainbow Stage, Canada’s oldest continuously operating outdoor theater.
• The Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature in Winnipeg features a replica of the seventeenth-century ship called the Nonsuch that arrived in Hudson's Bay in 1688.

Bibliography

Artibise, Alan F. J. "Winnipeg." The Canadian Encyclopedia, 13 Mar. 2019, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/winnipeg. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

"City Has Highest Aboriginal Population." Winnipeg Free Press, 9 May 2013, www.winnipegfreepress.com/special/census2011/City-has-highest-aboriginal-population-206745721.html. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

City of Winnipeg, www.winnipeg.ca/interhom/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

"Manitoba's Ten Key Industry Sector Profiles." World Trade Centre Winnipeg, 2014. Accessed 24 Mar. 2014.

Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, winnipeg-chamber.com/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

Winnipeg Free Press, www.winnipegfreepress.com/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.