Ouellette seeks to put spotlight on city anniversary

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This article was published 17/10/2022 (1104 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Celebrating Winnipeg will be a top priority in 2023, if Robert-Falcon Ouellette is elected mayor.

The candidate plans to spearhead a summer full of “Winnipeg 150” events next year, marking 150 years since the city was incorporated in 1873.

“I think it’s an opportunity to invite old Winnipeggers back to the city to celebrate, to encourage arts and culture in our downtown core,” Ouellette said Monday.

The candidate did not offer a cost estimate for the celebration, which he expects would largely take place next summer. He envisions a slate of events, many of them free to attend, while still large and exciting enough to attract tourists and boost surrounding businesses.

The celebrations could also highlight Indigenous culture, said Ouellette.

“We haven’t done a very good job of promoting Indigenous tourism in this city. There are so many people out in the neighbourhood who’ve got these amazing skills… who dance extremely well and sing Indigenous songs. International visitors would love to see and experience this authentic part of Winnipeg.”

A Winnipeg 150 planning committee would create events meant to welcome ex-Winnipeggers back home and help Winnipeg “reconnect” with its “sister cities” in other countries. A “Freedom of the city” ceremony could also honour military units through a parade.

The committee would collaborate with multiple local arts and culture organizations, including the Winnipeg Symphony, Folklorama and Royal Winnipeg Ballet, to help plan events, he said.

Elsewhere, candidate Jenny Motkaluk is pulling out of a mayoral forum hosted by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

On Oct. 3, Motkaluk repeated her pledge to fire several The Forks board of directors members should she become mayor, and promised to return July 1 programming at the downtown Winnipeg site she claimed had been cancelled as a result of the “woke mob.”

The Forks made changes to its Canada Day celebrations this year, renaming the event “A New Day.”

In a statement Oct. 5, AMC said: “There is nothing negative about bringing the truth to light – and if certain individuals wish to ignore that fact and remain stuck in the past – we will move forward without them and welcome those who wish to walk forward in truth with us.”

On Monday, Motkaluk said she will not participate in a candidates’ forum planned by AMC for Oct. 22, claiming she had been attacked on social media for her stance.

“The AMC is clear in its intentions: seeking to divide Winnipeggers based on who accepts only their version of truth — a truth that not only admits Canada Day was cancelled, but that says Canada should never have existed, and that Canadians who don’t agree with it will also be cancelled,” she said in a three-page open letter.

There are 11 candidates on the mayoral ballot. Winnipeggers vote for a new mayor and council Oct. 26.

— with files from Malak Abas

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga