MMF official calls on city to reconsider pool closure

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This article was published 16/03/2024 (582 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An elected official representing thousands of Métis people living in St. Boniface says they are unhappy about proposed plans to close the Happyland Pool.

Andrew Carrier, vice-president of the Winnipeg region of the Manitoba Métis Federation, is urging the mayor and councillors to reconsider closing the pool at Marion and Archibald Streets.

“If I have to, we can get people to go to City Hall to express our opinion,” Carrier said on Friday.

“We pay taxes and we pay our fair share of taxes there. It would be devastating to close this pool.”

Carrier said he has heard first hand from many Métis citizens about “the profound impact” the pool has had on the community.

“It serves as more than just a recreational facility,” he said. “It is a symbol of unity, joy, and shared memories for generations of residents.

“Not everyone can afford to go to the lake.”

Carrier said the pool attracts Métis people from two of the MMF’s 18 Locals in the city with about 7,000 residents living there or about one-third of the Métis population in the city.

He has sent a letter to Mayor Scott Gillingham asking him to reconsider the proposal.

In a statement, Gillingham said “the city has a very open budget process.

“We welcome all feedback,” he said. “We are working with Coun. (Matt) Allard to explore options for the aquatic facilities in St. Boniface.”

City council is set to approve its budget on Wednesday.

According to the Winnipeg Architecture Foundation’s website, the outdoor pool, at 520 Marion St., opened in 1962 and was designed by architect Nikola Zunic.

The foundation says the pool is surrounded by a concrete suntan area with a small building constructed of painted concrete block “laid in a textured pattern reminiscent of stylized waves. A children’s wading pool was built in a separate enclosure beside the site.

Zunic, who died in 2006, also designed the Niakwa Park subdivision, helping save many trees by putting the sidewalks around them, as well as more than 35 schools, and several churches including the St. Alphonsus Roman Catholic Church on Munroe Avenue and Holy Family Ukrainian Catholic Church on Grant Avenue.

He also designed the St. James Civic Centre on Ness Avenue.

Allard said he has been fighting to save both the Happyland Pool and the Windsor Park Pool ever since they became targets for closure in this year’s proposed budget.

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He said he doesn’t believe other city councillors have the will to save Happyland so, at a meeting of executive policy committee on Friday, he became emotional while asking for support in keeping Windsor Park open for two more years while the city holds consultations about opening a new aquatic centre in St. Boniface.

“I broke down and cried for the first time in my career,” Allard said.

“I’ve been fighting tooth and nail for these pools… unless something significant changes, I don’t think council is willing to support Happyland at this time.”

Allard said with the closure of the Happyland Pool, as well as the plans to also shutter the outdoor Windsor Park Pool, residents of St. Boniface will have gone from having five pools just five years ago to two. The Norwood Pool was demolished in 2019.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.