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Hi, and welcome to Business Weekly. I joined the Winnipeg Free Press as a business reporter in 1989, and for the last 25 years have been working mainly behind the scenes as a copy editor, production editor and, for nine years, automotive editor.
One of my first stories for the Free Press led to the creation of the Aboriginal Centre of Winnipeg at the old Canadian Pacific station on Higgins Avenue. The historic landmark, built in 1904 and through which waves of immigrants came to build this city, was for sale, listed by realtor Joe Diner.
I was assigned to write a story, but it went beyond that: after Diner mentioned he thought First Nations groups might be interested in the building as a cultural centre, training centre or for offices, I reached out to Wayne Helgason, who was then executive director of Ma Ma Wi Chi Itata. I could almost hear the light bulb going off above his head as we spoke. Shortly after, he connected with Diner and in December 1992, history was made.
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It’s an ironic result, considering the role the station played in the colonization of Canada. Today, the Neeginan Centre houses the Neeginan College of Applied Technology, the Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg, Shinnecock Native Printers, Canadian Plains Gallery, the Aboriginal Community Campus and the Centre for Aboriginal Human Resource Development.
Today, I’ve been tapped to bring you this weekly newsletter about the city’s thriving business community.
Each week, I’ll be dropping by your inbox with notes on the previous week in business, from our top business stories to interesting anecdotes and some analysis.
If you have thoughts about what you’d like to see in this newsletter, if you are organizing an upcoming event we should include or if you know about something our Business section should cover, reply to this email or drop me a line at kelly.taylor@winnipegfreepress.com.
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