RBC adds Main Street branch to Winnipeg Centre cut list

Shortly after a Royal Bank of Canada branch is scheduled to close in the West End, another will shutter downtown.

The RBC near Winnipeg city hall — at 540 Main St. — is slated for closure by July 18. A poster inside the branch directs customers to a Royal Bank location across from Portage Place.

The Main Street RBC is, minimally, the fifth bank branch to close in the federal riding of Winnipeg Centre over the past four years.

“This is not an issue that people deal with in affluent neighbourhoods,” said New Democrat MP Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre).

A Bank of Montreal branch at 1596 Ness Ave. closed this year; in 2024, a CIBC site and an HSBC location shuttered on St. Mary Avenue; RBC closed its 885 Portage Ave. site in 2021.

Another RBC — at 588 Sargent Ave. — is scheduled to close after July 10.

“People need a place to bank,” Gazan said. “I understand that there are some challenges in our area. However, we still have rights as consumers to have access to banking.”

Thousands of people live in the nearby Exchange District, she noted. The RBC by Portage Place is roughly 1.5 kilometres away from the Main Street branch.

Gazan wrote a letter to Canada’s finance minister after learning of the pending Sargent Avenue closure. She asked for Financial Consumer Agency of Canada intervention.

By midday Wednesday, she hadn’t heard back from Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Gazan said.

RBC didn’t specify its reason for the Main Street nor Sargent Avenue closures. It sent an identical statement despite being asked by the Free Press about different branches on different days.

Closure decisions are made “after careful consideration of how we can best serve our clients in the market,” spokesperson Sandy Kwong said in the statement.

She pointed to alternatives like telephone, online and mobile banking, and ATMs.

Critics say the closures make banking inaccessible to seniors, vulnerable people and those who don’t own vehicles.

Brenda Bird joined a steady flow of traffic entering the RBC branch on Main Street on Wednesday. She passed people experiencing homelessness on her way in; community foot patrols had recently stopped by, handing out water bottles.

“I kind of understand where (RBC is) coming from,” Bird said. The Portage Avenue branch is less convenient, Bird added, but she’ll trek there anyways in the future.

In her letter, Gazan outlined the demographics of Winnipeg Centre: it’s diverse, with many immigrants, Indigenous people, seniors and young families.

“The closure of bank branches leaves our low-income neighbours more vulnerable to predatory lenders and exploitative cheque-cashing operations,” Gazan wrote.

She was echoed by NDP MLA Uzoma Asagwara (Union Station) and Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre).

The provincial government asked the Public Utilities Board to review payday lenders last year. It’s now combing through recommendations, Asagwara said in a statement Monday.

The latest announced closure falls inside the Point Douglas ward. The province pointed to Asagwara’s previous note; Coun. Vivian Santos didn’t respond to an interview request by print deadline.

“Nothing’s really been done to deal with (payday lenders),” Gazan asserted. “People that don’t have transportation … are more vulnerable to these lending agencies that feed off the suffering of people who are struggling.”

The average income in Winnipeg Centre — $39,120 — is the lowest among Manitoba ridings, per Elections Canada data.

Meanwhile, a group of West End community members are preparing to protest near the Sargent Avenue RBC on Thursday.

Organizer Cheryl Martens plans to circulate petitions during the event, which is set for 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The group has roughly 10 paper petitions and a goal of 500 signatures.

Martens called the Main Street RBC closure “disgraceful.”

“It’s starting to kind of hit home for me,” Martens said. “What are we supposed to do when there’s nothing making (the banks) be responsive?”

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com