journey east: days 14 and 15

As was the case when I arrived in Lethbridge to stay with Heather and Barry, my arrival in Winnipeg to hang out with Dad once again marks the start of a period of no writing. I am not sure what distinction I drew between being on the road and staying with family that meant one condition was for writing and one wasn't. Whatever, I think part of it was that I just wanted to hang-out. Oh, and I might also be a bit lazy when I am living in a house.

This was my first visit to Winnipeg as an adult. I was there in the '70's when we made our cross-Canada trip as a family. I was seven-years-old at the time and my only recollection is standing outside a phone both - the parents would periodically call east to see that all was well and on this occasion we learned a tropical storm had ravaged Halifix, and I missed it, argh - engulfed in a cloud of mosquitoes. In fact, I think a pack of them tried to carry me off, prompting the parents to declare Winnipeg's downtown Hudson's Bay Co. store a significant cultural site worth visiting. We spent the day. I did pass through on my way to Vancouver in 1996, and yes I was an adult then, but it hardly counts as a visit. The train rolled in, stopped, gained some passengers, lost some passengers, and rolled out. All in a very neat, orderly, and timely process. My only real recollection of that brief stay was the announced temperature of -35c.

Considering both these past brushes with the city involved two of the more unfavourable, yet highly iconic traits of Winnipeg - some might even call them qualities - it's a wonder I didn't avoid the place all together. But family does have a strong pull and I was looking forward to seeing the community dad had chosen to call home.

Winnipeg is a fair sized city and in my short time there I saw only a sliver of it. And, as seemed only fitting, it was the iconic I was interested in, though even at that I missed the Manitoba Legislature, considered by many to be the finest legislative building in the country with its golden boy perched at the top of the cupola. So I made a journey to Portage and Main, that place of cold northern winds, which for my visit was a hot sunny day. From a distance I saw Winnipeg stadium, home of the Blue Bombers.


St. Boniface College, Winnipeg.

I also visited St. Bonifice College. Still operating only in french, the school in downtown Winnipeg is a testament to the significance of the french on early Manitoban development. Adjacent to it is St. Boniface Cathedral which was built in 1908, but burned almost to the ground in 1968. A new cathedral was built within and around the ruins of the old one.


"[Louise Riel] portrayed as a man in bondage who sacrificed himself for his principles and his country." - written on a plaque at the foot of the statue which now stands on the grounds of St. Bonifice College.

"All that I have done and risked, and to which I have exposed myself, rested certainly on the conviction that I was called upon to do something for my country." - Loiuse Riel, July 31, 1885

Three and a half months after making the above statement to the court, Riel was hanged in Regina, Saskatchewan for treason. Though the actions of Riel and the Red River rebellion are more than a century in the past, Riel still is able to cause controversy. A stylized statue of him, gaunt with sunken cheeks and eyes, was installed on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislature in 1970 that raised many eyebrows. It was replaced in 1991 by a statue that was "more representative, one more in keeping with Louise Riel's role as a statesman."