2021: In the rearview mirror

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/12/2021 (1373 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As 2021 wraps up, we look back on a collection of stories that helped define the city this year. From West Broadway to Charleswood, many residents, community leaders and elected officials took on new projects and initiatives, while others dug into what they do best.

January: Keeping Winnipeg warm

As frigid temperatures bore down on the prairies last winter, a number of community groups created warming centres to help get folks off the street and out of the cold.

The Spence Neighbourhood Association, along with West End 24 Hour Safe Space (WE24) and the West Central Women’s Resource Centre, partnered to host a warming space at 430 Langside St.

“With everything that’s been shutting down due to COVID, Spence Neighbourhood Association has not shut down,” Melissa Crait, manager of WE24, said. “We’ve actually upped our programming to be able to meet folks where they’re at.”

Community members also had the option to shake the cold at a fire pit near the Spence Neighbourhood Association building.

“Everything has been going really well. Community members are showing up, and even families have been coming down,” Crait said.

Driving in a winter wonderland

Spectators arrived at Red River Exhibition Park in droves to see the Canad Inns Winter Wonderland drive-through holiday lights display. An estimated 20,000 vehicles passed by the exhibit over a three-week period.

At times, a lineup of cars sat idling in a line that stretched back nearly five kilometres, snaking around the park’s lot and out onto the Perimeter Highway and Portage Ave. Some attendees waited more than two hours to get in.

“People are cooped up at home with nothing to do,” Garth Rogerson, the Red River Exhibition Association’s CEO, said. “It’s very difficult, and this is an opportunity to come out and feel some warmth of the season (people) maybe wouldn’t have otherwise.”

Canad Inns is hosting this year’s Winter Wonderland event from now until Jan. 8, 2022.

February: Web series helps with pandemic woes

Debbie Patterson, artistic director of Sick + Twisted Theatre, launched a five-part weekly video series called Crip Tips TV. The virtual theatre project from Sick + Twisted Theatre (a disability theatre company) sought to share strategies for how to cope with the pandemic, designed by folks with experience adapting to new challenges.

“With this web series, I’m interviewing other people with disabilities who have a lot of experience staying home,” said Patterson, who lives with multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair. “I’m noticing that a lot of folks are feeling really frustrated and have just had enough — and yet there are people with disabilities who stay home all the time.”

The Wolseley resident also designed Crip Tips TV to encourage people to avoid looking longingly to the past or future and embrace the moment instead. Patterson created Crip Tips TV with funding from Safe At Home Manitoba. Episodes are posted on the Facebook page and YouTube channel for Sick + Twisted Theatre.

Models for military veterans

Darryl Audette, co-founder of Manitoba Model Builders, devised a set of model-building workshops to match veterans with a pastime that encourages creativity and fosters community.

“Model-building is a fantastic way to improve both physical and mental strength, and develop the ability to overcome difficulties and build confidence together with fellow vets and good instructors in a safe and fun atmosphere,’’ Audette said.

Audette partnered with Soldier On, a program run by the Canadian Forces that connects veterans and active members with resources related to mental health, physical injury or illness.

Participants received tools, paints and a model kit provided by Soldier On and Hobby Sense. Many builders chose the particular vehicle or aircraft they worked with during their service.

Manitoba Model Builders offers ongoing workshops for its members through Hobby Sense (845 Dakota St.).

March: Inspired architecture

The public had its first look at WAG-Qaumajuq’s organic geometry and glowing lights during a virtual opening on Mar. 25, 2021.

However, the museum’s design had already been living inside the mind of its architect Michael Maltzan for many months.

A trip to Manitoba’s vast Arctic in 2013 with WAG director and CEO Stephen Borys shaped Maltzan’s vision for Qaumajuq. The architect’s interactions with the region’s creatives and landscape inspired the art centre’s form.

“From the very beginning, I was fascinated by the quality of light in Winnipeg. It has such an incredible presence and beauty, just like the light that I found in the North,” Maltzan said.

To make the building a success, Maltzan thought about how to make it stand out from its peers, including the original Winnipeg Art Gallery designed by Gustavo da Roza in 1971.

Maltzan also meditated upon the artworks that would soon call Qaumajuq home; he considered their shapes and sizes, as contemporary Inuit art varies in both medium and scale.

Presently, Qaumajuq holds in trust approximately 14,000 pieces of Inuit art. The exhibit Naadohbii: To Draw Water is on now until Feb. 5, 2022.

Nurse sheds light on darkest moments

A pair of healthcare workers for St. Boniface Hospital’s perinatal loss program for labour and delivery rallied to bring a spark of joy to grieving families.

Bonnie McKenzie is a clinical resource nurse who runs the program along with fellow CRN Laurie Vanstone. The pair found a need for sleepers, sweaters and hats for babies lost during pregnancy after 20 weeks.

Perinatal loss can be a topic that’s difficult to broach, but it touches more lives than many people realize, McKenzie said. In light of this, McKenzie put out the call in March for donations to the hospital’s perinatal bereavement fund and the spiritual care department, which teams up with Memory Artists of Manitoba to provide parents with keepsakes.

“We also make clay handprints and footprints, and we do ink prints of the hands and feet on a special card. Depending on the age of the baby, we can sometimes get a clipping of hair and a comb,” McKenzie said.

Clothing donations can be made to the St. Boniface Hospital spiritual care department at 204-237-2356. Monetary donations can be directed to the perinatal bereavement fund through the St. Boniface Hospital Foundation at 204-237-2067.

April: Local trio found furniture shop

Three friends with a passion for furniture and décor founded an online shop with a markedly Canadian flavour.

Centennial resident and photographer Leif Norman launched Gordon Chesterfield with artist and musician James Culleton and multi-media artist Chris Pancoe.

With the pandemic grinding the entertainment industry to a halt, the three found a new venue for their creative energy — the home. Gordon Chesterfield offers a selection of eclectic, locally-made products, including chairs, mid-century sofas, 1960s-era starburst clocks, side tables, and ceramics.

The business partnered with St. James-based furniture maker Art Upholstery and a number of Winnipeg artisans.

Gordon Chesterfield’s name is a riff on the concept of Canadiana.

“We started thinking about what’s the most Canadian name, and when you think of Canadian icons such as Downie and Lightfoot, we had to go with Gordon,” Culleton said.

“The Chesterfield part is symbolic of a time in history when sofas started to get a little comfortable. To us, Chesterfield’s denote comfort. When we pictured Gordon as a person, we thought he might be wearing a lumber shirt — or, he could be smoking a pipe and drinking scotch.”

The shop aims to offer new collections each spring and fall. More information can be found at www.gordonchesterfield.ca and on Instagram @gordonchesterfield

Non-profit meets people where they are

Pandemic restrictions caused many non-profits that support marginalized community members to reduce their drop-in capacity. Because of this, organizations like West Central Women’s Resource Centre at 640 Ellice Ave. expanded mobile outreach services.

WCWRC connected with approximately 50 unsheltered people with its outreach van throughout April 2021. The service had expanded to seven days a week in November 2020, in anticipation of increased demand for aid during the first winter of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Every day, our outreach workers drive around to offer people hot food and coffee, hygiene and harm reduction supplies, masks, blankets and shoes, resources and other essential items,” Denise

MacDonald, director of communications and fundraising, said.
“We build relationships daily, showing we care and are there for them; that’s so important in these difficult times. Our community members have rewarded us with genuine relationships built on trust and respect.”

WCWRC had hoped to raise $47,000 to keep its outreach van running and staffed throughout the following year. According the group’s website, it managed to raise a total of $50,000 that same month.

May: Wolseley Residents’ Association community garden comes to fruition

Members of the Wolseley Residents’ Association green space committee designed and built a set of 20 allotment beds and two community garden beds in Vimy Ridge Park.

The new gardens, which produced a bountiful harvest during the summer and fall, were designed as a place for community members who may not have access to private gardens to come and enjoy growing fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants.

The project was spearheaded by Erna Buffie, chair of the WRA green space committee, and co-chairs Jade Raizenne and Lara Stregger.

“This was always envisioned as a community hub,” Buffie said. “The long-term plan is to have workshops on everything from planting, to composting, to biodiversity in the garden, to canning in the fall.”

Stregger, who’s an engineer with a background in project management, designed the boxes and secured the materials — no small feat during a lumber shortage. The garden’s spacious community beds featured native pollinator species, courtesy of Prairie Originals.

Hydro agrees to pay for chopped trees

In March 2021, Manitoba Hydro removed 35 trees growing below and near a power line running parallel to Omand Park property. Following an uproar from park users and members of the community, the company reached an agreement with the city in May to provide compensation for stump removal and replanting.

The maples, which grew along a ditch near one of the park’s bike paths, were edging too close to a 12 kV power line and were on track to reach the higher-capacity lines, Bruce Owen, Manitoba Hydro’s media relations officer, said.

Pruning the maples wasn’t an option because not enough of the trees’ structure would remain, Owen said. Still, Some community members, including Marianne Cerilli of the Wolseley Residents’ Association, agreed the move was rash.

In the end, Cerilli and other residents called for new vegetation to be promptly planted where the maples once stood, in addition to more community consultation on the part of the city when it comes to choosing species.

June: Tiny farm makes big change

Jessica Walker of The Little Red Barn Micro Sanctuary in Charleswood fought for animal rights inside and outside the classroom in 2021.

“Knowing about animal welfare issues is something that, I think, stays with you and impacts you throughout your entire life,” Walker said.

The Shaftesbury High School student was the youngest speaker at Humane Canada’s annual conference and won gold in the Manitoba Schools Science Symposium’s social sciences category for her project on how interactions with animals influence dietary choices. Her research landed her a spot in a national virtual science fair.  

“This (project) is something I will definitely be expanding on, as it has large global implications for health, global food water and water security, climate change,” Walker said.

Not long after, Walker and her family rescued 1,700 hens from a local farmer. The birds were slated to be destroyed, as they no longer produced eggs at a profitable rate. The Little Red Barn Micro Sanctuary continues to care for the hens that have yet to be adopted.

A slice of New York comes to Winnipeg

In June, Hamilton-born Shorty’s Pizza offered up its first taste of East Coast-style fare to its prairie audience. The restaurant set up shop in the former Bella Vista Restaurant location at 53 Maryland St.

While Shorty’s Pizza only offered pick-up at first, it soon transformed into a full service dine-in restaurant, with a selection of pasta, appetizers, and local beer.

Company owner Dan Hawkins described the Shorty’s Pizza menu as “ingredient-driven,” with a focus on large, foldable New York-style slices.

 “Really excellent pizza sauce, excellent cheese,” he said. “All of the dough is hand-stretched. We rest it for three days. It’s really making those three elements stand out.”

Hawkins honoured the restaurant’s traditional charm by preserving its wood finishings and keeping one of Bella Vista Restaurant’s hand-painted murals.

July: Manitobans take to the waterways for recreation

A summer of record heat waves and droughts created an unusual paddling experience for some adventurers.

That lack of precipitation, mixed with consistently high temperatures, desiccated many rivers and streams. These conditions forced some kayakers and canoers to contend with shallows, and, in some cases, rapids caused by exposed rocks.

Nevertheless, the conditions didn’t thwart many enthusiasts, including Rand Smith and his 87-year-old father James Smith. The pair embarked on a number of canoe outings from riverbanks near the Bourkevale Community Centre and the Assiniboine Park footbridge.

“He’s the one who kind of got me into canoeing when I was a kid,” Rand said. “It’s just the joy of being on the water.”

Wilderness Supply owner Rick Shone saw a boom in business during the summer of 2021, which included a spike in canoe and kayak sales and rentals, as folks gravitated to outdoor activities amid the second summer of the pandemic.

“I love talking to people who are just starting for the first time and learning how to paddle or get outside and hike … it’s fantastic to see,” Shone said.

Study highlights pandemic’s impact on homelessness

In July, West Broadway’s Resource Assistance for Youth released a report that outlined the connection between the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise in housing insecurity in the city.

The COVID-19 Impacts on RaY Street Outreach Activity study found there were more people living on the street than the year before. RaY observed that from 2020 to 2021, there were 800 more first-time interactions between its outreach staff and those seeking resources than the year prior.

The people behind these numbers likely represented those who were newly unsheltered, pointing to an increase in homelessness, the report explained.

RaY’s goal with the survey was to uncover how the pandemic disrupted access to housing for many Winnipeggers.

“We are looking into hopefully getting funding for a second outreach team,” Breda Vosters, RaY’s director of grants and information, said. “We’re also trying to see where some of the other gaps lie.”

August: Assiniboine Zoo boasts butterfly recovery program

While visitors enjoy the dozens of dazzling butterfly species at the Assiniboine Park Zoo’s Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden, scientific bug business was unfolding behind the scenes.

Laura Burns, a research conservation specialist with Assiniboine Park Zoo, is leading a multi-year project to breed and reintroduce the poweshiek and the Dakota skipper butterflies back to Manitoba’s ecoregions.

Burns and her team care for poweshiek and Dakota skipper caterpillars at the zoo, protecting the creatures during a crucial — and vulnerable — stage in their life cycle. The bugs will be released as butterflies in their appropriate environments around the province next summer.

“We have some really great preliminary results for the next year,” Burns said.

Cornish Library reopens to the public

The Cornish Library, located at 20 West Gate in Armstrong’s Point, welcomed back visitors in August.

The library was closed for three years while it underwent $3.47 million in renovations. Rémi Fontaine, branch head librarian, cited a nearby riverbank stabilization project as one cause for the project’s delay.

Apart from a coat of fresh white paint and the addition of contemporary fixtures, the upgrades saw the installation of a wheelchair lift, accessible washrooms, and a new reading room. The floor-to-ceiling glass reading room juts out from the library’s southwest façade and includes seating.

It was designed by Peter Sampson of Public City Architecture.

September: Indigenous-owned clothing offers cultural clothing options

April Tawipisim realized her life-long dream of becoming a business owner with the launch of Turtle Woman Indigenous Wear this summer.

Tawipisim was born in Brochet, Man., and is a member of the Barren Lands First Nation. She moved to Winnipeg last year from Thompson, Man., where she had worked and lived for most of her life. More recently, Tawipisim began to explore her identity as a Cree woman by attending powwows and sweats, along with creating art through sewing and beading.

Tawipism busied herself during the pandemic by sewing at home and had massed a collection of  skirts and jingle dresses. With a collection of creations at the ready, Tawipisim decided it was the right time to open her shop.

She and her fellow seamstresses, Dawn Flett and Marilyn Harris, now work in-store at 1116 Portage Ave. Here, the trio make ribbon skirts and shirts and regalia.

“From the feedback I’ve received, everyone has been saying, ‘Thank you for opening something like this. This is exactly what we need,’” Tawipisim said.

Federal election results razor-thin in Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley

Marty Morantz locked down his seat for another term as MP for Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headlingley, after jockeying for the top spot with a long-time political opponent, Doug Eyolfson.

Voters in the riding cast 18,111 votes for Morantz and 17,651 votes for Eyolfson. Constituents submitted nearly 3,000 mail-in ballots.

Had the margin of votes separating Morantz and Eyolfson remained less than 1/1000th of the total number of votes cast in the riding, Elections Canada would have mandated a recount. The closeness of the 2021 Canadian federal election mirrored that of 2019 when Morantz defeated Eyolfson, the then-incumbent, by 2,417 votes.

Just under two-and-a-half years into his term as MP, Morantz said he’s proud of his party’s platform and how it will serve Canadians as the nation slowly emerges from what he calls economic and personal devastation.

“I’m just excited to be getting back to Ottawa to fight for the constituents of this great riding,” Morantz said.

October: Veterans group welcomes new members

Veterans Alliance of Canada, a non-profit organization that supports healthy living for veterans, welcomes guests through the doors of its 2641 Portage Ave. location this fall.

Andrew Macleod co-founded the non-profit in 2017 when a similar group folded. Macleod served in the Canadian Forces for 34 years and retired in 2015 after being medically released.

Every Wednesday night from 6 to 8 p.m., Veterans Alliance of Canada hosts peer support meetings. The events aim to connect veterans and first-responders who share similar life experiences.

“It’s just getting them out of the house because veterans tend to isolate when they’re suffering with chronic pain or PTSD. They get triggered easily. This is a friendly environment where they just get together, no pressure, and just relax,” Macleod said.

Veterans Alliance of Canada also offers resources on medical cannabis, mental health services and benefits through Veterans Affairs Canada.

November: Art exhibit sheds light on lesser known history

Charleswood visual artist Kerri Parnell unveiled an exhibit exploring the internment of a number of ethnocultural groups on Canadian soil during the First World War. Up to 8,579 people — primarily men of Bulgarian, Croatian, Armenian, Ukrainian and Serbian descent — were interned in these camps.

Pause in Plight, on now at the Oseredok Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre (184 Alexander Ave.) until Apr. 25, 2022, features 17 art pieces, including paintings and a series of photographs taken inside the camps which Parnell enhanced using printing techniques and backlighting.

“What I realized with the research of this topic is that people that were interned a hundred years ago were affected, but it still reverberates through generations,” Parnell said.

Parnell’s exhibit is one of many art installations the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund supported through the $10 million it was allocated by the federal government in 2008, with the purpose of educating Canadians about these events.

The Leaf at Assiniboine Park aims for late 2022 opening

Punctuating the landscape at the southeast corner of Assiniboine Park, The Leaf — 6,000-square-metre horticultural attraction — is reaching its final stages of construction.

“In the middle of the winter, this will be an oasis,” said Gerald Dieleman, senior director of horticulture for Assiniboine Park Conservancy.

The Leaf, which is slated to cost an estimated $130-million, will be split into four biomes. The largest of the four, the tropical biome, will tower at six-storeys and feature what is believed to be North America’s tallest indoor water fall. The Mediterranean biome will welcome coastal fauna that are native to oceanic climates.

The Babs Asper Display House will host an ever-changing selection of floral exhibits, with the purpose of celebrating the art of horticulture. Further up The Leaf’s spindly structure, the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden will house insects year-round.

“We’re here to showcase plants that people have connections to,” Dieleman said.  “What we want is when you come and visit this facility, you feel part of it — you’re part of this landscape.”

The Leaf belongs to Assiniboine Park’s 35-acre Diversity Gardens project. The outdoor Gardens at The Leaf opened in July 2021.

December: A cornucopia of conifers

Pete’s Trees, a Wolseley-based holiday tree vendor, reopened to the public following its hiatus last Christmas owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An hour before the business opened for its first shift on Dec. 1, customers lined up outside the lot, eager to snap up their favourite tree.

The lot’s operators Robin Bryan and Raia Bryan offered up nearly 700 trees of various species to choose from. The siblings’ collection included balsam fir from Nova Scotia and Quebec and a shipment of award-winning product from North Battleford-based McKay tree farms.

“We’ve really doubled our efforts and went to new heights to get these trees in,” Robin said.

The siblings organized Pete’s Trees as a winter market this year. The pair stocked the shop with handmade goods from local artisans. Raia sold a collection of wreaths she crafted from plant materials foraged from around the city and province, including along the banks of the Red River.

“They’ve been kind of my labour of love,” Raia said.

Shortly after Pete’s Trees opened, customers toted away their holiday trees down snow-dusted Wolseley streets — some by car, others by sleigh, and a few carried their purchases away on foot.

Railway museum closes to public

The Winnipeg Railway Museum is closing to the public on Dec. 31, creating an uncertain future for its collection.

City of Winnipeg inspectors reviewed the museum and found that the space does not meet current codes, said museum president Gary Stempnick. Via Rail Canada — the company that owns the station in which the museum is located — has not agreed to foot the cash needed to bring the space up to code. Via Rail Canada has afforded the museum roughly two years to find a new home.

One of the artifacts that will more than likely need to be re-homed is Streetcar 356, which is believed to be the last remaining wooden streetcar built in Winnipeg. Heritage Winnipeg, under the direction of executive director Cindy Tugwell, has been advocating for the protection of Streetcar 356 since the 1980s.

Heritage Winnipeg is undertaking a restoration project to transform the car, which is almost entirely in its original state (apart from some early stage refurbishing).

The Winnipeg Railway Museum must find a new 40,000-square-foot building that suits its needs if it wants to reopen with much of its current collection.

Anyone who would like to help the museum, financially or otherwise, can contact Stempnick at 204-669-3303. Heritage Winnipeg welcomes donations for its restoration of Streetcar 356. Those interested can contact Tugwell at 204-942-2663.