
Cheryl Girard
West Kildonan community correspondent
Cheryl Girard is a community correspondent for West Kildonan.
Recent articles by Cheryl Girard
Saying farewell to James Corden
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, May. 10, 2023Ten uplifting, inspiring movies
3 minute read Preview Thursday, Mar. 30, 2023Ten books to inspire your life
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Feb. 15, 202310 songs to comfort and inspire
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023Festive Christmas recipes
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022Vulnerable still in danger from COVID-19
2 minute read Preview Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022It’s been a tough slog. Actually that’s an understatement. It’s been dark, extraordinarily stressful and depressing for all of us since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
June is MG month in Manitoba
2 minute read Preview Thursday, Jun. 16, 2022Comfort food for uncomfortable times
3 minute read Preview Thursday, Apr. 28, 2022Weeping for Ukrainian relatives
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Mar. 16, 2022When I was a child, I used to doodle quite a bit. Sometimes it was a picture of me with a line drawn down the middle.
It was my way of trying to understand who I was, I guess. Being a child, I saw myself as half English and half Ukrainian – literally.
My dad was Ukrainian, and my mother was English. Both my parents went through the Second World War. Like many who went through the war years, they didn’t talk about it.
Today there is another war going on and I knew I had to write about this new war as I can think of little else, even though I write a week before this will be printed
A voice for the immunocompromised
5 minute read Preview Monday, Jan. 31, 2022Mmm, mmm… tourtière
3 minute read Preview Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021Aah… the soothing power of music
3 minute read Preview Friday, Nov. 26, 2021Saturday breakfasts with Dad
3 minute read Preview Friday, Oct. 29, 2021A pleasant distraction in difficult times
3 minute read Preview Friday, Oct. 1, 2021There’s still a long way to go — stay safe
3 minute read Preview Friday, Jul. 16, 2021June is Myasthenia Gravis Awareness Month
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Jun. 15, 2021Since June is Myasthenia Gravis Awareness Month in Canada and the U.S., I thought I would write a little something to help bring a little more awareness to this disease. There is so much research needed.
It has been about five years since I was diagnosed with MG and I have to say that the struggle is ongoing. I have been waiting to try a different, stronger medication but the wait has been months now.
All of the fears and worries surrounding this COVID-19 pandemic have only increased in the last few weeks and they exacerbate all kinds of illnesses for people, making them that much difficult to deal with.
MG is a rare, neurological autoimmune disease that causes weakness in muscles that we normally take for granted. Although it varies, the muscles involved usually include those used for breathing, speech, swallowing, vision and often arms and legs.
The Kildonans should have a pedestrian bridge
3 minute read Preview Thursday, Apr. 22, 2021Being outdoors and being able to walk outside has become more and more important during the COVID-19 pandemic.
And there is so much more that can be done to make our city easier and more enjoyable to walk in, while at the same time making it more beautiful.
I’ve written about this before but it definitely bears repeating. One place that always comes to mind is the historic but sadly neglected Bergen Cut-Off Bridge that spans the Red River near our popular Kildonan Park.
The old steel structure was built in 1913 for the Canadian Pacific Railway and has sat basically unused since about 1928.
Supporting our local restaurants
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Mar. 23, 2021Time to support our local restaurants
3 minute read Preview Friday, Feb. 19, 2021Our options for going out have been restricted for months now. It seems like it’s been an eternity. But, of course, it’s all been necessary to reduce the number of COVID-19 cases in Manitoba.
We’ve mostly been cooking at home. Since my husband retired he seems to have taken a liking to cooking more and more.
To take our minds off the beastly cold winter, my bouts with illness and the continuous isolation, we have started to order takeout once in a while from local restaurants. We are also trying to support local businesses as they have been going through their own struggles.
With that in mind, here is just one recommendation for a local restaurant we have ordered from. Next month I will try to include a few more.
Reasons to be hopeful
2 minute read Preview Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021Here we are, saying farewell to January which is usually one of the coldest, greyest and bleakest months of the year. Many suffer from the January blues just because it is post -January, never mind winter.
With COVID-19 code red restrictions still in place as I write this, winter has been made even more difficult. We have had to stay home and away from family and friends for over two months now.
We have not been able to gather for the holidays. Pandemic fatigue is very real. We miss our family and friends. We are stressed, weary and lonely.
However, we know that focusing and dwelling on these negative aspects of our lives only hurts us and affects our mental health even more.
Wishing you health and all good things
3 minute read Preview Monday, Nov. 30, 2020As I write this during our most recent lockdown in November I am, like most people, missing family and friends and trying to cope.
Forgive me for offering up some more ideas, hopefully different ones this time, on how to get through this. But it feels like the pandemic is top of mind for all of us.
I am not a professional but, like many of us, I’ve had my share of difficult times and I have found these helpful.
These are certainly not my ideas but they are tried and true tips from many sources. Use what you like and leave the rest.
How to get through this winter
3 minute read Preview Friday, Nov. 13, 2020As I write this in late October, the trees are bare, we’ve had our first snowfall, it is cold out and our pandemic numbers are on the rise again.
With the cold months approaching and many of us not able to travel or, harder yet, unable to see our families, I thought I’d offer up some tips on how to get through winter as this is probably going to be one of our most difficult winters yet.
I’ve always been a list maker and, because I have health issues and am not a fan of winter anyway, my list has helped me over the past few winters.
I don’t pretend to imagine these are unique or that they will help everyone; use these as a starting point and feel free to make up your own list of ideas.
Coping during the pandemic
3 minute read Preview Monday, Oct. 5, 2020Back to school during a pandemic
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Sep. 8, 2020Thinking of venturing out in the world?
3 minute read Preview Monday, Aug. 10, 2020Pandemic has been rough for many
3 minute read Preview Monday, Jul. 13, 2020Our COVID-19 numbers are low. Manitoba seems to be doing better than some other provinces.
Yet in the U.S., at the time of writing, the number of cases are approaching horrific levels among our neighbours to the south. And if you’re still feeling anxious, confused or out of sorts, you are not alone.
An associate and friend of mine has been struggling through a dark period after losing her only two brothers and her beloved mother within a two-year span. This has left her without immediate family while dealing with overwhelming grief.
When COVID-19 hit Manitoba in mid February while she was still mourning, the solitude of lockdown magnified her grief and made it much harder to navigate.
Be kind to each other
3 minute read Preview Monday, Jun. 22, 2020The COVID-19 pandemic has taken many lives around the world.
The United States, at the time of this writing, has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases; Brazil, Russia and the U.K. have the next highest numbers.
It is a cruel disease that has forced many to shutter themselves up in their homes, to isolate from others, from family, friends and from their workplaces.
It has been especially hard for older people in nursing homes, assisted living buildings and other seniors, for they have not been able to see their families. At this point, however, some are now able to visit outdoors.
Looking for the silver linings
3 minute read Preview Monday, May. 25, 2020There are many ways to lift your spirits
3 minute read Preview Monday, Apr. 20, 2020The importance of a healthy planet
3 minute read Preview Friday, Jan. 24, 2020So many people are sick these days. It seems that I often bump into people who tell me about somebody new coming down with a rare autoimmune disease or some other chronic or serious illness.
People around my age and younger are being diagnosed with cancer. Some of these are children and young people just starting out in life.
I, myself, still struggle with an autoimmune condition. Despite taking three different types of medication I still fight a daily battle with my symptoms.
I dread eating as it is difficult to swallow and it is extremely frustrating. Not to mention the serious side effects from some of the medications.
The importance of libraries
5 minute read Preview Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020Honouring a remarkable lady
5 minute read Preview Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019Lab closures are cause for concern
3 minute read Preview Monday, Nov. 4, 2019The older woman waiting in the Dynacare lab in West Kildonan for tests seemed frustrated and was raising her voice.
She was perhaps hard of hearing, so the woman behind the desk was forced to almost yell, asking if she had her papers. The older woman thought she was there for an X-ray.
She said she had been waiting about an hour. The receptionist was able to go across the hall, to the clinic where the older woman’s doctor was, and find out an X-ray wasn’t required.
The older woman had just managed to make it across the hall with her walker into the lab. I can’t imagine how she and others like her will cope once this lab is closed.
There are #MeToo stories everywhere
3 minute read Preview Monday, Oct. 7, 2019The media has been picking up on many #MeToo stories in recent years, stories of women being harassed in the workplace and elsewhere.
Many of these have involved celebrities or powerful men in high-profile workplaces. But women who are harassed, abused or disrespected are everywhere. This inappropriate behaviour happens all over the world to ordinary women every day. Many women do not have a voice.
I can remember at least three incidents that happened to me when I was in my early 20s and pretty naïve about the ways of the world.
I worked at one job where an older male co-worker made a habit of rubbing his hands up and down my back for no reason at all. I was barely five feet tall and it made me uncomfortable.
Health care was the paramount election issue
3 minute read Preview Monday, Sep. 9, 2019When voting in the Sept. 10 provincial election, I hope that people kept health care paramount in their thoughts and close to their hearts.When voting in the Sept. 10 provincial election, I hope that people kept health care paramount in their thoughts and close to their hearts.
Many local residents would like to have seen the Seven Oaks Emergency Department stay open. It was converted to an Urgent Care centre in July, 2019.
Many nearby area residents would also like to have seen the Concordia Hospital’s Emergency Department remain open. It became an Urgent Care centre in June.
The only emergency wards that remain open in Winnipeg are those of the Health Sciences Centre, St. Boniface Hospital and the Grace Hospital. That’s it.
Looking after Winnipeg’s history and heritage
5 minute read Preview Monday, Jul. 22, 2019There’s beauty all around in Nova Scotia
3 minute read Preview Monday, Jun. 17, 2019Take the Ghosts of Seven Oaks walk
5 minute read Preview Wednesday, May. 22, 2019My husband and I have been exploring Winnipeg’s historic old buildings during the annual Doors Open Winnipeg event and it has always been a great way to spend the last weekend in May.Yes, spring is here and the weekend of May 25 and 26 offers us a great opportunity to get outside, enjoy the warmer weather, walk around and explore the hidden treasures of our city — for free.This year, Doors Open will once again offer guided walking tours of areas all over the city. Among the most popular are tours of the Exchange District; The Forks; Downtown and tArmstrong’s Point. Also offered are a popular Haunted History Tour, a Historical Transcona tour and the Ghosts of Seven Oaks tour, which will take place in our very own West Kildonan community. The walk is a co-operative effort between Kildonan-St. Paul MP MaryAnn Mihychuk and the Seven Oaks House Museum. “We started partnering to do these walking tours about three years ago,” said a spokesman for Mihychuk. “The Seven Oaks neighbourhood is one of the oldest areas in Winnipeg with a really rich history related to early settlement and the development of the Métis nation.”Mihychuk celebrated Marie-Ann Gaboury, the grandmother of Louis Riel, in one of her columns for The Times last year: “During the infancy of our province; during a time of war, a clash of cultures and in the middle of starvation, one woman defied all odds to become Canada’s first female voyageur.”The Ghosts of Seven Oaks will start at the Battle of Seven Oaks Monument at the corner Main Street and Rupertsland Boulevard at noon on May 25 and 26 and will carry on to the Seven Oaks House Museum. “One name that is often left out of these conversations is Marie-Anne Gaboury,” Mihychuk said in her column. The walk, she wrote, is meant to honour and celebrate “what she means to Manitoba.” Marie-Anne accompanied her husband, fur-trader Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière, for “nine gruelling months” Mihychuk wrote.“This year, I am excited to talk about the Pemmican Wars, which was a Trade Ban by settlers and resulted in several battles culminating at Seven Oaks with a decisive victory for Cuthbert Grant and the Métis,” Mihychuk recently said. There will also be a pop-up barbecue at 1 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday at the monument.Times and dates vary so please check the Doors Open Winnipeg website at www.doorsopenwinnipeg.ca for up to date information. Cheryl Girard is a community correspondent for West Kildonan. You can contact her at girard.cheryl@gmail.com
My husband and I have been exploring Winnipeg’s historic old buildings during the annual Doors Open Winnipeg event and it has always been a great way to spend the last weekend in May.
Yes, spring is here and the weekend of May 25 and 26 offers us a great opportunity to get outside, enjoy the warmer weather, walk around and explore the hidden treasures of our city — for free.
This year, Doors Open will once again offer guided walking tours of areas all over the city. Among the most popular are tours of the Exchange District; The Forks; Downtown and tArmstrong’s Point. Also offered are a popular Haunted History Tour, a Historical Transcona tour and the Ghosts of Seven Oaks tour, which will take place in our very own West Kildonan community.
Staying strong with osteoporosis
3 minute read Preview Monday, Apr. 29, 2019Last month I wrote about my osteoporosis becoming more severe because of being on prednisone for a condition called myasthenia gravis. I also wrote about walking and how it helps people with osteoporosis and many other health conditions.Last month I wrote about my osteoporosis becoming more severe because of being on prednisone for a condition called myasthenia gravis. I also wrote about walking and how it helps people with osteoporosis and many other health conditions.
I sometimes get thoughtful emails and kind comments from people in the area in response to columns and I appreciate the feedback greatly.
After the osteoporosis column ran I received an email from Orrasia Mabbutt in West Kildonan and because it is so beneficial to others I thought I would share some of it here.
Orrasia wrote, “I read The Times community paper faithfully every Wednesday as an insert to the Free Press. I appreciated you sharing about your diagnosis of osteoporosis. I was diagnosed with osteoporosis with five spinal fractures in 2014.”
Walking for our lives
3 minute read Preview Monday, Mar. 25, 2019Praising Arizona
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019Looking back on the Winnipeg General Strike
5 minute read Preview Monday, Feb. 11, 2019Surviving January
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019January can be a tough month.
There is a kind of slump, after Christmas and the holiday season that sets in once the presents have all been unwrapped, the food and festivities are over with and the family and friends have all departed.
Sometimes a kind of post-holiday blues sets in following weeks of often pressure-filled days shopping for and preparing food, shopping for gifts, wrapping, putting up decorations, visiting and preparing for get-togethers, celebrations and so much more.
Often, in the past, it has been women who “do Christmas.” Hopefully now partners support each other as today men and women also juggle work pressures with the stresses of raising children while trying to deal with all the Christmas hubbub.
A happy holiday tune for you
2 minute read Preview Monday, Dec. 3, 2018
’Tis the season and so in honour of it here is a little Christmas/ holiday jingle I wrote many years ago. I hope you have a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah or happy holidays and always peace, love and good health.’Tis the season and so in honour of it here is a little Christmas/ holiday jingle I wrote many years ago. I hope you have a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah or happy holidays and always peace, love and good health.
Christmas Time in Winnipeg
It takes only a few moments to remember
3 minute read Preview Monday, Nov. 5, 2018Angels among us
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018
Some people come into your life and never really leave because they have touched you and somehow carved out a place for themselves in your heart. And like angels, have made the world a better place.Some people come into your life and never really leave because they have touched you and somehow carved out a place for themselves in your heart. And like angels, have made the world a better place.
After my first marriage ended I joined Beginning Experience. It is an excellent organization designed to help those who are grieving due to a divorce or death of a spouse.
The sad story of an abandoned bridge
3 minute read Preview Monday, Sep. 10, 2018Thoughts on an old boss
3 minute read Preview Monday, Aug. 13, 2018
Sometimes you know very little about a person except for what you see on the surface.Sometimes you know very little about a person except for what you see on the surface.
It took me almost 40 years to learn about my old boss. I say “old boss” or my “first boss” only because he was my first employer after university.
Listen to your bodies, take care of your health
5 minute read Preview Monday, Jul. 16, 2018I was on my way into our local pharmacy recently, feeling a little bit down as I had to pick up my usual assortment of pills for an autoimmune condition.
And that was when I saw him. An elderly, white-haired gentleman had literally inched his way out of the pharmacy and had stopped at the edge of the curb as if on the edge of a precipice. He seemed to be paralyzed.It was such a tiny curb, maybe an inch or so, and I wondered what the problem could be. But I approached and asked if he needed help. Now I am quite minuscule and have trouble walking myself but, thankfully, this man was tiny, too. He kept staring hopelessly at the parking lot as though it were a huge expanse of desert and at what appeared to be his car inches away.“I just have to make it to my car,” he said softly. “It’s my hip. I just have to make it over this curb.”I put my arm out realizing that he must be in a lot of pain and he slowly made it over the curb. “I have to have hip surgery,” he explained, “but I have to wait 14 months.”“Oh,” I nodded. I had heard similar stories before and shook my head with shock and disbelief. Our country has a superior health care system and great doctors but it also has its challenges.This man could barely walk. And it could happen to anybody. Health problems can suddenly appear and turn our lives upside down.All of this has me thinking of Denise and Dr. Bill Code, relatives of my husband’s, whom we recently visited on Vancouver Island while staying with our kids there.Dr. Code and his wife, a dietitian, not only took us for a tour of their organic farm but graciously fed us a delicious, (organic, of course) dinner. He gave us one of their books, written after years of research on nutrition, supplements and healthy lifestyles.Bill, you see, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis but his discoveries, he says, changed his life and so they hope to help others also with their books.To quote a seemingly healthy friend who unexpectedly underwent six heart bypasses: “No matter how healthy and strong and fit we seem to be, our body is maybe hinting to us that it’s time for a check-up!” To this I would add: do all the research you can about your health challenges, nutrition and healthy lifestyles, and then advocate for and look after yourself!Cheryl Girard is a community correspondent for West Kildonan. You can contact her at girard.cheryl@gmail.com
And that was when I saw him. An elderly, white-haired gentleman had literally inched his way out of the pharmacy and had stopped at the edge of the curb as if on the edge of a precipice. He seemed to be paralyzed.
Get better together at the Wellness Institute
3 minute read Preview Monday, Jun. 18, 2018
What could be more important than our health?What could be more important than our health?
Many of us today are living with chronic health issues or have friends or family who are in that very same boat. Young or old, sometimes it is overwhelming, especially if it is a recent diagnosis and sometimes it may feel like you’re just barely keeping afloat.
Learn about the life of a martyr
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, May. 23, 2018The transformation of Old Kildonan
3 minute read Preview Monday, Apr. 23, 2018
Time has definitely brought a lot of change to the Old Kildonan area.Time has definitely brought a lot of change to the Old Kildonan area.
When I was in my teens, in the age of record albums and before the internet, I rode the bus from Selkirk to the University of Winnipeg and on my way passed through this area down Main Street every day.
Visiting the valley of the sun
3 minute read Preview Monday, Mar. 26, 2018The bitter Winnipeg winter of 1918
3 minute read Preview Monday, Feb. 5, 2018Places fondly remembered
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018This list could go on and on and on…
3 minute read Preview Monday, Dec. 4, 2017Twenty-five more reasons to love the North End
3 minute read Preview Monday, Nov. 6, 2017More reasons to love North Winnipeg
4 minute read Preview Tuesday, Oct. 10, 201725 more reasons to love North Winnipeg
3 minute read Preview Monday, Sep. 11, 2017A great place to live — 25 more reasons
3 minute read Preview Friday, Aug. 11, 2017A great place to live – 25 reasons why
3 minute read Preview Monday, Jul. 17, 2017Rev. Lukie celebrates 50 years of priesthood
5 minute read Preview Friday, Jun. 16, 2017Kildonan Cemetery site of plaque dedication
3 minute read Preview Friday, May. 19, 2017The need for palliative care continues to grow
3 minute read Preview Monday, May. 15, 2017
Mike Goldberg learned at a very young age how crucial support can be when someone is seriously ill or dying.Mike Goldberg learned at a very young age how crucial support can be when someone is seriously ill or dying.
“When I was seven years old, my sister, who was 22 months younger than me, was diagnosed with cancer. I was in Grade 2. I was sitting at my desk thinking about my sister, I just froze, became paralyzed and I started crying,” Goldberg said.
A guidance counsellor came, got down on one knee and just listened, Goldberg remembered.
Life in Kildonan, 150 years ago
3 minute read Preview Friday, Apr. 21, 2017Lots of memories, history at Sals
3 minute read Preview Friday, Mar. 24, 2017Street names – stories set in stone
3 minute read Preview Monday, Feb. 27, 2017Be heard before it’s too late
3 minute read Preview Friday, Jan. 27, 2017What was Winnipeg like 100 years ago?
3 minute read Preview Monday, Jan. 9, 2017Another new year has begun and once again it is the perfect time to start afresh and to try to better our lives. It is also the perfect time to reflect on the past to see how far we’ve come.
Are we happier today than say a hundred years ago? What was it like in Winnipeg in 1917?
Most significantly, 1917 was a dark and difficult year for Winnipeggers, as the First World War was still raging and had been since 1914.
Newspapers in early 1918 reported that casualties in 1917 were greater than in previous years. The human toll of Winnipeg’s killed, wounded and missing was reported to be 18,278 persons.
Author an inspiration to many
3 minute read Preview Monday, Dec. 5, 2016Many north Winnipeggers lost to First World War
3 minute read Preview Monday, Nov. 7, 2016Many of our old streets in north Winnipeg are literally strewn with poppies.Many of our old streets in north Winnipeg are literally strewn with poppies.
On a map shown on a local television website, the homes of those who sacrificed their lives over a century ago during the First World War are marked by vivid red poppies. If you look at the whole city it appears to be immersed in a sea of red poppies, bringing to life the all too devastating and deadly consequences of war.
Poppies overwhelm some streets. Atlantic Avenue in north Winnipeg seems to be one of the hardest hit.
At least 13 homes on Atlantic lost sons and husbands to the war. That is only counting the ones who perished. Many came back injured either physically or mentally. And over 230 men could not be mapped.
A special connection to Mother Teres
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016I’ve always been fascinated by Mother Teresa.I’ve always been fascinated by Mother Teresa.
And when I heard that the person who was responsible for researching and working for many years for her canonization grew up in our very own north Winnipeg, I couldn’t help but be intrigued — and also proud.
On Sept. 4, 2016, the diminutive and unassuming Albanian grocer’s daughter who dedicated her life to the sick, the poor and the dying was proclaimed a saint by Pope Francis in a ceremony in Rome.
“Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, a priest of Mother Teresa’s religious order, Missionaries of Charity Fathers, grew up in the North End,” said Fr. Dmytro Dnistrian, CSsR, pastor at St. Joseph’s Ukrainian Catholic Church on Jefferson Avenue.
Friends team up to support toddler with brain cancer
3 minute read Preview Monday, Sep. 12, 2016‘The Preacher’s Tree’ of North Winnipeg
5 minute read Preview Monday, Aug. 15, 2016Silver and gold wins for local paddler
6 minute read Preview Monday, Jul. 18, 2016Our health and the importance of hope
3 minute read Preview Monday, Jun. 20, 2016Because it is too hard to pretend that all is well I thought I would share this so that I can then move on and continue to write as I am able.
Things will be harder for me.
In mid-February my husband and I went out with long-time friends for supper. I remember feeling unusually tired that evening. The next day I had aches and pains and assumed it was a flu. Severe neck pain followed and when that started to go away I found I was not able to speak or eat properly. I had trouble saying simple words and it was hard to even eat soup. I had trouble breathing.
I went to the nearest emergency department and doctors there suspected I’d had a stroke. My CT scans came back okay and I was soon sent home, struggling to try to eat and talk.
Explore the city during Doors Open Winnipeg
3 minute read Preview Friday, May. 27, 2016Building a safe place to play in the North End
3 minute read Preview Monday, Apr. 25, 2016Some memorable North Winnipeg MLAs
3 minute read Preview Monday, Mar. 28, 2016Visit the Holy Door at St. Joseph’s
3 minute read Preview Monday, Feb. 1, 2016One hundred years ago in Winnipeg
3 minute read Preview Monday, Jan. 4, 2016It’s often been said that unless we learn from history we’re bound to repeat our mistakes. So, if we were to pause, click rewind and go back 100 years, what would we find? How much have things changed?
The year 1916 was a dark, nightmarish year for Winnipeggers and many others. The First World War was still raging and no end appeared in sight. Many soldiers returned home haunted and wounded and others did not return at all.
Historian James Gray wrote about these years in The Boy from Winnipeg. Many families of soldiers lived in poverty. The wives had no choice but to find jobs “in an age where there was little employment open to women.”
All over the city, also, they “embarked on a frenzied knitting binge,” keeping soldiers in desperately-needed socks and scarves.
Christmas is truly “a state of mind”
3 minute read Preview Monday, Dec. 7, 2015North Winnipeggers helped make a better world
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015Luxton School more than a century old
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2015Too few women in Parliament
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015The forgotten hero of Henry Avenue
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Jul. 21, 2015A curious house on Scotia Street
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Jun. 23, 2015Kildonan cemetery part of Doors Open tour
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, May. 26, 2015Margaret’s Choir — the dream lives on
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Apr. 28, 2015Scotia Street hums with history
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Mar. 31, 2015New life for old North End building
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Mar. 3, 2015A column for my sister Trudy
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015Februarys are hard for me.
I lost people I love in 2005 and I still carry them with me every day in my thoughts and in my heart. Some people say you should get over things but you don’t. You move on, because you have to, but you never really ‘get over’ people.
Dad grew up in what is now Ukraine when Stalin carried out his program of forced starvation and thousands died. He did not really talk about the old country much.
He met my British mother in England, married and had two children before bringing us to Canada. He loved Canada and always reminded us how lucky we were to be living here.
Comparing 2015 Winnipeg to 1915
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015Another year has ended, a new year has begun and once again we have the opportunity to look back over the past century to see how far we’ve come.
In 1915 the First World War was in its second year. Winnipeg was hit hard, losing hundreds of men to battle in the spring of 1915. Others returned with severe physical and mental disabilities that shortened their lives.
Many Winnipeg women volunteered here and overseas caring for the wounded. One of the first nurses to enlist was Alfreda Attrill of Bannerman Avenue who received many awards and citations for her years of dedicated service.
Wartime internment operations resulted in many Ukrainians and other Europeans being held in internment camps across the country simply because they had arrived in Canada from a country under Austro-Hungarian rule. A century later these new immigrants were remembered with 100 plaques distributed across Canada, including one in northwest Winnipeg.
Help local chefs help the hungry
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014When temperatures drop, the night comes early and snow begins to close in around us, many of us take comfort from the warmth of our homes and a hot, delicious dinner in the evening.
But many cannot take this comfort. For them the approaching holiday season is simply one more struggle in a long line of struggles to endure.
As the holidays draw closer a lot of us become stressed out for other reasons. Wading through the crowded malls, we fret about buying the perfect gift, the financial toll our spending inevitably will bring and we wonder what the point is.
Moderation is the wisest choice, as well as focusing on gifts of the heart and of the spirit. Some share the holiday spirit by donating money to a favourite charity that helps others.
Concert commemorates our founders’ heritages
2 minute read Preview Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014It was in the late 1800s that so many of our early pioneers came, settled here and with much courage and resilience helped to mould this prairie province into the Manitoba we know and love today.
Some of these immigrant groups will be celebrated in a free concert on Sat., Nov. 22 put on by the local Seven Oaks Historical Society.
A Salute to our Early Pioneers will take place at 7 p.m. in the beautiful and historic St. John’s Anglican Cathedral, situated on the banks of the Red River at 135 Anderson Ave.
Historical society member and author of several historical books, Floyd Williston, said “The November concert will be a real treat for all who attend and the St. John’s Cathedral is a perfect place for the groups to ‘strut their musical stuff.’”
Past mayors were a colourful bunch
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014Council of Winnipeg Women to host forum
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Sep. 16, 2014Plaques to provide much-needed recognition
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014History in our streets — a valuable asset
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Jun. 24, 2014Swinging open the doors to Winnipeg’s history
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, May. 27, 2014Nurse Attrill — an icon of Bannerman Avenue
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Apr. 30, 2014West K home to historical monument
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Apr. 1, 2014Historical society to commemorate immigrants
3 minute read Preview Monday, Mar. 3, 2014They came in the 1800s, some with hopes and dreams, many fleeing poverty and persecution.
They came with little money and few possessions to a cold and unforgiving land in search of a better life. Somehow they endured, set down roots and went on to enrich the prairie landscape with their diversity, many talents and strengths.
And so it is not surprising that the Seven Oaks Historical Society hopes to celebrate the arrival of these immigrants with a commemorative concert in the fall.
Past president Len Kaminski said they plan to “celebrate those populations who arrived with or after the initial settlers and who have built the community to what it is today.”
Ukrainian community rallies against human trafficking
3 minute read Preview Monday, Feb. 3, 2014Life in Winnipeg, circa 1914
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014The advent of a new year is upon us and we can only wonder what new changes the future may have in store for us.
It’s always enlightening to look back, however, to see how much has changed in the years that have gone by. For example, what was life like for people in Winnipeg 100 years ago?
The most significant event of 1914 was that it marked the beginning of the First World War. The official declaration of war broke in the Manitoba Free Press on Aug. 5, 1914.
Winnipeg was in an economic depression in 1913, and in 1914 there were quite a few unemployed men. But things looked promising in the Kildonan area in early 1914. A boom in building activity took place and Kildonan council planned to develop Scotia Street as “the Wellington Crescent of the north.”
Lite up a Life for those living with ALS
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013Famous women writers from the North End
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013“The Castle” on College Avenue recalled
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013Lillian Gibbons wrote about many of Winnipeg’s elegant, historic or unusual houses as well as the interesting people who lived in them from the mid-1930s to the early 1960s.
One of her stories was about a most unusual house in the North End known as The Castle.Located at 494 College Ave., The Castle has definitely seen grander days but it is still striking and stands out on the street as a reminder of the huge and elaborately designed mansion it once was.
“Everybody calls it The Castle,” wrote Gibbons in 1953. “It has pinnacles and round towers and is pink and white like the castles in the Middle Ages.”
More of a reddish colour now, it was built in 1906 by Ernest Marchetti and Joseph Biollo, according to Gibbons. The Henderson’s City of Winnipeg Street and Avenue Guide for 1907 lists several homes in the area as belonging to Joseph Biollo and Ernest Marchetti.
Rusalka to celebrate half a century of dance
2 minute read Preview Wednesday, Sep. 18, 2013Winnipeg’s internationally renowned dance group, the Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, will celebrate half a century of dance with its 50th anniversary concert this coming October.
The concert, The Spirit of Rusalka – Celebrating 50 Years, will be held at the Centennial Concert Hall on Sun., Oct. 27.
Also in the works for this fall is a gallery exhibit at the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre – Oseredok. It will include the Rusalka archives, says Orysia Tracz, who, along with Taras Luchak, is in the process of writing and putting together a book about Rusalka to commemorate its 50th anniversary.
“The alumni association is undertaking a very exciting and enormous special project,” Tracz says. “We are planning to publish a stunning souvenir coffee table book that will document Rusalka’s first 50 years.”
Brand-new memorial for Sgt. Tommy Prince
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013One of Canada’s most decorated aboriginal soldiers will soon be honoured with a new memorial.
Thanks to local veteran Donald Mackey, Manitoba’s Sgt. Tommy Prince will be remembered with a shiny new monument replacing the one at Sgt. Tommy Prince MM Veterans Park, which has been vandalized repeatedly in recent years.
Mackey has dedicated the past 16 years of his life to paying homage to Prince, while at the same time caring for his elderly wife and their daughter, both of whom have serious health problems.
Now, almost 81, the chairman of the Sgt. Tommy Prince MM Memorial Fund is looking to “wrap things up” so he can care for his family.
Garden City students make waves against cancer
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Jul. 24, 2013Tiny Point Douglas park steeped in history
2 minute read Preview Tuesday, Jun. 25, 2013Many of us pass by monuments in this city without knowing anything about them or why they are there. Sometimes they simply become more or less forgotten.
One such monument sits in a tiny Point Douglas park that, like the area itself, is actually a rich treasure trove of Winnipeg history.
Erected in 1944 by local Ukrainians under the leadership of Fr. Panteleimon Bozyk, a striking bronze bust of Ukrainian poet, Markian Shashkevych, dominates one corner of the park that is named for him.
Shashkevych lived a short and unhappy life. But this young poet and priest was nevertheless celebrated for many years as the ‘herald of Western Ukraine’s revival.’
Point Douglas gem offers glimpse of pioneer life
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, May. 28, 2013Neighbourhood treasures worth touring
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, May. 7, 2013Historical society to host Filipino dinner
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Mar. 27, 2013The Manitoba Historical Society will hold its 21st annual multicultural dinner on Tuesday, April 30. This year, the dinner will feature the Filipino community of Manitoba.
“The Manitoba Historical Society has put on its multicultural dinner in partnership with a local cultural organization for more than two decades,” says Carl James, a member of the society’s program committee.
James says this year’s dinner will offer an evening of food and entertainment from the Filipino community.
Authentic Filipino dishes such as pancit (rice noodles), lumpia (egg rolls), adobo (a marinated dish of slow-cooked meat), chop suey (vegetables), and sinigang soup will be available. Desserts may include turon (banana fritter), maja (similar to coconut pudding), buko pandan and more.
The Fraser homes — a tale of two houses
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Mar. 6, 2013Two early pieces of West Kildonan pioneer heritage, belonging to the same family, have met with very different fates.
The Fraser brothers, sons of James Fraser, a pioneer and farmer from Scotland who settled in Kildonan, lived in the mid-1800s near what is now Kildonan Park.
John Fraser, born in 1819 in Kildonan, married Jane Matheson in 1839, according to Lillian Gibbons, who wrote about John Fraser’s home in Stories Houses Tell. It was first built on what is now Bannerman Avenue in 1839, she says, and then taken apart and moved, log by log, to the Fraser homestead in Kildonan.
Gibbons says it was moved in order for the family to be closer to the old Kildonan Presbyterian Church, built nearby in 1851.
West Kildonan boasts its own newspaper row
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013The Exchange District has long been home to Winnipeg’s historic ‘Newspaper Row.’A plaque on the Telegram Building on Albert Street was mounted in 2009 to pay homage to the Manitoba Free Press, Winnipeg Tribune and Winnipeg Telegram, prominent newspapers located there from 1882-1920.
It was the days before the automobile, when horses and oxen and wagons were common sights on the city’s unpaved streets and people often gathered around the buildings to catch the latest news of the day.
Many may not know, however, that West Kildonan is home to its very own ‘newspaper row’ of sorts. An area between Jefferson Avenue and Inkster Boulevard on the east side of McPhillips Street proudly proclaims streets such as Dafoe Boulevard, Payne Street and Macklin Avenue, all named for prominent Winnipeg newspapermen of long ago.
According to Vince Leah, Douglas McKay, a former West Kildonan councillor, and a printer for the Free Press for many years, moved after World War II to dedicate the streets to a handful of newspaper notables.
Group making a difference in inner city
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013For many the holiday season is a time for celebrating, gift giving, tree trimming and indulging in plentiful heaps of turkey, potatoes and cranberries along with, perhaps, one too many egg nogs.
For others it is not. It is a time when their poverty and hunger looms in appalling contrast to the splendour of the festivities that surround them.
Almost 64,000 Manitobans use food banks monthly and almost 50% are children, according to Winnipeg Harvest. One organization, among others, trying to make a difference in Winnipeg’s inner city is The Welcome Home.
Located in an older home on Euclid Avenue in the Point Douglas neighbourhood, it opened in 1993 and will mark its 20th anniversary in July.
City held captive during blizzard of ’66
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012“Winter nights are long, summer days are gone.” Randy Bachman sums up Winnipeg’s weather well in his song Prairie Town.
For those weary of yet another Winnipeg winter, it may help to remember that we have had worse. Anyone over 50 may recall the blizzard of 1966 that swept through the city shutting it down in a matter of hours.
The snow started shortly after midnight Thursday and by 10:30 a.m. then-Mayor Steve Juba had issued a warning for everyone to stay at home. Winnipeg’s buses stopped running at 11 a.m.
Schools closed. So did many businesses. All was quiet. The clang and clatter of construction ceased, signs were toppled, huge snow drifts and abandoned cars were everywhere and trapped buses were filled with “eerily immobile bodies,” wrote Raymond Sinclair in the Winnipeg Free Press.
Neighbourhood Forum – The Times
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011The scents of white spruce, tamarack and jack pine fill the air. Aspen, birch and poplar flourish. Rolling hills, clear blue lakes and streams abound. Even in the 1850s its majestic beauty was unmistakable.
Henry Youle Hind, commissioned by the Canadian government in 1857 to study the vast northwest part of what is now Manitoba, left a written record of his travels across Riding Mountain to Lake Manitoba.
“On my way I crossed a beautiful country in the heart of the mountain, fine rolling prairies covered with islands of (fir) and oak.”
It is thought that Hind also was responsible for the area being called Riding Mountain today as that is the name he used on his official reports.
Origins of our festival of nations
3 minute read Preview Thursday, Aug. 12, 2010Mary Kelekis of famed North End C. Kelekis Restaurant, entomologist Dr. Sam Loschiavo, former Winnipeg mayor Stephen Juba, Ed Schreyer, Meros Leckow and Charles Dojack all have something in common.
Each of these people came together with other representatives of the city’s ethnic communities in 1969 to found the world’s largest and longest running ethnic festival, Manitoba’s unique and colourful Folklorama.
In 1965 the Folk Arts Council of Manitoba had already been formed by Juba along with representatives of various ethnocultural communities. This council helped to host a Festival of Nations Ball in 1967 as part of celebrations for Canada’s Centennial and a Folkway 69 festival, held in 1969 on Canada Day.
Commenting on the plans for the 1967 event, at which many ethnic groups were to be involved, chairman Cecil Semchyshyn, told the Winnipeg Free Press “we feel that Manitoba is the heart of Canada and our plans are to see that the hearts of 950,000 people in this province beat in unison during the centennial year.”
Library a symbol of Carnegie’s vision
3 minute read Preview Thursday, Apr. 1, 2010Historic St. John’s Library opened in 1915 on the corner of Salter Street and Machray Avenue. The historic building, along with the Cornish Library on West Gate, is one of the two oldest remaining public libraries in Winnipeg, both gifts of a long-gone Scottish billionaire.
A steel magnate and later philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie, donated more than $145,000 back in 1905, for the construction of three Winnipeg libraries — the William Avenue Library, the Cornish Library and the St. John’s Library. Of the latter two, St. John’s opened first with its official grand opening on June 2, 1915.
A true rags to riches story, Andrew Carnegie, born in Dunfermline, Scotland in 1835, had to leave formal education behind in order to help support his family. Immigrating to the United States in 1848, Carnegie invested wisely and soon made a fortune in steel, oil and iron.
But, a self-made man with a passion for reading, Carnegie soon dedicated himself to promoting free education and to using his immense wealth to benefit others. Carnegie seized upon the idea of a free public library and donated $56 million for the building of more than 2,500 libraries around the world.