Manitoba's Olympic pavilion set to 'showcase province'

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CentrePlace Manitoba

MANITOBA is taking centre stage at the Vancouver Winter Olympics -- literally.

Plans for CentrePlace Manitoba, the province's 2,560-square-foot pavilion situated in the middle of Canada's pavilions, were unveiled Friday in Winnipeg.

"It's a unique opportunity to showcase the province and its people," said Manitoba Sports Minister Eric Robinson. The province has budgeted $2.3 million for the pavilion and its exhibits. CentrePlace Manitoba will be located adjacent to Canada's pavilion and across from the four host First Nations pavilion in downtown Vancouver. Three of the four host First Nations' chiefs from Vancouver's Lower Mainland joined Robinson in Winnipeg for Friday's announcement.

"You're in a great location," said Tewanee Joseph, executive director of the four host First Nations.

"It's the only arrangement we have with a province in this country," he said.

Last March in British Columbia, Robinson joined the representatives of the Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations and signed an agreement to work together to develop opportunities and legacies for aboriginal people, especially youth.

Thirty-one aboriginal youths from Manitoba are attending the 2010 Indigenous Youth Gathering the Four Host First Nations and the Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee are hosting.

This week, Robinson presented the Four Host First Nations leaders visiting Winnipeg with an eagle staff that will be hung in the First Nations' pavilion. For the first time, First Nations have a say in Olympics being held in this country and are equal participants, said Robinson.

It's important for visitors to know that the Four Host First Nations are involved in and support the Vancouver Games, he said.

For Manitoba, they're an opportunity to promote tourism, economic development, trade, immigration and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

The museum's exhibit in CentrePlace Manitoba will take up about one-fifth of the pavilion, said Patrick O'Reilly, chief operating officer of the museum. It will have a scale model of the museum, information and an interactive feature inviting visitors to demonstrate, O'Reilly said. A placard says "Everyone has the right to (blank)". People can fill in the blank, hold up the placard and have their photograph taken as a souvenir, he said.

Manitoba has budgeted $6.4 million for all its Olympic and Paralympic activities. That includes $2.3 million for the pavilion, funding to send 30 artists and groups to take part in the Cultural Olympiad in Vancouver Jan. 22 to March 21, and for sporting events and torch runs in 35 Manitoba communities, starting this weekend in Thompson and Churchill.

Construction of CentrePlace Manitoba, designed by Winnipeg's Cibinel Architects Ltd., starts next month.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 7, 2009 A7