Winnipeg City Hall was a rather quiet place late Tuesday afternoon. The storm and thunder of that morning’s public sessions had passed. Media had left the building. The lobby was almost empty. A few Save Our Seine board members had already gotten their visitor passes and lanyards from the security desk. I joined them as we waited for Councilor Chamber’s Executive Assistant to come and fetch us for our 3 pm meeting.
At the appointed hour she led us into what was the former City Clerk’s office. It seems that I have not been behind doors at City Hall for quite a while. Changes have been made there. We went into a small meeting room and settled our parkas into board room chairs emblazoned with City logos. We were given tumblers of purified water. If you have a choice between protesting outside City Hall in winter, or sitting in a board room inside City Hall, I recommend the latter.
After 35 plus years local ENGO Save Our Seine is a bona fide insider. It has worked with generations of Riel Community City councilors. As Councilor Chambers mentioned on Tuesday afternoon, Save Our Seine has undertaken projects and received outside funding that the City would never have been able to duplicate on its own. Save Our Seine is a value-added organization. Perhaps that is why the first thing that Councilor Chambers mentioned when he came into the room was that the City Councilors had taken a photograph of themselves with a cheque for Save Our Seine. For any charitable organization, there is no better news than a cheque is in the mail.
Save Our Seine’s political universe consists of 3 City Councilors, 6 MLAs and one MP. Every one of those politicians can stand on a riverbank in their constituency and throw a pebble into the Seine River. SOS eventually meets every one of those politicians, and v.v. Meetings like their Tuesday meeting with St. Norbert/Seine River Councilor Chambers was not about anything particularly critical, it is simply good practice.
Save Our Seine reported that their St. Vital Perimeter South Sector Plan meetings with Landmark Planning and Qualico Developments had been pushed back until June 2026. The imminent Precinct K development application from those same parties had bumped the unprecedented regional planning study. SOS reiterated that its main concern was the former Sumka Lands in Vermette recently sold to Qualico. SOS expressed its regret on how incredibly close the Province was to acquiring the subject lands instead of Qualico. Still, Vermette’s loss was St. Norbert’s gain. The Lemay Forest has since been saved.
Councilor Chambers deferred Precinct K topics to Councilor Mayes, the councilor responsible for Royalwood lands east of the Seine. SOS seemed fine with that. In truth, initial reports indicate that most if not all of Qualico’s riverside forest in Precinct k will be protected from development. While SOS has reached out to Councilor Mayes, it has not had a meeting with him yet regarding the imminent application for subdivision and rezoning in Royalwood. Councilor Chambers was surprised that a new Warde Avenue Bridge was not part of the current DASZ. I mentioned that we are all awaiting the WSP traffic study to better understand future traffic flows through the Creek Bend community. The subject Precinct K plans will affect his ward and his constituents because of those increased traffic flows.
We discussed the future “Creek Bend Park” on the west bank of the Seine and the seemingly stalled efforts to move it forward. None of us had any new knowledge regarding future 180 Creek Bend RMF apartment development. While the Province is in discussions with the City regarding their part of the park to the south, ongoing issues such as grass cutting, invasive weeds, litter and signage have not been resolved. Councilor Chambers suggested that he would do a site visit with SOS and the CBRA in the spring, perhaps as early as April. SOS suggested that walkabout be after the SOS spring AGM, which Councilor Chambers is unable to attend due to a conference he will attending.
I did not take formal notes so I probably have missed a few things. As I said, SOS and associates like the CBRA are privileged to have access to so many informed and consequential people in our City. With that privilege comes a responsibility to our small river and to the Winnipeggers who cherish it. We can only wish that the Red, Assiniboine and Lasalle Rivers have similar champions of their own. As we all look for news regarding Canada’s historic battle to maintain its economic sovereignty, it may be harder to listen to small voices and to the quiet ripples of our streams and rivers. In only few weeks we will hear the frog choruses from the wetlands behind the Villas on the Seine and 180 Creek Bend. When we hear those small voices once again, we will all know that spring is finally here.