St. Boniface is where my heart is

St. Boniface

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/10/2023 (767 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

St. Boniface has been an important part of my life since I first moved here as a teenager running away to find refuge.

From the late 1970s to the late ’80s. I found that peace in this neighbourhood. I managed, as an underage worker, to secure employment cleaning for nuns in a convent, then later for clients through a maid service, and after that labelling books in the old St. Boniface Library, on rue de la Cathédrale.

I found my first boyfriends here, my first husband and my first community. There were countless firsts here. I went back to school loving every minute at l’Université de St-Boniface.

I lived in all kinds of character-filled apartments on La Verendrye, Des Meurons, Provencher, and de la Morenie, all the French-named streets my anglophone friends joked they could never pronounce. In 1990, I left St. Boniface to do other things and experience other neighbourhoods.

Fast-forward 30 years.It’s the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, and I’ve moved back to the locale that had always felt so comfortable in my younger life.

For three-and-a-half years my partner and I made our home in a century-old tiny upper duplex on rue Horace. I remember the landlord showing it to us — barely 500 square feet. How would we ever make it work in such a confined space? The two of us and our three cats with big personalities. But it was bright and the windows from three directions brought in so much light. It felt like home, and it was.

Over the years we’ve missed inviting people for visits. We could never have more than two people come over at the same time. Our tiny refuge has served its time and purpose. For the last few weeks we’ve been looking for a new space in which to create a home for the next chapter of our lives.

And we found it, in a church across from a park near a vegan eatery. What better place to find another sanctuary? The story is a beautiful one that requires a much longer word count than I have here. But here’s a short and simple summary of what I appreciate most about it.

A couple wanted to save a beautiful old church and adjacent hall from being demolished. So they put all the resources they could into buying it, restoring it, and creating a unique and stunning space, giving it a new life in the form of six private apartments enveloped by gardens. It’s an outstanding piece of art and design. The apartments offer a perfect combination of the beauty of heritage and the ease of new appliances and conveniences. It’s thoughtfully constructed with sustainability in mind, and feels strong, solid and well-loved.

We are excited and grateful to be part of something both old and new, a vision that includes the preservation and restoration of an important piece of history, with a focus on kindness to the earth at its core. Home is where the heart is and it remains in St. Boniface.