Northwest Winnipeg’s 2021 year in review

As 2021 comes to a close, we look back on a year of stories in northwest Winnipeg.

January: Skaters embrace outdoor rinks

As the ongoing pandemic and consequent public health orders continued to limit people’s options for recreation, people turned to outdoor activities. During a Winnipeg winter, that often means skating.

With the province having green-lighted the opening of outdoor rinks the month prior, in January skaters took to outdoor rinks in droves.

Mmm, mmm… tourtière

This is going to be a difficult holiday season for us for many reasons. And I think it will be hard for many others.

So here is something different. A recipe from our home to yours. Even if you’re spending the holiday alone you can try to make this and hopefully enjoy the traditional aromas and flavours of this splendid dish.

My husband is French-Canadian and when he was growing up in rural Manitoba one of his family’s traditions was to have tourtière and bouillon at réveillon (the Christmas feast) on Christmas Eve after they went to midnight mass.

When the kids got home from mass, each was allowed to open one gift from Père Noël. There would also be Japanese oranges and all kinds of nuts that you would have to crack open with a nutcracker.

Canstar Community News Weekly Video Update for Dec. 22, 2021

Canstar managing editor John Kendle chats with Cody Sellar, reporter for The Times, about stories in the Dec. 22 issue of the paper, as well as what's coming up on Dec. 29.

Sscope, residents on the brink of losing home

The window is closing for Sscope, and that means the doors of the non-profit organization may soon be closing, too.

The organization assists people living with mental illness by providing them work in one of their social enterprises and by offering safe and stable housing. Its name is an acronym for ‘Self-Starting Creative Opportunities for People in Employment.’

There are 46 people who live in dorm-style housing in the former Neechi Foods building at 865 Main St., and another 40 who use Sscope’s overnight shelter.

But after the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation denied the organization’s Rapid Housing Initiative funding request, Sscope has asked for $500,000 from each of the three levels of government to put a down payment on the building, which it has been leasing. If it does not receive the money by Jan. 6, the organization will have to move.

Indigenous-led non-profit closer to expansion

Ka Ni Kanichihk is one step closer to realizing their vision to expand their building at 455 McDermot Ave. The organization will receive a major capital grant of $200,000 from the Winnipeg Foundation to help make this happen.

Executive director Dodie Jordaan said the grant will take a bite out of the overall costs of the expansion, but it may help in a different way, as well.

“It’s incredibly important because one of the things we learned as we started fundraising is those who utilize our services and supports know us well. But we realized there’s a large portion of the giving community who doesn’t know Ka Ni Kanichihk and doesn’t know many Indigenous organizations,” she said.

Being put on the charitable map may help attract more donors in the future, but Jordaan said the organization must keep making the effort to let Winnipeg know the value of its services.

Student sport faces uncertain future

With the Christmas break at hand, Chad Falk, executive director at the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association took a moment to assess the first few months of high school sports.

“It’s been an interesting fall and early winter,” he said. “We kind of started the school year in a very hesitant way, not really knowing what could be done. There were still quite a few restrictions in place that were preventing us from hosting provincials at that time.”

But high schools were able to go ahead with tournaments and exhibition play, allowing student athletes who’d been raring to play after COVID-19 cancelled most of last year’s sports to get back into the fray.

With easing of restrictions in October, the association started gearing up to get the first of the provincial tournaments in order. The volleyball championships wrapped up on Dec. 5.

Take a sip of a sandwich

Some like their vodka with a twist of lime, others like it tasting of french fries and Kewpie mayo. Of course, the latter is a relatively small group of people who’ve indulged in the wild new menu at distillery Patent 5’s cocktail bar.

From now into the new year, the bar has transformed itself into “the world’s strangest diner.” Menu items include chips and guacamole, pineapple pizza and pastrami on rye. Those wouldn’t be too strange (although, the pineapple pizza may spark its usual debate), except for the fact that none are actually food. They are cocktails, flush with house-made tequilas, vodkas, bourbons and gins.

The “chicken and waffles,” for example, is a Patent 5 barrel-aged gin, fat washed with duck fat, infused with waffles, and mixed with maple syrup, butter and Frank’s RedHot.

“A lot of our menus, they’re pretty adventurous,” said Callan Anderson, bartender and occasional maker of understatements.

West St. Paul residents chafed over access point

Some West St. Paul residents are up in arms about the province’s planned removal of two access points to their community from the north Perimeter Highway.

Those are the east and west access roads to Holmes Road, which leads into West St. Paul. The east access has already been closed and the west access will be removed by 2025. The project is a part of the province’s plan to turn the Perimeter Highways into an access-controlled freeway.

One reason the province cites for the changes is improved safety, but West St. Paul resident Mike Yosyk thinks that’s simply a tool the province is using to push through its agenda.

“That was probably one of the main things that we, as residents, raised. We said, ‘listen, if an emergency vehicle needs to get to our developments, or to the school for a kid, you just knocked out the most direct points of access, period,’” he said.

Building our capacity to develop EVs

Winnipeg’s taxi industry was well ahead of everyone else, in my opinion, when it came to transitioning from gas vehicles to electric vehicles. 

Well over 10 years ago taxi owners all over the world, and here in Winnipeg, were purchasing hybrids such as the Toyota Prius whereas the population as a whole was holding back, primarily due to the cost of hybrid vehicles. In Manitoba, we have seen both federal and provincial governments create programs to encourage consumers to purchase electric and hybrid vehicles. I suspect that will continue but it is consumer demand accompanied by a higher sense of environmental awareness that will ultimately make such vehicles more affordable.

Aside from fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is also facing the threat of man-made climate change. The amount of greenhouse gases generated worldwide is affecting our climate, creating destructive weather events such as the ‘atmospheric river’ that caused catastrophic flooding and infrastructure damage in British Columbia. Considering all this, the federal government has strived to cut pollution from all sectors of the economy — including the transportation sector, which is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. Almost half these emissions come from cars and light trucks.

One way to reduce the amount of transportation-related GHG emissions is to put more electric vehicles on the road. Since 2015, the federal government has invested a historic $1 billion to make EVs more affordable and accessible for Canadians. These investments are building a coast-to-coast network of fast chargers, installing chargers in local areas where Canadians live, work and play, and providing rebates of up to $5,000 to help more Canadians buy EVs.

A blessing in the North End

Many changes in our health-care system have affected this end of town. Serious ambulance cases are directed to Health Sciences Centre. Other catastrophes, such as falls, broken bones and more, head to Seven Oaks Urgent Care.

 I was recently sent there by my doctor. He felt secure that they would solve my sudden problem. While I was awaiting the many tests they do on-site, I absorbed the rhythm of  the place and watched the ebb and flow of nurses, aides and doctors. I sensed a close-knit family that consults with each other to discuss and make important decisions. Having  dedicated their lives to healing, they seem happy to be fulfilling that challenge.

However, as I lay in bed and listened to the group gathered around the desk area, the  talk wasn’t always serious. A lot of joking and teasing went on. The easy everyday camaraderie is pleasant.

It makes life feel normal, although patients are hooked up to beeping machines, waiting for test results. They wonder whether they will be sent home with pills, selected for a more sophisticated treatment in the hospital upstairs or scheduled shortly for elective surgery.

Clauses collect for clawed companions

Brad Wallace and Kris Kringle share the same barber, judging by the thick and snowy beards hanging from their chins. In fact, they’re quite identical in all aspects, as are Roxanne Wallace and Mrs. Claus. Brad and Roxanne Wallace both have the trademark apple cheeks, and both are very jolly.

The Wallaces were wearing the Clauses’ suits, presumably standing in for the rightful owners as they rested up for the next batch of kids. Both suits were of crimson felt trimmed with white faux fur and gold flourishes, all cinched in by broad black belts.

It seems the two couples have bonded over their doppelgängery because the Clauses have travelled south (or north from their vacation home on 34th Street) to take pictures with neighbourhood children outside the Wallaces’ home on McAdams Avenue in Garden City. The photos are free, but the Wallaces have put out a box for donations to the Winnipeg Humane Society’s Care to Adopt program.

“The reason we chose the humane society is people last year wanted to give us money. I said: ‘It’s OK. I enjoy doing this. You bring your kids, you take the pictures. You take all you want,’” Brad Wallace said.

New Met School expands students’ options

Seven Oaks School Division’s Met School was the first of its kind in Canada when it opened in 2012, and now the division is celebrating opening its third, which is located in the Exchange District.

The school opened in September, but chose to allow students and teachers to settle in before holding an official opening on Dec. 10, which will feature retired senator Murray Sinclair, who spearheaded the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Met Schools are different from regular schools due to four principles, said Will Burton, principal-teacher at the Exchange Met School.

“The first is that high school students are aligned with one teacher-advisor for the four years of their high school,” Burton said. “And there’s 15 students in one class that stay with one advisor from grade nine through to graduation.”

Local business need support now: MCC, local entrepreneur

Local businesses are asking Winnipeggers to buy local, as the holiday season approaches after almost two years of economic hardships due to COVID-19 and subsequent restrictions.

For many businesses, Christmas sales make up a significant chunk of the year’s profits, and that’s certainly the case for a toy store.

“It’s anywhere from 50 to 60 per cent,” Toad Hall Toys owner Kari England said.

As Manitoba’s largest and oldest independent toy retailer, England’s company has joined the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce to encourage Winnipeg consumers to keep their dollars in the community.

Garden City Fighting Gophers on a ‘heater’

Ice makers, get ready to refreeze your rinks, because the women’s hockey team at Garden City Collegiate is on fire.

“It’s been a really great start. Being on a heater with girls that you really enjoy spending time with and you’ve created such a strong bond with is just really great. We’ve worked really hard as a team,” said Fighting Gophers assistant captain and winger Sammie Carvalho.

(Head coach Kyle Wheeler chimed in to joke: “As long as it’s a heater and not a bender!”)

Carvalho said the team has developed a strong bond on and off the ice, and she went as far as calling it a “sisterhood.”

Light display open at Garden City Shopping Centre

Lights of the North, an elaborate display of holiday lights geared for photos, is back — this time in Garden City Shopping Centre.

“It’s great to be back,” said Gary Malkowich, who helped manage the display’s set up. The company last set up the lights in 2019 at what was then The Bay building at 450 Portage Ave.

“I also think from the last time we’ve amped it up a bit from what people wanted and what we saw worked and what didn’t work,” Malkowich said. “We’re pumped.”

Inside the empty storefront where the display stands, a tunnel of golden lights greets visitors. There are many different things made of holiday lights — white arches with a giant snowflake hanging below, a horse and buggy that looks as though it grew from a fairy godmother’s pumpkin, a scene of palm trees at which Winnipeggers can take a moment to dream, and swinging columns that clink about as visitors walk through them.

AIM aims to give back to the community

On Dec. 4, the Association of Ilocanos of Manitoba (AIM) celebrated its 12th anniversary with a colourful Christmas party at Maples Community Centre.

It was a much smaller event than the regular Christmas gala in the Skyview Ballroom at the Marlborough Hotel. Usually the gala is the main fundraising event for AIM.

This year, the novel Christmas celebration was a super-fun picnic and dance.

Over 180 revellers — members and friends — attended the party which featured an all-night buffet of 15 courses and non-stop line dancing.

Enjoy the season and remember to shop local

Christmas is already looking very different than last year. Now that most people are double-vaccinated, getting together with loved ones shouldn’t be an issue, although we will have to watch our for the progression of the new omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus.

Still, even a small gathering will be something to celebrate.

Last year was such a difficult time for the holidays. Remember the limited shopping? No holiday decorations. We could only purchase necessities. Not this year., thought Stores are at full capacity and we are allowed to purchase all the fun Christmas items that we want.

Stores are getting busier as the days are counting down and they will only continue to get busier. I suggest shopping during the week if you get a chance. I know I like to avoid large crowds. It also makes the shopping experience more enjoyable.

Get your kids vaccinated against COVID-19

On Nov. 19, Health Canada officially approved COVID-19 vaccines for children between the ages of five and 11. Now,over 100,000 children aged 5 to 11 across Manitoba will finally have a chance to roll up their sleeves and get the protection they need from COVID-19.

Thousands of children in this age category have already received their first shots this month. I want to especially thank all the front-line workers at the vaccine clinics, from immunizers to navigators and everyone else, for their tireless work and efforts to get Manitobans vaccinated and the thoughtful ways in which the provide vaccines to our children.

I, along with health care professionals across our province and the world, encourage parents and caregiver families to make appointments as soon as possible. Families in Union Station want the best for their kids and can trust that the COVID-19 shots have been rigorously tested, are safe and are saving lives.

Right now, children under the age of 12 make up a third of COVID cases in Manitoba, and COVID is continuing to disrupt our children’s education. Manitoba declared as many COVID-19 outbreaks in schools within the first seven weeks of this school year as it did in all of the previous school year. That is why getting children vaccinated is so crucial. It will not just prevent kids from severe outcomes, but break up chains of transmission that we see in communities that lead to large outbreaks and school closures.