A legacy cast in bronze

Janice Filmon has a new accolade to add to the list of honours she’s received over the years.

The volunteer, philanthropist and former lieutenant-governor of Manitoba was inducted into the Winnipeg Citizens Hall of Fame on Wednesday. A bronze bust of Filmon was unveiled in Assiniboine Park, where it joins 51 others near the Leaf.

“It’s exciting,” Filmon said. “I don’t remember being so surprised in my adult life as I was when I was told that this was happening.”

In addition to serving as Manitoba’s 25th lieutenant-governor from 2015 to 2022, Filmon has chaired the Nellie McClung Foundation, the CancerCare Manitoba Foundation and co-chaired Leadership Winnipeg.

She served as festival chair for the 1999 Pan Am Games and has been active on many local boards, including Manitoba ALIVE, the Winnipeg Airports Authority, Reh-Fit Centre, the Manitoba Heart Foundation and the Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice.

Filmon credits her community service in part to her father. “He was very civic minded,” she said.

Her father died following a heart attack and her mother died from cancer, so Filmon got involved with organizations dedicated to heart health and fighting cancer. Things snowballed from there.

“(You get involved) where you are,” she said. “Your kids are involved in things, you’re at the school and then… there’s a natural, almost organic way that things move along.”

It’s never felt like work, Filmon added. “It was just meeting a need and being with people.”

Filmon has received at least a dozen dedications and honours in recognition of her efforts, including her inductions into the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba. The breadth of her community service made her a natural fit for the Citizens Hall of Fame, said Cliff King, who chairs the selection committee.

“Nobody can really even question the contributions she’s made to our city and our province through the years,” he said. “It’s amazing.”

About 150 hours of work went into creating the bust of Filmon, said Madeleine Vrignon, the Winnipeg-based artist who was commissioned to create the bronze monument.

Vrignon visited Filmon at her home to take photos and measurements before creating the bust. It depicts her wearing the same jacket she wore when she met Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in 2016.

“She’s very chatty and we laughed a lot, which was fun,” said Vrignon, who has created 14 other busts for the hall of fame over the last two decades.

Seated beside Filmon during the unveiling was her husband of more than 60 years, former Manitoba premier Gary Filmon.

“I couldn’t be more proud of her,” he said. “She deserves all the recognition that she receives. She’s been an amazing contributor to the betterment of our city and our province.”

“She has a way of connecting with people and has made friends all over the world,” he added. “Janice traveled with me a lot in my time in office and she made friends everywhere. People still keep in touch because of Janice’s ability to relate to them.”

The Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board founded the Citizens Hall of Fame in 1986.

The criteria for induction “requires that the individual must have brought recognition to Winnipeg or have made outstanding contributions to the quality of life and development of the city,” the organization said.

Previous inductees include Carol Shields, Terry Fox and Murray Sinclair.

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca