A bridge to success
Repair project builds skills, boosts self-esteem
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Dillyn Cook beams with pride in front of the Pembina Highway bridge he helped spruce up.
Cook, 20, is part of Step Up Construction, a social enterprise that provides construction training to inner-city youth. After joining the program as a self-described North End kid with an “unstable” home life looking for meaningful work, his first big job was working on the Pembina Highway Bridge over the La Salle River.
On Friday, a gathering was held to mark the completion of the project, which began last year.
MALAK ABAS / FREE PRESS
Dillyn Cook, 20, is part of Step Up Construction, a training program that hires inner-city youth. He worked on the rehabilitation of the Pembina Highway bridge over the La Salle River.
Cook said he’s excited to see the fruits of his labour.
“Being at a job like this, this for sure, most definitely helped my life and my family,” he said Friday, while looking at the bridge. “Especially, just being outside, that helps your mental health, and helps your mindset by working and doing the productive things in life that you’re supposed to be doing.”
The project, led by bridge construction company Pier Solutions, involved repairing the concrete barriers and flower planters, resurfacing the bridge deck and sidewalk at the nearby Pembina Highway and Rue de Trappistes intersection.
Pier Solutions announced Friday it had been awarded the 2025 Transportation Association of Canada’s Workforce Development Achievement Award for its focus on inclusive hiring and social procurement practices.
Pier Solutions CEO Jeana Manning said the award and the success of the project are proof “when you take care of people first, revenue and profit take care of themselves.”
“It takes a village to create this level of transformation in inner-city communities, and today we are witnessing the strength of this model… this is only the beginning of what we can achieve when we put people first and when we build bridges,” she said.
Mayor Scott Gillingham, pointing to a nearby mural of Louis Riel, called the work being recognized Friday a step toward reconciliation.
“I don’t think it’s insignificant that today we mark the opportunities that so many young men and women from Winnipeg’s great North End have achieved here and have had opportunities to grow and to learn and to participate fully in the economy.”
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
Every piece of reporting Malak 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.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
Every piece of reporting Malak 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.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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