St-Boniface former Civic Center

The viability and protection of the former City of St-Boniface administrative campus was put under threat by a decision by the City of Winnipeg to sell City Hall and Fire Hall No. 1 as a package. Entreprises Riel has advocated for the city to retain ownership of the old St-Boniface City Hall but supported a creative adaptive reuse of the Firehall No. 1. Home to our tourism division, Tourisme Riel, Winnipeg’s World Trade Centre, and the Maison des Artistes francophones, the former City Hall at 219 Provencher was bundled for sale along with Fire Hall No. 1. Collaborating with many community stakeholders, including the Société de la francophonie manitobaine (SFM), we agreed that the former City Hall had to be protected and we needed to put pressure on the decision-making process. While doing these things publicly, we worked behind the scenes with project proponents to guide them in such a way that, should their bid be successful, we would have found a way to protect the former City Hall for the community and for generations to come. Our work had led to the signing of a letter of intent between Manitoba Possible and the SFM which would have seen the latter take possession of the former City Hall once the transfer from the city has taken place.

Manitoba Possible has since decided not to proceed with their project and has abandoned negotiations with the city.

The City of Winnipeg is now acknowledging that it made serious mistakes in the process and is launching a review with key community stakeholders and in time, with the public to determine whether it should sell or lease these lands. A process that Entreprises Riel continues to monitor very closely.