Provincial parks in your backyard

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/11/2010 (5427 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Memorial Provincial Park
Hyland Provincial Park
Duff Roblin Provincial Park
Trappist Monastery Provincial Park

My journey to visit all of Manitoba’s 77 road-accessible provincial parks has taken me thousands of kilometres from Winnipeg to every corner of the province. When people think of provincial parks, they think of a getaway from their urban habitat, so it may surprise most people that Winnipeg is home to several provincial parks. This past weekend, I travelled from one end of Winnipeg to the other to visit three existing parks and the future home of another.

The first stop was Memorial Provincial Park, located just north of the Legislative Building. The park is nestled between Memorial Boulevard and Osborne Street, spanning from Broadway to York Avenue. Memorial Park was created as a provincial park in 1962, but there is much more history to the site.

In 1925, the City of Winnipeg began construction of Memorial Boulevard, between Portage and York avenues. A few years later, in 1928, a cenotaph was constructed at the corner of Memorial and York to honour the Canadian soldiers who died during the First World War. The cenotaph was later rededicated to honour those who died serving Canada during the Second World War and the Korean War.

A park had been planned to complement the new boulevard, but the land was owned by the University of Manitoba, preventing it from getting built. When the university began to move its downtown classes and faculties to the Fort Garry campus in the late 1950s, a park along Memorial Boulevard became a possibility again.

In 1961, Premier Duff Roblin created Memorial Provincial Park to honour Canadian soldiers. The park was officially opened the following year.

The park’s main feature is a large pool and fountain on the York Avenue side of the park. During the summer this fountain is a popular place for office workers to relax and eat their lunch. It’s also a popular place for kids to cool of on hot summer days. When I was there, the pool had already been emptied for the year, but the views of the Legislature were still striking.

After visiting Memorial Provincial Park, I headed north along Henderson Highway to the bedroom community of East St. Paul, where Hyland Provincial Park is located. This small provincial park is located five kilometres north of Winnipeg, between Henderson Highway and the Red River.

In the early 20th century, river boats like the SS Keenora, Winnitoba, and Bonitoba made stops at the park before turning back to Winnipeg. Today, the park consists of a well-used boat launch and several tennis courts. Like many provincial parks, it has been closed for the winter.

My next stop was clear across Winnipeg, in St. Norbert, where Trappist Monastery Provincial Park preserves the ruins of the Our Lady of the Prairies Monastery, which burned down in 1983.

The cathedral and surrounding residences were home to the Trappist monks of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. The monks lived a life of prayer, contemplation, and hard work at their remote home along the banks of the La Salle River. They resided at the site from 1892 until 1978, when they relocated to Holland, Man., to escape encroaching urban development. The ruins of the monastery are currently fenced off to the public as restoration work is ongoing.

The last stop of the day was at the new site of Duff Roblin Provincial Park. The park — created in 1999, honouring the late former premier who was responsible for the creation of the Winnipeg Floodway — was originally located along the floodway on the northeast section of the Perimeter Highway.

However, in 2009, the province announced that the park would be “moved” and redeveloped in St. Norbert, at the site of the floodway inlet control structure. Currently under construction, the park is slated to open in 2011, and will include a 15-metre observation tower that will provide a bird’s-eye view of Duff’s Ditch.

It was great to be able to stick close to home this past weekend and visit a few provincial parks. With these four parks visited, only four of the 77 road-accessible provincial parks remain to be explored.

Next on my list is Hecla/Grindstone Provincial Park.

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Parks visited in today’s post:

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