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Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Redeveloping Alexander Docks to cost nearly $11M
The Forks unveiled designs to turn the Alexander Docks into a park through an estimated $10.8-million project Thursday. The docks — located along the west banks of the Red River, off Waterfront Drive and between Steve Juba and Fort Douglas parks — were fenced off because of safety concerns with the structure in 2015. The revamped area would include a new dock allowing canoes, kayaks and other watercraft to dock adjacent to the Exchange District, The Forks North Portage Partnership said in a news release Thursday. The dock is envisioned to be a new Waterbus stop. SUPPLIED The area would also feature gathering spaces, seating terraces, improved lighting and dedicated areas 'for reflection and ceremony,' The Forks said. 'We are not just rebuilding a dock. This will be a new park that will restore beauty and joy to this part of the waterfront,' Forks president and CEO Sara Stasiuk said in the release. 'This team is rebuilding a place for people, a lush urban oasis for everyone in our community to enjoy.' Wednesdays What's next in arts, life and pop culture. A memorial that has been maintained at the site since 2014 is part of the design, The Forks said. The body of Indigenous teen Tina Fontaine — whose death sparked calls for action on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls — was found at the foot of the docks that summer. City council directed staff members to study future uses for the site after it was shuttered. Public consultation on the project began in 2016, when the City of Winnipeg tasked The Forks to lead the project. 'Alexander Docks will become one of Winnipeg's great riverfront parks — a place for everyone to gather, reflect and enjoy the water. The Forks has a strong record of developing and managing outstanding public spaces that connect with Winnipeggers, and I'm confident they'll do the same here,' Mayor Scott Gillingham said in the release. Fundraising for the redesign will be led by The Forks Foundation, which has begun discussions with public and private funding partners. fpcity@
Winnipeg Free Press
14-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
West End 24-hour safe space promotes normalcy, belonging
West End As the clock ticks down to 11 p.m., staff at the Spence Neighbourhood Association's West End 24-hour safe space (WE24), located at 430 Lombard Ave., prepare for another shift, which will last until 7 a.m. Although WE24 isn't open yet, a small group of youth have lined up at the door. This is a less-busy night than normal. During the day, the location is the Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre. It's all-hands-on-deck, with programs such as Building Belonging — an after-school and summer program for kids aged six to 12 — youth drop-in services with a focus on topics such as organized sports, art, cultural awareness, and promoting a healthy lifestyle, and community connecting nights for families and residents in the West End on the second Tuesday of every month — all offered by the SNA. Supplied photo The Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre, located at 430 Lombard Ave., is the West End 24-hour Safe Space from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. every night. It provides food and security to youth aged 13 to 26. Once the business of the day subsides, the centre transitions and becomes WE24, which is open every night of the year. The overnight safe space began operation in 2016, inspired by the 2014 death of Tina Fontaine, an Indigenous 15-year-old girl who went missing and was subsequently murdered in August of 2014. Tina's death sparked national change, helping to prompt the national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which was also launched in the summer of 2016. WE24 is directed at teenagers and young adults— primarily people aged 13 to 26, although sometimes a little younger — and gives them a place to sleep, fill their stomachs, and settle down in a safe, supervised area, protected from potentially dangerous older adults and Winnipeg winters. It's one of three overnight spaces for youth in the city, alongside Ombishkaawak Migiziwak, or Rising Eagles (585 Jarvis Ave.), and Rossbrook House (658 Ross Ave.). According to the SNA's 2024 annual report, the centre served 5,612 meals to 23,861 participants. Last year, the association was also able to introduce the Naxalone distribution program, which has allowed staff to hand out Naxalone, a medication which temporarily reverses the effects of opioid overdose, in an effort to keep people safe from toxic drugs. Youth today are dealing with gang impact and reliance on dangerous substances in a way space manager Summer Prince has never experienced before, she said. The space promotes normalcy, she said, and is based on harm reduction: 'safety, a sense of security, belonging, and community connection.' 'No matter what situation they're in, we won't push judgement on them,' Prince said. Rather, paid staff create a home environment, as the space is essentially a home for many of the participants each night — which, that night, was demonstrated by the amount of youth who walked in, grabbed a mat, and made their way to the building's indoor gymnasium. It was also demonstrated by the care in which staff presented youth who used the service: asking about school, safely disposing of substances forgotten on tables and desks, and providing immediate medical care to an individual who walked in with a bloody hand. Mondays A weekly look at news and events that matter in your communities. 'It comes from the heart,' Prince said, thankful for the fact that SNA is able to pay staff who come out every night to help out. The courtyard entrance to the building is protected by staff, who sign-in each person as they enter. This is so that individuals who have caused incidents in the past can be identified, and to keep people on the inside within the proper age demographic. Youth aging out of the window can become a source of grief, Prince said, but it's done to ensure the safety of the younger kids. 'It means a lot to me,' Prince said, as someone who shares similar life experience with the people accessing the service. '(To be) someone I needed when I was their age … a positive role model, and to provide that stability, it means a lot.' For more information or to donate to the SNA, which is not-for-profit, visit Emma Honeybun Emma Honeybun is a reporter/photographer for the Free Press Community Review. She graduated RRC Polytech's creative communications program, with a specialization in journalism, in 2023. Email her at Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
CBC
28-01-2025
- General
- CBC
Design of new Alexander Docks set to begin this year
Work on redeveloping Winnipeg's historic Alexander Docks could begin this year, after The Forks Renewal Corporation issued a contract to come up with designs. The plan includes creating a public space for all-season use with access to the waterfront, that maintains an active transportation connection, and establishes a space for ceremonies to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, according to a request for proposals posted last week. Built in 1929, the dock was an important shipping and transportation hub for the city, with its location on the bank of the Red River close to the Exchange District. In 2014, the body of teenager Tina Fontaine was found in the river near the docks, which served as a catalyst for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. "Over the ensuing years, the dock underwent frequent repairs until an ice storm irreparably damaged the dock's structural integrity," the request for proposals states in part. The site has been fenced off since 2015 to prevent public access. In September 2023, city council approved a motion to lease the site to The Forks for $1 a year for 99 years, as part of the city's downtown recovery strategy. The city hired an engineering consultant to examine the docks and determine whether any of the original structure could be salvaged. The report by AECOM found that overall the structural components were in fair to very poor condition, except for new timber piles and steel beams that were installed in 2004. It presented three options for the demolition and construction of a new dock. Little left to salvage One option would involve total demolition and replacement, possibly with a new dock made of steel and concrete. This option would have the longest lifespan and lowest maintenance costs, but "would not reflect the historic look of the dock from the previous 95 years," the report states. Under that scenario, demolition is estimated to cost $700,000, but that does not include the cost of a new structure. The other two options involve retaining the newer portions of the dock and removing the rest, and replacing the dock with either a combination of fixed and floating docks, or a two-level fixed dock. The top area of the dock would be reduced by approximately 65 per cent in those scenarios, but would still have capacity to hold a large number of visitors "and still provide the feel of the original and current Alexander Dock," the report states. Cost for demolition and construction under those options range form $1.9 million to $2.1 million. Zach Peters, a spokesperson for The Forks, says it has been meeting with businesses and people who live nearby, as well as elected officials and advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, to get a sense of what the site needs. "The Alexander Docks has been a derelict site for 10 plus years. It's fenced off, it's a mess," Peters said in an interview. "The status quo is not working … and so this is why we've sort of joined into this conversation, to be a part of this with the city to help renew this area." Given The Forks' experience in helping to maintain the waterfront area, and the site's important place in the city's history, taking on the project made sense, Peters said. "It's imperative that this work be done right, to be done in consultation with the city's Indigenous Relations Division … and that the site acknowledge that history."
