City politicians drawn into battle over Lemay Forest in St. Norbert, police stay out of fray

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This article was published 08/01/2025 (284 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The pitched battle over the fate of St. Norbert’s Lemay Forest was being fought on several fronts Wednesday as activists prevented the developer’s planner from accessing the property at one spot, a work crew got in at another and cut down some trees and a city councillor called on the mayor and premier to expropriate the land.

Some area residents have fought to save the trees on the land amid concerns about potential unmarked graves of Métis children and others in a former Catholic orphanage cemetery and the protection of bird habitat.

The landowner, Tochal Development Group, has sought approval to build a large assisted-living facility. Council rejected the plan, but the developer intends to appeal the decision before the provincial government Municipal Board in February.

“It’s come to a crisis point, we need this to get resolved,” said Louise May, a spokeswoman for the Coalition to Save the Lemay Forest, prior to the arrival of a work crew Wednesday morning.

Development planner John Wintrup arrived at the access point with a dump truck and skid-steer equipment operator just after 9:30 a.m. but did not make it past the protesters. Another work crew gained access in another area earlier and began felling trees.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Sarah Inness granted an interim injunction request last week, ordering defendants suspected to have protested at the property to leave and refrain from blocking the property’s owner from accessing it through an easement over city-owned land.

At a contested hearing Monday, the developer’s lawyer sought to bar the group that is opposed to the development from the adjacent city-owned land. Inness ruled Monday protesters are allowed to remain there but, again, said they could not impede access.

Wintrup and the equipment operator tried to get through three times Wednesday, but May said they were waiting for police to arrive to discuss the matter. Police did not show up, but were apparently in the area.

The situation grew heated, as protesters and Wintrup argued, people on both sides recorded video and May repeatedly called police.

She said the group wanted police to enforce provincial cemeteries legislation concerning tree-cutting in graveyards.

Kevin Toyne, lawyer for the developer, declined to comment on his client’s next steps Wednesday afternoon.

Protesters have an Indigenous sacred fire burning on the adjacent city land. The developer has granted one man access to its property to conduct Indigenous sweat lodges and other ceremony — and Wintrup said the owner will allow access to others, too — though the protesters said some individuals haven’t been able to get on the land for that purpose.

Wintrup said the contractors have been made aware of a buffer zone where graves are thought to be and that the developer has sought to mark graves.

Ian Histed, the lawyer for some group members, unsuccessfully argued in court Monday that the judge should halt tree-cutting based on cemetery legislation and federal migratory bird legislation.

The group intends to file an injunction of its own this week based on those issues, May said.

“Then it will be the other side that’s in contempt,” she said, adding she is also hoping governments expropriate the land to be used as a park.

Protesters and environmental groups argue the developer has not done a proper sweep for pileated woodpeckers on the land, contrary to federal legislation. Wintrup has said there is no evidence of the birds.

Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt, who met with protesters Wednesday morning, told reporters there that Coun. Markus Chambers (St. Norbert-Seine River) was pushing for the municipal government to expropriate the land, but Chambers later said he had not planned to put forward such a motion at a Wednesday meeting of the city’s Riel community committee.

“Councillor Wyatt is a little premature in his comments,” Chambers told the Free Press.

Chambers said he and other councillors are focused on taking part in negotiations with other levels of government to take on the land in a way that would be “responsible with the public purse.”

Chambers criticized the owner for cutting trees while negotiations are underway, saying he thinks it demonstrates a lack of good faith.

“The community wants to see the forest intact, nothing has been approved for development, there’s no need to cut those trees,” he said. “That’s the piece that I’m really frustrated with right now, and all levels of government are.”

Mayor Scott Gillingham said he would not support a motion to expropriate the land and he would continue “keeping dialogue with people behind the scenes.”

“It seems like every time a politician opens their mouth about Lemay Forest, the price seems to go up,” he said. “So I think we all need to be very cautious about our steps here.”

After learning no motion was put forward, Wyatt wrote a letter to Premier Wab Kinew and Gillingham urging them to push expropriation and to personally contact landowner Mazyar Yahyapour to stop cutting down trees in the interim.

A spokesman for the premier did not address questions regarding expropriation in a brief statement that referenced funds the province previously contributed to an offer to buy the land.

The Manitoba Habitat Conservancy made that public offer for about $5.25 million with help from the provincial and federal governments, but Wintrup and Toyne have said the figure is too low, citing the land’s $8-million market price.

Wintrup said Wednesday the figure and conditions placed on it by the conservancy do not represent a “real offer.”

He added that expropriation is a lengthy process.

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“By then, I’m not sure how many more trees are going to be on the property, we’re cutting away as a judge said we can do,” he said.

“This is private property, the owner has a right to do what they want… the owner simply has had enough of residents who’ve been using this private space for their own personal use to somehow claim it as their own — you don’t own it, he does.”

Tanner Banas, a spokesman for the conservancy, said Wednesday the organization has yet to receive a formal response from Tochal Development Group regarding its offer.

— With files from Malak Abas

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik 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.