The View from the West

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

A dream came true on Selkirk Avenue

By: Colleen Simard

Posted: 01/9/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

So I've been packing up and hauling out boxes for the last week, moving Urban NDN out of its digs on the corner of Salter Street and Selkirk Avenue. Yes, the rumours are true -- Urban NDN is closing its doors.

It's been a tough battle these last few years, and I tried a lot of different tactics to keep the newspaper going. But the little paper that could -- that's how I always thought of it -- could not withstand the pressures of competing for shrinking advertising dollars that have been the curse of many a newspaper.

Think of Urban NDN as a microcosm of what the big newspapers are going through. Since 2007, newspapers have been struggling to survive in a world where online media is thriving. Sadly, I'm in good company, though I wish the circumstances could have been better.

Adding to the pressures of limited advertising revenue is the fact that I was ill for awhile. Now I'm recovering and trying to get better. But it was a wake-up call. Many wise people have told me over the years, "You have to take care of your health because it's the most important gift you have." So now I'm listening again.

I've learned a lot over the past couple of years. I've learned sticking to your principles often comes at a cost. Early on, I received numerous emails from political candidates asking me to write a favourable story about them in return for advertising when and if they were elected.

But we were not for sale.

By the same token, we didn't want to be a Conservative paper, an NDP or Liberal paper, or a mouthpiece for any of the aboriginal political organizations.

We wanted to be pro-aboriginal, that's all. And we never got a penny of free aboriginal money people think every aboriginal business gets.

Urban NDN was just a group of people with passion for our job, and a belief that a newspaper should serve the people and document the community as honestly as it could. That's why we borrowed the Morningstar logo to represent us.

Oh yeah, we rattled the cages of quite a few chiefs and leaders. One of my contacts alleged we were blacklisted by one of their main organizations. But did we care? Not really. Our paper wasn't for them anyway; it was for the people.

Free of charge, Urban NDN was a rainbow of voices, full of wit, style, cheekiness, humour, intelligence and fire. It's everything we are; if only others got to know us better, they'd see it.

I learned how it feels to deliver newspapers to people who were always happy to see the newest edition, and I've been able to watch strangers thumb through a copy and start reading.

So will Urban NDN ever return? I'm not sure if that's going to be an option, but who knows? There's always hope -- and a website that I've been working on getting up and going.

All I do know is I had a dream many years ago about being down here on Selkirk Avenue. You know what? It may have only been for a short time, but my dream did come true.

I'm going to miss our Selkirk Avenue office and the people I worked with along the way, all the amazing writers, storytellers and people who literally came out of the woodwork and who make this community so lively. And all the youth who graced our pages with their brave voices and creativity.

To our readers, I hope that while we were in your lives we entertained you and enlightened you. I was privileged to be able to put out your paper for awhile. I hope you remember us well.

colleen.simard@gmail.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 9, 2010 A15

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