Winnipeg

Winnipeg Dept: In 1912, Winnipeg peaked. The cosmopolitan and bustling young city of 170,000 people was riding a wave of affluence and growth that was without rival in North America. That year, 5,328 buildings were constructed, a boom of prosperity that continues to define the physical character of our city a century later. With a population that had tripled in the previous decade, what had become the third largest city in Canada was the undisputed king of the Prairies, according to Winnipeg Free Press. Now known as the Winnipeg Art Gallery WAG , the century-old institution is the centre of a flourishing cultural community that has grown to define the artistic spirit of our city. Today, more than 25,000 people in Winnipeg work in the arts and creative industries, representing four per cent of the city's economic output and 17 per cent of tourist spending. Winnipeg is known internationally as a place of creativity and artistic expression, inspired by the WAG over those 100 years and ken Gigliotti archives The Winnipeg Art Gallery is celebrating its centenary with a plan for a new building. As office towers pushed skyward along Main Street and new residential districts grew away from the rivers, Winnipeg's optimistic young population looked to create a quality of life that would match the older centres of the east. In an effort to construct a "civilized" new metropolis, they would build grand cultural institutions befitting a city whose destiny was thought to be the stature of a Canadian Chicago. Theatres like the Capitol, Metropolitan, Walker and Pantages would rise in the downtown and a group of prominent businessmen would contribute $200 each to rent space in the new Industrial Bureau Building, providing a home for the Winnipeg Museum of Fine Arts, Canada's first civic art gallery. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Downtown Winnipeg BIZ: IT'S easy to donate to the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ's third annual CEO Sleepout for Winnipeg's homeless, according to Winnipeg Free Press. Or make a cheque or money order out to "Downtown Winnipeg BIZ -- Change for the Better": Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, 426 Portage Ave, Winnipeg, Man., R3C 0C9 Perfume Paradise owner Ari Driver has helped -- and been helped by -- the homeless. WAYNE GLOWACKI / Photo Store Here's how to help Just go to www.changeforthebetter.org and click the "Donate Now" button under the photo of your favourite CEO, community leader or media personality. Doug really wants you to click the button under his mugshot. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Winnipeg Football Club Dept: That is a total of $7,340,000 for privately owned sports franchises. Send a Letter to the Editor, according to Winnipeg Free Press. To send a letter for consideration on our Letters page: Fill out our online form at the link above, or Email letters@freepress.mb.ca, or Fax 204 697-7412, or Mail Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2X 3B6 and re: City's $900-M budget gets nod March 21 . I looked up the listing of grants in this year's operating budget, and found the following grants: True North owners of the Winnipeg Jets and the MTS Centre -- $6,050,000; Winnipeg Football Club -- $1,025,000; and Winnipeg Goldeyes owned by Mayor Sam Katz -- $ 265,000 The Free Press welcomes letters from readers. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Winnipeg Dept: WINNIPEG Winnipeg house prices have risen by between 3.7 per cent and five per cent over the past year and will climb by a further 4.2 per cent in 2012, according to the latest quarterly housing forecast from Royal Le Page, according to Winnipeg Free Press. The real estate firm said its latest national house prices survey showed all three key types of homes in Winnipeg bungalows, two-storeys and condominiums increased in value between the fourth quarter of 2010 and the fourth quarter of 2011 and winnipeg house prices are expected to keep going up. Winnipeg s housing market is proving resilient despite the current global economic and financial uncertainty, said John Froese, a broker with Royal LePage Prime Real Estate in Winnipeg. Consumer confidence is strong and housing demand in the area is being fueled by the city s growing immigration levels. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Winnipeg Police Service: Block by Block, a new crime-reduction strategy currently underway, could significantly change this. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. Three factors make Block by Block innovative and give it a good chance of being successful: integrated social-service delivery; crime prevention through social development; and a new policing strategy. The Winnipeg Police Service knows the police can never arrest their way out of the city's problems Between 1991 and 2010, the crime rate in Canada's nine largest cities declined a whopping 50 per cent. In Winnipeg, the reduction was only 25 per cent, much of which was due to an 85 per cent decline in car theft. With the exceptions of the auto-theft prevention strategy and some gang-reduction programs, violent crime and community safety have remained significant challenges for Winnipeg. The Province of Manitoba, the City of Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Police Service have developed partnerships with a broad range of social agencies and community groups that will establish one of North America's most comprehensive community-safety and wellness initiatives, literally tackling the issues block by block. This initiative will initially focus on a 21-block area in the William Whyte neighbourhood. If successful, it will expand to other communities. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Immigration Category Dept: Groups who sponsor refugees into Canada have an extra challenge. The Harper government has placed an embargo on submission of new sponsorships for 2012 and perhaps longer that will restrict the national new-case target to only 1,350 refugees next year. Winnipeg's Hospitality House Refugee Ministry alone filed sponsorships for that many in the first eight months of this year, according to Winnipeg Free Press. Winnipeg alone accounts for half of all new private refugee sponsorships being started by sponsoring groups across Canada. This is not only a reflection of activity among sponsors here, but also reflects the provincial government's aggressive immigration policy and the City of Winnipeg's own population-building strategy. The city insures most of these sponsorships against default. It has been doing so for the past eight years. Winnipeg is the only city in Canada with such a strategy and is a principal reason for the city's dominance of the national refugee sponsoring field and more than one million are waiting overseas, documents filed, to come as immigrants to Canada, Ottawa has disclosed -- this against an annual admissions target of 250,000. Every immigration category has its own queue. There are 90 groups across Canada with agreements with Ottawa empowering them to sponsor refugees here. Most are regional organizations of the mainline churches. Four of the biggest sponsors are in Winnipeg -- Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, the Anglican Diocese of Rupert's Land, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Winnipeg and the Mennonite Central Committee. Hospitality House, probably the most active sponsor in Canada right now, sponsors through both the Anglicans and the Roman Catholics. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Winnipeg: Yet, storm clouds approach. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. With B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan booming and co-operating with each other, we are left on the sidelines, increasingly referred to as Central Canada. The three western provinces offer better employment opportunities, pay higher wages and levy much lower personal taxes. With Manitoba's population increasing mainly due to immigration , s business competitiveness survey rating Winnipeg as a low-cost place to do business, and a new StatsCan report showing Winnipeg head office jobs increased in 2012, it is easy to be complacent about Manitoba's prospects. MoneySense magazine recently rated Winnipeg as the 19th best city to live in Canada, continuing the Peg's fall it was 10th only a couple of years ago . When I was born, Winnipeg was the third-largest city in Canada, now we are eighth, and that by a hair. Winnipeg once was the pride of the West, the northern Chicago with the most millionaires of any city in Canada. Now, we are north of Grand Forks. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Winnipeg: Winnipeg has been in the spotlight since a Maclean magazine article last week claimed it is the most racist city in Canada. , according to CBC. While the Maclean article focused on the city aboriginal citizens and the discrimination they face, other Winnipeggers say they have also had to deal with racism. Racism isn't just a problem for Winnipeg aboriginal population, according to some new Canadians living in the Manitoba capital. The article prompted a response from Mayor Brian Bowman and others in the community. Maclean claim that Winnipeg is Canada most racist city upsets mayor Rosanna Deerchild reacts to Maclean racism article after appearing on cover Manitoba politicians at odds over Winnipeg racism label Don Atchison, mayor of Saskatoon, says city 'eons ahead of Winnipeg' Deep racial division exists in Winnipeg, poll finds (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

winnipeg: It's quite an honour to have my name attached to this park and a piece of Winnipeg, according to CBC. Something that me and my family never could have ever expected, he said at a ceremony Tuesday morning. The Centennial neighbourhood is now home to Gord Dong park, named after the longtime resident and former president of the Centennial Community Improvement Association. Why not We have extra' Community Cupboard provides food in Winnipeg Dong, an immigrant who moved to Winnipeg from Hong Kong in the '50s, first lived on Pacific Avenue initially in a basement and then on the main floor of a house which his family shared with three other tenants. I bought my house just three doors down from where I originally grew up, he said. He said some of his fondest memories were of playing on the area's train tracks, loading docks and local parks. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Mennonite Central Committee: More than three decades after she spent a summer microfilming the early records of Winnipeg relief and development agency Mennonite Central Committee, the stories that first intrigued Winnipegger Esther Epp-Tiessen about its origins are now available in a more accessible format. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. "I wrote it for supporters and potential supporters," she explains of the 328-page book, which details the beginnings and development of the non-profit organization, known in Winnipeg and beyond simply by its initials. Esther Epp-Tiessen and her book on the Mennonite Central Committee in Canada. JOE BRYKSA / Photo Store Epp-Tiessen's book, Mennonite Central Committee in Canada, will be officially launched at a history conference at the University of Winnipeg on Friday, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m. That's 50 years to the day the Canadian arm of the organization was founded in Winnipeg. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.