This magazine offers you great digital experiences Where you find a QR CODE
years of academic excellence in Manitoba.
S
t. John’s-Ravenscourt School is the oldest independent school in Western Canada. SJR has a long and rich history of academic excellence dating back to before Manitoba joined confederation. In 1820, Reverend John West founded the Mission School, a small log cabin on the banks of the Red River, which would serve as a residence for boys and girls of the Hudson Bay Company’s employees. Over the last 200 years the School has changed names and locations several times, before finally going through an amalgamation when it became St. John’s-Ravenscourt School in 1950. While SJR has changed throughout the years,
the School has always provided an exceptional learning environment for its students. SJR learners strive for academic excellence, while fostering an appreciation for creative expression, building lifelong habits for healthy and active living, and practicing social responsibility as global citizens. Our enriched University preparatory curriculum, with six advanced placement University level courses, means that 100% of our graduates are accepted to their top choice program. The world-class facilities and labs, award-winning teachers and small class sizes create an unparalleled education experience where opportunities are endless.
WWW.SJR.MB.CA 2 • Spring 2020
The Hub
Contents
Departures 30 Eating your way through Charlottetown 34 Downtown LA 38 Take a transatlantic cruise
Arrivals 6 Manitoba marks a milestone 9 Sister Agnes Wightman Wilkie honoured
Photo by Bill Burfoot.
42 A day in Mumbai
6 Manitoba marks a milestone this year - 150 years young!
10 A man called Intrepid 12 Manitoba has 85 per cent of the world’s caesium 13 Bottle Houses of Treherne Photo courtesy of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.
14 Beatlemania swept YWG in August 1964 16 The world’s leading theoretical cosmologist 18 Introducing Manitoba’s Accessibility Standard for Employment 20 The Francophone fact of Manitoba
38 Visit a majestic floating city.
24 Kelly Thornton, Artistic Director, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre 26 The Motor Bus City
Departments 5 Editor’s Message 17 Book Reviews Photo by David Johnson.
46 Postcards
42 The bustling city of Mumbai
whatsupwinnipeg.ca
Spring 2020 • 3
Wishing health and safety to our local and global communities
*Trademark of the CABCP †Trademark of the BCBSA
4 • Spring 2020
The Hub
Editor’s Message
The Saint Boniface Cathedral at night. Cover Photo by Dorothy Dobbie. Vol. 6, No. 1
Spring 2020
whatsupwinnipeg.ca Publisher Dorothy Dobbie Design Pegasus Publications Inc. Editor Shauna Dobbie shauna@pegasuspublications.net Art Direction & Layout Karl Thomsen karl@pegasuspublications.net General Manager Ian Leatt ian.leatt@pegasuspublications.net Contributors Dorothy Dobbie, Shauna Dobbie, John Einarson, Kathryne Grisim, David Johnson, Alex Regiec, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. Advertising Sales 1.888.680.2008 Gordon Gage gord.gage@pegasuspublications.net Published quarterly by Pegasus Publications Inc. 138 Swan Lake Bay, Winnipeg, MB R3T 4T8 204-940-2700 whatsupwinnipeg.ca
Dear readers, Every piece in this magazine, except this one, was written in the Before time. Before COVID-19 came to Canada. Even before it was discovered in China, in some cases. They portray a time of excess, perhaps; or more, a time without worry. No—a time when we weren’t all worried all the time about the same things. And so, as doubt rained down on our little company that publishing things for people’s spare time reading, I had bandwidth to consider every article; the one on taking a transatlantic cruise has been dropped and re-added more than once! The articles on Manitoba pride were easy enough; if anything, Manitobans have more to be proud of than ever. One business closes and a new endeavour starts up to help folks who are hurting, and those who’ve been laid off are busy helping seniors and shut-ins navigate this crisis. The Manitoba articles in this issue are a look back at our 150 years as a province, a part of marking this big birthday for us. The articles on travel were a little different. The cruise piece is one thing, with tragic stories of cruisers being confined to their rooms and becoming ill in the news regularly. Then there is the story on Mumbai, where the virus will take an especially heavy toll on the impoverished. Regardless, who would consider travelling right now? Downtown Los Angeles? You can’t even go there! And as for Charlottetown, you couldn’t eat your way through it like our writer did. But there are so many hard-news stories right now, I’ve decided to keep this magazine a place where you can stop and take a breath. This virus hasn’t always affected us, and it won’t continue forever. You have travelled before and you will again, or perhaps you will for the first time in years to come. The cruise industry will be back, maybe not this year and maybe with slower growth than it’s seen over the past decade, but it will return. So for now, take this magazine and curl up in your big easy chair at home. Every story in here will take you somewhere, whether it’s back in time or around the world. Current events can wait a bit. Shauna Dobbie Editor
ISSN 2292 9827 Return undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: Circulation Department Pegasus Publications Inc. 138 Swan Lake Bay, Winnipeg, MB R3T 4T8
How to access bonus editorial features
Canadian Publications mail product sales agreement #40027604 Distribution The Hub is published quarterly by Pegasus Publications Inc. It is regularly available at the Winnipeg Richardson International Airport and at select locations around the province. Any opinions expressed in columns by our contributors are their own opinions entirely and are not necessarily shared by Pegasus Publications Inc. All information presented by the contributors is the responsibility of the writers. The publisher buys all editorial rights and reserves the right to republish any material purchased. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without seeking permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright Pegasus Publications Inc.
whatsupwinnipeg.ca
localgardener.net
Find additional content If you don’t have one, download a QR reader online with your where you purchase smartphone or tablet apps – there are many whenever you spot a free ones. Scan the QR QR code code where you see accompanying it throughout the an article. magazine.
Enjoy the video, picture or article! Alternatively, you can type in the url beneath the QR code.
Spring 2020 • 5
Manitoba History
Manitoba marks a milestone 150 years since entering confederation! By Dorothy Dobbie
Portage and Main in Winnipeg 1872 showing settlers leaving for western Manitoba.
T
he year 2020 marks a big milestone in Manitoba’s history. It will be 150 years since Manitoba became the fifth province of Canada. Most Manitobans do not know their history and while there is not enough room here to tell it well, the Coles notes version follows. How can we properly celebrate what we don’t know or understand? Today, it is widely acknowledged 6 • Spring 2020
that without Louis Riel and his determination to protect the Metis way of life, Manitoba’s entry into Canada would have lagged for many years. Until 1868, the Hudson Bay Company owned the territory known as Rupert’s Land which had been granted by King Charles II in 1670 to his cousin Prince Rupert of Rhine. This vast area included all of Manitoba, most of Saskatchewan, southern Alberta, southern Nunavut, and
northern parts of Ontario and Quebec. The charter included parts of Minnesota, North Dakota and bits of Montana and South Dakota although the Hudson Bay Company’s accepted territory at time ended at the 49th parallel. In 1867, the same year as Canadian Confederation, the United State purchased Alaska from Russia. This prompted the Prime Minister of the new Dominion of Canada, John The Hub
A. Macdonald, to enlist the help of Britain in purchasing the territory for Canada. Macdonald was worried that the US would attempt to fulfil its vision of “manifest destiny” and take over the vast northwest. By the time of the sale of Rupert’s Land to Canada, The Red River Valley had long been the home of the Metis people, the descendants of intermarriage between voyageurs and local Indigenous people who whatsupwinnipeg.ca
had occupied the area for a couple of hundred years. They hunted buffalo, traded furs and many worked for the North West Company, headquartered in Montreal and competing with the Hudson Bay over the fur trade. In 1812, the first group of Lord Selkirk’s settlers came to the territory and settled at and near Winnipeg. They would have all died the very first year without the help of Chief Peguis,
a Saultaux leader, who rescued them from starvation and cold. Neither the Metis nor the Northwest Company were happy to see the lands settled, disrupting hunting and trading, but the settlers survived and people kept coming. Tensions came to a head in 1816 over the control of pemmican, a vital staple for both the traders and the settlers. Known as the Seven Oaks Massacre, 21 settlers, including Governor Semple, were killed. Spring 2020 • 7
“I know that through the grace of God I am the founder of Manitoba.” – Louis Riel, July 1885, 15 years after Manitoba entered Confederation. This was the most famous dispute over the territory but relations between the Metis, who were largely engaged in the fur trade, and the new farmer settlers continued to be strained over the next 60 years. Yet farms were built on lands that the settlers shared with their Indigenous allies, the signatories to the treaty signed with Lord Selkirk by Chief Peguis and four other bands. Peguis and the other chiefs saw the treaty as a way to set out rules for sharing the land. The British and later Canada saw the treaty as providing the newcomers with dominion over the land. This would have repercussions that are still being dealt with today. The Metis, who by this time had a well-established community which included the first St. Boniface Cathedral built in 1858, understood that their best hope lay in trying to set some terms with Canada. They were concerned about losing of their Catholic religion, their French language and their way of life. In 1869, Riel and the Metis seized Fort Garry and declared their own provisional government to negotiate Manitoba’s entry into confederation to ensure that their rights were protected. This instigated a dispute with some Ontario protestant settlers that resulted in the arrest, trial and execution by firing squad of one Thomas Scott. In spite of this, the Manitoba Act was passed on May 12, 1870, but needless to say, Riel was now a wanted man and even though he was elected to Parliament after confederation in 1870, he was not allowed to take his seat for fear of being arrested. Rumour has it, though, that he sneaked in during the night and did just that, 8 • Spring 2020
Louis Riel.
albeit only momentarily. These years were followed by many broken promises to the Metis and Indigenous people, promises we are still trying to repair today, but the growth of settler population was mercurial. In 1870, our then postage-stamp-sized province held just 12,000 people. Eleven years later, that had swelled to 66,000. Twenty years later, the population exceeded a quarter of a million and by 1911 it was 450,000. Winnipeg was the
country’s third largest city. In spite of our troubled beginning and maybe even because of it, Manitoba has developed a personality that is open to newcomers and still husbands a rebellious spirit of enterprise and ingenuity that has made many contributions to the world. Our people have excelled in countless fields starting with agriculture, much of our early knowledge gained from our Indigenous population. Manitobans led the way in the development of numerous improved plants to help feed the planet. Because we were isolated, we had to be ingenious. Old World expertise was applied to many New World industrial needs that saw us pioneering the aviation and even the aerospace industries. Our manufacturing plants fed and clothed the West: we excelled in food production, garment making, equipment and automotive production, printing and publishing, steel and cement making, millwork and stone work, education and innovation and many other pursuits for many years. We produced outstanding medical scientists and doctors. We developed world class artists and renowned performance companies in theatre, dance and music, even making a huge mark on the rock ‘n’ roll world as late as the 1960s. After a time of stagnation, Manitoba is now ready once again to tackle the world. This celebratory year of 2020 marks the beginning of the next 150 years and as Premier Pallister so likes to say, “The only thing better than today in Manitoba, is tomorrow in Manitoba!” The Hub
Manitoba History
Sister Agnes Wightman Wilkie honoured
The Mount Pleasant Cemetery in St. John’s, Newfoundland where Agnes lies.
T
he Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) launched Women of Conspicuous Courage in the lead up to International Women’s Day this year. It is a digital celebration of some of the courageous women who served during World War II. Handselected as one of five women from around the world, nursing Sister Agnes Wightman Wilkie was honoured for her nursing skill and leadership within the Royal Canadian Navy. Born in Oak Bluff, Manitoba in 1904, Wilkie built a successful career as an operating room supervisor at the Misericordia General Hospital in Winnipeg before volunteering to join the Royal Canadian Navy in 1942. Tragically, while returning to Canada from the HMCS Avalon naval base in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Wilkie’s convoy was torpedoed by a German U-boat. Wilkie perished at sea and was buried with full naval honours in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in St. John’s. “Agnes’ story reflects the courageous and heroic effort of Canadian women who gave their lives throughout World War II.” said David Loveridge, whatsupwinnipeg.ca
Sister Agnes Wightman Wilkie.
Area Director for Canada and the Americas. “As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it is important to honour and commemorate the many women who served their country and are honoured by the Commission today for their selfless courage. In Can-
ada, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cares for the memory of nearly 20,000 men and women who died in the World Wars. By visiting their graves and memorials to pay respect you can help us ensure their sacrifice never goes forgotten.” Spring 2020 • 9
Manitoba History
A man called Intrepid
Stephenson with the wireless tranmitter he invented in 1922.
P
oint Douglas is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Winnipeg, the home to many an immigrant arriving via the CPR Station at its gateway. It was here that a Man Called Intrepid, Sir William Stephenson, was born January 23, 1897, to an Icelandic mother, Sarah Johnston (Gudfinna Jonsdottir), and a Scots father from the Orkney Isles, William Hunter Stanger, who worked in a flour mill. When William Stanger died in 1901, Sarah with three children and no support gave William to Bina and Kristin Stephenson to raise. Such were the humble beginnings of a man who, at only five-feet two-inches tall, became a war hero, a giant of industry in Britain, an early developer of television, a movie studio mogul, and, the virtual father of the most sophisticated spy network in the western hemisphere. Intrepid was his Second World War
10 • Spring 2020
codename. As a kid, Sir William loved to box despite his small size but was still considered a bookworm. He left school early, as they did in those days, and got a job delivering telegrams. As soon as he could, he enlisted in the war effort being recorded as a bugler because he was considered too small to be a soldier. He quickly rose in the ranks, however, and by February 1918 was sent to France to become a flyer. Legends abound about his prowess in the Sopworth Camel he flew, claiming he had shot downs as many as 18 aircraft and 2 kite balloons, although it is known that he had at least 12 “victories”. During the war, Stephenson met Gene Tunney, who would hold two world boxing championships and who married the granddaughter of a billionaire. This was just one of the network of luminaries Stephenson would add
to the network that would help him in his future career as uber spy. Along the way, our Intrepid would win the featherweight championship of the Inter Allied Games at Amiens. "Everybody admired him,” said Tunney of his boxing prowess. “He was quick as a dash of lightning. He was a fast, clever featherweight... he was a fearless and quick thinker." A twice-decorated war hero, Stephenson returned to Winnipeg determined to make a fortune with a German can opener he had found, but although he and his partner, Charles Russell, had some early success, the company failed in the 1922 recession and Stephenson went back to England. He immediately went back into business, this time joining up with a fellow, T. Thorne Baker, who was into phototelegraphy. They filed the first patent in the field of what wold become teleThe Hub
whatsupwinnipeg.ca
Photo courtesy of The Central intelligence Agency.
vision. He also started a radio manufacturing company and founded the Shepperton Studios, the world’s largest movie studios outside of Los Angeles. His Pressed Steel Company manufactured 90 per cent of the car bodies in England and he had a construction and cement company. Stephenson married an heiress of his own, an American woman named Mary Simmons, whom he had met on board ship returning from a business trip to New York City. Even shorter than he, she made him feel very, very tall. All of this and more was part of the Stephenson adventure well before the Second World War started. Due to his business connections, though, he developed an incredible international network that would be instrumental in his success as a spymaster. This started early. Indeed, his interest in intrigue went back to his days as a telegram delivery boy in Winnipeg when his quick eye spotted a wanted murderer, John Krafchenko who had shot and killed the Plum Coulee banker, Henry Medley Arnold, as he delivered a telegram. (The fascinating Krafchenko story is one that warrants its own book.) This power of observation led him to discover on a business trip that the Nazis were using all their steel to make armaments and that Hitler had hived away billions to be used for the same purposes. Stephenson reported this to MI6 and eventually he got the information to Winston Churchill, not yet prime minister, but clearly a leader for the future in Stephenson’s eyes. They became friends. When the need arose, Churchill turned to Stephenson, who had been feeding him ongoing intelligence, and arranged for him to go to New York and set up a secret British intelligence network throughout the western hemisphere. Stephenson set up shop in the British passport office, styling himself as the British Passport Control Officer, and from there he soon became close to Roosevelt, talking him into appointing “Wild Bill” Donovan to became head of the OSS, the precursor to the CIA. Among his many initiatives and achievements, Stephenson hired hundreds of women, most of them Canadian, to assist in his efforts. He set up Camp X at Whitby Ontario, which
A statue of Sir William Stephenson by local sculptor Leo Mol.
trained up to 2,000 covert operators from 1941 to 1945. He took no salary for his efforts and paid many of the operatives out of his own pocket. After the war, the premier of the newly minted 10th province of Canada, Joey Smallwood, employed Stephenson for a couple of years to head up the Newfoundland Labrador Corporation, but our old friend thought it should be headed by a local person. He carried on in business, setting up another corporation with Bill Donovan. He also created the World Commerce Corporation.
In 1976, William Stephenson commissioned William Stevenson to write his story. The result was A Man Called Intrepid, which was made into a 1979 movie starring David Niven. There have been many other books and films about this remarkable man and many arguments about the details of his life. Regardless, William Samuel Clouston Stanger Stephenson was one of the most interesting people of the 20th century. He settled down in Bermuda with his wife, Mary. He died on January 3, 1989. Spring 2020 • 11
Local Business
Manitoba has 85 per cent of the world’s caesium
T
here is more than meets the eye in this lovely province. Under the stunning beauty of the boreal forest lies a treasure trove of riches that have only been glimpsed. Such is the Tanco mine at Bernic Lake, discovered in the 1920s and first developed in 1930 for its tin and beryl deposits. In 1954, lithium mining began. In 1969, production focussed on tantalum and, finally, in 1996, caesium became the most important mineral at the site. It is a little-known fact that Bernic Lake is the site of 82 per cent of the world’s known supply of pollucite, which is rich in caesium, lithium, niobium, beryllium, tantalum and wodginite. In the case of caesium, the deposit at Bernic Lake represents 85 per cent of the world’s supply. Why does all this matter? Caesium is a critical component of atomic clocks, the technology of which governs the GPS function on your phone. Caesium degrades so reliably that it loses only one second for every 100 million years. Caesium is also used in nuclear power plants, as a vector in hightemperature oil well drilling, in photo electric cells, to remove the last vestiges of air in vacuum tubes and as a catalyst in hydrogenating foods such as vegetable oils to make them solid (margarine). It is being tested in treating brain tumors. Another interesting use for caesium is as a fuel in outer space. Just one kilogram of caesium could propel a vehicle 140 times as far as burning any other known liquid or solid. Lithium is a key component of the rechargeable batteries that power so much in the world today. Lithium is also used to treat bi-polar disorder, it is used to absorb carbon dioxide in spaceships and as an alloy in metals used for aircraft. Tantalum, beryllium and niobium are all used as alloys in a wide number of metal compounds that serve the aircraft and aerospace industries as well as for satellite communications, pipelines and in surgical instruments. This is just a small peek at the possibilities in Northern Manitoba even though our mining sector is currently at an all time low. One more thing: a Chinese firm, Sinomine Cor12 • Spring 2020
Caesium. There are untold riches beneath the trees and rocks of the boreal forest.
poration, bought Tanco mine last year. This consolidates Chinese control over this mineral worldwide. It should also be noted that China now controls 21 of the 35 critical minerals on the American critical mineral commodities list. Ironically, the mine was purchased from an American company. The Hub
Manitoba Sights
Bottle Houses of Treherne
The bottle structures of Treherne include a house, a wishing well, a church and an outdoor toilet.
T
here are bottle houses all over Canada; one in Prince Edward Island made of plastic bottles, another in Redit, Ontario that appears to be more concrete than bottles, and the classic embalming-fluid-bottle house in the East Kootenays at Sanca, B. C. It’s a big one made of 500,000 squareshaped bottles, but who wants to be in a house made of bottles that contained a product for after death? Then there is the bottle house of Treherne, Manitoba. Actually, this is a collection of structures: a house, a wishing well, a church and a working outdoor toilet! Dora and Bob Cain, with the help of their friend Fred Harp, built the house out of 4,000 bottles between 1979 and 1982, followed by the church of 5,000 bottles, then the wishing well which only took 500 bottles and finally, due to the swelling numbers of visitors, a working outdoor washroom made of another 1,000 bottles. These bottles are nothing as boring as plastic drink bottles or a boring collection of embalming fluid vessels. These are good old fashioned booze bottles of every description, from wine to whisky to exotic foreign liquors contributed by friends. Now don’t get the wrong impression. It wasn’t that Bob and Dora, or even Fred, whatsupwinnipeg.ca
were big boozers. They got 90 per cent of their collection from the Legion on Roblin Boulevard in Winnipeg. Another 10 per cent, give or take a few, came from the socials held in and around Treherne. Some of the bottles are antiques, too, now encased for posterity in the cement mortar that thinly holds the bottles and the structure together. The church contains a working organ, donated by the Anglican church in MacGregor and the stained-glass windows came from the Anglican Church in Cypress River. The pews were rescued from Winnipeg and cut in half (seating for eight) to fit the space. As for that outdoor toilet, well it actually flushes and there is a sink to wash your hands in. Bob’s son Joe is a plumber who made the magic happen after 7,000 people visited in one day all wanting to use the washroom—in the family home. You see, all this was originally constructed on the farm. Later the town of Treherne raised $43,000 to move the whole collection to the corner park at Railway and Alexander Streets. Treherne is about 110 kilometres west of Winnipeg on Highway 2. At high season, it costs $3 to get in. It is worth the visit. Spring 2020 • 13
Manitoba History
Beatlemania swept YWG in August 1964
14 • Spring 2020
Photo by Dave Bonner.
H
ere’s a trivia question: Where was the first place the four Beatles set foot in Canada? Answer: Winnipeg International Airport, at 2:05 p.m., Tuesday, August 18, 1964. It was only for 25 minutes but enough time to make history. Although intended as a routine refueling stop, word leaked out that the Beatles were onboard a flight from London to Los Angeles that day. “Around noon I got a call from the public relations director for Air Canada who was a good friend of mine,” recalls CJAY TV personality Bob Burns, host of popular Teen Dance Party. “‘Get out to the airport for the interview of your life,’ he told me.” By the time Burns arrived, radio stations CKY and CKRC had announced the imminent arrival of the Fab Four and hundreds of teenagers descended on the airport. Traffic was blocked and the parking lot jammed. “We want the Beatles,” the predominantly female crowd, by now numbering a thousand, chanted. As the Pan American Lockheed Elektra, dubbed “Jet Clipper Beatles,” taxied to a halt they unleashed a deafening roar. With no plans to disembark on what was merely a 20-minute stopover, Beatles manager Brian Epstein, noticing the pandemonium on the observation deck, prevailed upon his charges to make a brief appearance. They emerged from the plane waving to the hysterical throng. “Hello Winnipeg!” shouted a beaming Paul McCartney, first down the stairs. A gang of reporters quickly swarmed in, microphones thrust in his face. “It’s a luverly welcome,” McCartney chirped. Among the rabble was Burns who, after exchanging pleasantries with McCartney, managed to snag John Lennon. “Bob Burns from
By John Einarson
The four Beatles first set foot in Canada at the Winnipeg International Airport, at 2:05 p.m., Tuesday, August 18, 1964. It was only for 25 minutes but enough time to make history.
CJAY Television.” “That’s not my fault,” snapped the cheeky Beatle. Undaunted, Burns pressed on. “You must be glad to stretch your legs.” “Amongst other things,” quipped Lennon. “He had a smart-aleck answer for everything,” Burns later recalled. He takes pride in being the first Canadian television reporter to interview the famed Liverpudlians. Burns found Ringo Starr the most gregarious. “He seemed more mature than the others,” he noted. Minutes later, waving one last time, the four ducked inside the plane. But not before Ringo suggested that the group might return to Winnipeg fol-
lowing their North American tour. Among the mob of squealing teens jostling for sight of their heroes was 14-year-old Diane Clear. “Oh, I wish they had stayed longer,” she gushed to a reporter. “They are so cute.” CKRC receptionist Sharon McRae was fortunate to shake hands with George Harrison and receive a kiss on the hand from Ringo. She was later besieged by a horde of Beatlemaniacs. Seventeen-year-old Silver Heights Collegiate student Bruce Decker, a member of The Deverons, was on his way to the beach when he and his friends made a hasty detour upon hearing the news on the radio. “We The Hub
The Beatles brief landing at the Winnipeg airport quickly drew an adoring crowd.
couldn’t see anything from the observation platform, so we sneaked down to the ramp,” Decker related years later. “It was fascinating to see the Beatles in person here in Winnipeg.” Seizing the moment, he dashed across the runway, some 25 yards, to the stairs of the plane. “Quick thinking, that’s all it was,” reflected Decker. “I just figured I could make it up those steps and I no sooner thought of it and I was gone. The crowd roared when
whatsupwinnipeg.ca
they saw me go. I got right up the stairs before the Mounties grabbed me.” His impulsive move amused the Beatles. “Just as they were wrestling with me, I caught a glimpse of the Beatles through the door and they were chuckling.” Released by authorities, Decker became the object of instant adulation. “Kids crowded around me, touching me and screaming. Tears were streaming down their faces as they asked me: ‘What do they look like? Did they say
anything?’ The girls thought there was some kind of magic about me just because I’d got so close to them.” Dozens of dazed teens remained behind after the plane was long gone. “It was a little embarrassing having to tell kids to stop kissing the runway,” commented RCMP Sergeant E. G. Varndell. Others sat on the grass weeping. “We’ve never seen anything like this before and I hope we won’t see it again.”
Spring 2020 • 15
Manitoba History
The world’s leading theoretical cosmologist
D
Born in St. Boniface, Jim Peebles went on to win a Nobel Prize in phsyics.
oes the name Jim Peebles mean anything to you? If not, it should. Phillip James Edwin Peebles OM FRS “took on the cosmos, with its billions of galaxies and galaxy clusters. His theoretical framework, developed over two decades, is the foundation of our modern understanding of the universe’s history, from the Big Bang to the present day,” said the president of Princeton University. For this, Jim Peebles was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics along with Michel Mayor of Geneva and Didier Queloz of Geneva. Born April 25 in 1935 in St. Boniface, Jim grew up in Norwood and St. Vital. His dad, Andrew, was clerk at Winnipeg’s Grain Exchange, loved working with his hands and had a workshop that Jim enjoyed puttering around in. He says he liked to build things: sleighs and forts in the back yard, and he learned how to make gun powder. He enjoyed looking at trains and seeing how the mechanics worked. But his self education was of the kind that boys followed in those days, exploring the world around him and soaking it all up. His mother, Ada (Green) made sure the household ran smoothly. Jim enjoyed the Popular Mechanics magazines his dad brought home, but he was most engaged with the fascinating ads about making a fortune from chinchilla farming or offers of intriguing tools that captured his imagination. He never acted on any of these interests. He didn’t start out with any glorious ideas about discovering how the universe works. He says he didn’t even think about science in high school and remembers only being intrigued with triangles. “I was not a very attentive student,” he said of his high school studies in an interview with Martin
16 • Spring 2020
Hewit at Princeton in 1984. He loved skiing and skating and enjoyed the community clubs that were so much a part of the Winnipeg culture at the time. He learned to square dance and loved the parties. He graduated high school at the top of his tiny class of 12. He entered the University of Manitoba intent on studying engineering. He attended those classes for two years but didn’t find engineering all that exciting. Some friends were majoring in physics, so he switched over. “I somehow had the feeling they were having better parties than we were having in engineering,” he said. “I instantly felt that physics and the math that went with it were great.” He said, “As I think back, I am impressed with how good the lectures I got at the University of Manitoba were.” Jim left the University of Manitoba in 1958, but not before he found his future wife, Alison. He went on to study at and then pursue a doctorate at Princeton University on the advice of Ken Standing, his U of M mentor. At Princeton, fate once again took a hand in his career. He was bent on studying particle physics. A professor, Bob Dickie, took him under his wing and gradually led Jim in the direction of gravity physics which led him by logical extension to cosmology. The rest is history. Jim Peebles is a man of great modesty and understatement. “It was quite a joy ride,” he said of his journey of discovery to the Big Bang Theory in his speech to Princeton after the prize was awarded. Even with all the evidence supporting his theory, he still has questions and doubts. “We can be very sure that that theory isn’t the final answer,” he added. Surely that realization is the mark of a truly great man. The Hub
Book Reviews
Read on the way By David Johnson
The Red Word by Sarah Henstra (2018, ECW Press) Sarah Henstra tackles some pretty controversial topics in this eminently readable novel set against the backdrop of an Ivy League college in the mid-90s, from the men of the me too movement, to hardline feminism. No one comes away unscathed. It’s almost inconceivable that a man could have written this book and I’m amazed that Henstra had the guts to offer such a moving and critical examination of both toxic male culture in fraternities, and the less flattering aspects of the woman’s rights movement. She takes apart most aspects of the gender wars, and so-called cancel culture, deftly showing that any ideology taken
to extremes can be deadly. She further performs this balancing act by incorporating Greek mythology, examining our current state in light of the classical role of the hero, who is both a good and bad guy. The prose is beautiful and clean and despite the often heavy subject matter, the book is almost impossible to put down. I’m sometimes asked for recommendations for book clubs and this book is guaranteed to be a conversation starter for men and women alike. Winner of the 2018 Governor Generals Award for English Language Literature, I recommend it as much as the Governor General.
A Better Man by Louise Penny 2019, Minotaur Books Inspector Gamache returns for a fifteenth entry in this beloved series. If you’ve not read the previous books, you can still pick this one up and enjoy a warm introduction to Gamache, a Chief Inspector of the Sûreté du Québec, his protégé Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and the charming, fictional village of Three Pines where much of the action of the series takes place. For those not familiar, Penny often has Gamache navigating the thorny world of Québec politics and public opinion and, in this entry, Gamache is second in command at the Sûreté, reporting to another former protégé in a role meant to humiliate him. Into this mix comes a murder of a woman near Three Pines, who was in an abusive relationship, so of course everyone knows
her husband is the culprit. But Gamache and Jean-Guy must prove it, even as spring flooding threatens to wash away Three Pines. Will Gamache prevail? Well, of course, but not before a nail-biting, gasp-inducing roller coaster of an ending. One of the wonders of the series is that while Gamache is one of the world’s greatest police officers, he is not a cynic, nor is he self-destructive; rather, quite subversively for a crime thriller, Gamache has a deep love of life, family and community that carries him through his often turbulent world. I won’t guarantee you’ll fall in love with him on the basis of this book alone, as millions of others have, but it’s a great introduction to a life-affirming character.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid 2019, Ballantine Books Very loosely based on Fleetwood Mac’s legendary recording of Rumors, an established but struggling band, The Six, is forced to work with up and coming singer Daisy Jones to write and record a new album, Aurora, in the mid-70s. The brilliance of the book is that it’s told as an aural history of the band and the recording of Aurora. So we hear different versions of events from Daisy, The Six leader Billy Dunne, his wife, other members of the band, managers and various other hangers on. Much of it leads up to revealing the
whatsupwinnipeg.ca
truth behind The Six’s infamous last concert in 1978; in the world of the novel, there is endless speculation as to why they broke up that night. At its heart is a love story, but really it’s about the creative process, the personal tensions that can lead to good art, and the drug-fueled spirit of the 70s. Reid’s development of the characters and her rich dialogue elevate this book into something really special. Hands down one my favorite reading experiences of the last year. Spring 2020 • 17
Manitoba Business
Introducing Manitoba’s Accessibility Standard for Employment It’s good business to employ Manitobans with disabilities.
O
n May 1, 2019, the Manitoba government enacted a second standard under The Accessibility for Manitobans Act targeting employment (following the 2015 Accessibility Standard for Customer Service). The goal is to remove barriers that affect current and potential members of Manitoba's labour force by helping Manitoba employers hire, support and keep employees. The standard addresses all aspects of the employment relationship including recruitment, hiring, on-the-job, and return-to-work. The principle of reasonable accommodation is a key concept under The Human Rights Code (Manitoba) and the new Accessibility Standard for Employment. A workplace accommodation is reasonable if it is required for an employee to carry out workplace responsibilities or to access benefits available to employees. Most accommodations offer an adjustment to how things are usually done at little or no expense. The employer and employee share the responsibility to find the right solution, without affecting safety of staff or other “undue hardship”. Reasonable accommodation levels the playing field for all employees. The provincial government is required to meet the employment standard by May 2020, and public sector organizations must comply one year later. All business, notfor-profit and small municipality employers must comply with most areas of the standard in three years time, by May 2022. However, safety comes first. Effective May 1, 2020, all Manitoba businesses and organizations with at least one employee must ensure the safety of their employees in two ways:
18 • Spring 2020
• Workplace Emergency Response Information: Create individualized emergency response information to help employees with disabilities stay safe during emergencies, and • Workplace Emergency Assistance: Ask employees who require assistance during an emergency for permission to share information with individuals who agree to help Remember to enquire, rather than assume, who needs help during an emergency. For instance, a staff person may be unable to rush down stairs due to a heart condition that on a normal workday is unnoticeable. Why introduce a law to remove barriers to employment? Because Manitoba employers want the best employee for the job, and because Manitobans with disabilities want to work. Employment plays a significant role in a person’s finanThe Hub
cial and emotional wellbeing. Individuals typically get their first jobs in their later teenage years, or early adulthood. Investment in education and skills development then leads to their future careers and advancement that may last well into their 60s. Manitoba’s economy could not function without the contribution of workers who also become consumers with the incomes they earn. Employment is a vital activity in most people's lives, and therefore, it’s not surprising that employment is a priority among the one in four Manitobans with a disability. Yet, the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability found that only 65 per cent of Manitobans with disabilities, aged 25 to 65, were employed, compared to 83 per cent of those without disabilities. Despite impressive post-secondary achievements, some people face barriers to employment that have nothing to do with their abilities. For instance, employers may whatsupwinnipeg.ca
overlook skilled job seekers with disabilities, because they think a disability will lead to lower productivity and higher costs. By contrast, research shows hiring people with disabilities is a good investment for at least three great reasons: 1. Talent: By creating accessibility in hiring and on-thejob, you ensure all your employees perform at their best. 2. Reliability: Research shows low absenteeism and turnover and fewer workplace accidents among employees with disabilities. 3. Reputation: Studies show employees and customers are more loyal to businesses that show they value diversity. Learn more about the Accessibility Standard for Employment and other standards under The Accessibility for Manitobans Act. Visit AccessibilityMB.ca or call the Disabilities Issues Office at 204-945-7613 or toll free: 1-800-282-8069 ext. 7613. Spring 2020 • 19
Manitoba History
The Francophone fact of Manitoba
Photo by Dorothy Dobbie.
By Dorothy Dobbie
The present Saint Boniface Cathedral was partially destroyed by fire in 1968.
A
nglophone Canadians often forget that our history is a tale of two cities: Winnipeg and St. Boniface, the British and the French communities, upon which our provincehood rests. Today, many of us seem to overlook our rich French ancestry that has helped weave our unique Manitoba character. Voyageurs, working for commercial enterprises in Montreal, were the first Europeans to venture into the prairies. Pierre La Verendrye reached 20 • Spring 2020
the forks of the Red and Assiniboine on September 24, 1738, following up on a journey made by two of his men four years earlier. Some of the party remained to build a fort somewhere near what is now Fort Rouge, while La Verendrye pressed on, establishing four trading posts or forts further north as far as The Pas. The French were predominant in the area until the Selkirk Settlers arrived 80 years later. At the time of our entry into confederation, more that 50 percent of the
population in Manitoba was French. Long before that, in 1809, the French Fort Gibraltar was built at what would become St. Boniface, east of the Red River. Bishop Provencher built the first little log church in 1818. The log church was replaced in 1825 and again in 1832, where it served a growing community for the next three decades until it burned in 1860. By the time of Manitoba’s entry into confederation, it had been rebuilt in imposing stone as a significant landmark The Hub
Photo courtesy of the St. Boniface Museum.
in Western Canada—a beautiful cathedral that was the Mother Church for Catholics in Western Canada. It would be rebuilt again in 1905 as a magnificent building with two towers rising 158 feet above the Red. This lovely landmark burned again in 1968, to the horror of all Manitobans. It was rebuilt on a smaller scale, designed by Etienne Gaboury and Dennis Lussier, and remains there today, embraced within the imposing facade of the earlier church. In 1844, the Grey Nuns arrived. Two years later, they began to build their massive two-storey residence. Immediately following Manitoba’s entry into Confederation, in 1871, the Gray Nuns established St. Boniface Hospital, with four beds. A few short years later, in 1894, they added a surgical facility. Fast forward 90 years to 1987, when the hospital became Canada’s first free-standing medical research facility. Although St. Boniface was starting to grow, there were few buildings as substantial as the Cathedral, the Grey Nun’s home or even the three-storey brick archbishop’s residence, which had been built in 1864. It remains at whatsupwinnipeg.ca
Photo courtesy of the St. Boniface Museum.
Le Museé de Sainte-Boniface Museum resides in the former Grey Nuns’ convent, the oldest building in Winnipeg.
Displays inside the Saint Boniface Museum portray what life was like for the Grey Nuns.
151 rue de la Cathedrale as one of the oldest stone buildings in the West. St. Boniface itself was incorporated as a town in 1883 and as a city in 1908. It was ultimately absorbed into Winnipeg with the creation of Unicity by Ed Schreyer in 1972. St. Boniface City Hall, built in 1905, was designated a
National Historic site in 1984. Today, the city is trying to sell it, although it is a designated heritage building. While the community that would become Winnipeg was slowly taking shape, what would become Portage and Main was still a mud trail surrounded by a rag tag group of small Spring 2020 • 21
St. Boniface Hospital in 1930.
The Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface.
wooden buildings. Development of the west side of the Red River was further north. Twin Oaks on River Road, a former girl’s school built in the 1850s, and Captain Kennedy’s home with its magnificent garden are two reminders of those early days. French Manitoba was a vibrant and industrious society that extended beyond St. Boniface, reaching out along the Red and Seine Rivers and establishing outpost communities in south22 • Spring 2020
French-Canadian explorer La Vérendrye.
ern Manitoba. Many of the original voyageurs had married Indigenous women and so began the Metis population that produced Louis Riel, who has widely been credited with hastening Manitoba’s entry into Confederation. His volatile nature, along with tensions between the Francophones in the Red River Valley and an influx of settlers from Ontario, resulted in an incident in 1869, that saw one Thomas Scott
executed. To quell the “rebellion” by Riel’s provincial government, Canada sent a military expedition led by Colonel Garnet Wolseley to the Red River Valley. It included over a thousand men and their heavy artillery. While this was a bit like hitting a fly with a sledge hammer, the show of force is said to have helped settle the border issue with the United States which had expansionist plans. Many members of the expedition, The Hub
The Red River Valley Song
“Red River Jig”, a woodcut from Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in 1860.
T
he song Red River Valley is widely attributed to an American songwriter, but a Manitoba historian Edith Fowke has traced it back to our own Red River Valley. One of the clues is the word “adieu”, not a word that would have been in the American vocabulary.
Photo by Dorothy Dobbie.
The Red River Valley From this valley they say you are going, I shall miss your bright eyes and sweet smile, For alas you take with you the sunshine That has brightened my pathway awhile.
A gateway in the St. Boniface Basilica Cemetery.
given land grants, settled in Manitoba, but at least one must have returned east as recorded in the musical lament, Red River Valley. According to Edith Fowke, the original song is about a Métis girl pining for her lover, a soldier who had been part of the expedition. By 1890, the French numbered only 10 per cent of the Manitoba population. Many of the Metis, a good portion of the original 10,000, had left for what would later become Saskatchewan and the town of Batoche, while immigrants from Ontario and east begin to flood in. The population of our then postage stamp-sized province jumped from 25,000 in 1870 to 255,000 by the turn of the century. That explosive growth continued for another 20 years, only slowing down after the First World War. Today, 13 per cent of Manitobans claim Francophone descent. whatsupwinnipeg.ca
The Franco-Manitoban community has produced many illustrious people so far. It can be said that the first premier of Manitoba was Marc-Amable Girard, a former mayor of Varennes in Quebec, although some have given that title to the Provincial Secretary appointed by Lieutenant Governor Archibald, at the time. At any rate, Girard appointed the first cabinet. He also served as both an MLA and a senator until the double mandate was made illegal. Other notables include author Gabrielle Roy and international songwriter Daniel Lavoie. Perhaps the greatest gift the Francophone community has given to Manitoba is the ability of our general population to respect and celebrate pluralistic cultures. Franco-Manitobans have sweetened our Manitoba culture with music and art and a certain flair and style.
Chorus: Come and sit by my side if you love me, Do not hasten to bid me adieu. But remember the Red River Valley And the girl who has loved you so true. For this long, long time I have waited For the words that you never would say, But now my last hope has vanished When they tell me you’re going away. When you go to your home by the ocean May you never forget the sweet hours That we spent in the Red River Valley Or the vows we exchanged mid the bowers. Will you think of the valley you’re leaving? Oh, how lonely and dreary ’twill be! Will you think of the fond heart you’re breaking And be true to your promise to me. The dark maiden’s prayer for her lover To the spirit that rules o’er the world His pathway with sunshine may cover Leave his grief to the Red River girl. There could never be such a longing In the heart of a white maiden’s breast As dwells in the heart you are breaking With love for the boy who came west. Scan this to find out about the history of the Red Scan me River Song. http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/72/ redrivervalley.shtml Spring 2020 • 23
Arts and Culture
Kelly Thornton, Artistic Director, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre By Shauna Dobbie
“I
love it!” says Kelly Thornton, the Artistic Director of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, about Winnipeg. “I love the size of the city because it’s kind of a bigcity-small-town,” she says. “I’m really happy to get out of the overly congested City of Toronto. I just think this is a healthier, happier city.” The decision to move to Winnipeg was a major one. Thornton knew that everyone had to be on board, including her daughter Chloe and husband Josep Seras, of course, but also her exhusband, Alex Poch-Goldin, who is father to their 12-year-old. Both husband and ex have found meaningful work and daughter Chloe regularly comes home from school and says: “I love my life here!” Thornton is enamoured with the cultural vibrancy of the city, not just with the theatre but with its symphony orchestra and top-notch ballet. “They’ve been around for a very long time and the identity of Winnipeg is really wrapped up in these cultural institutions.” The engagement, cultural literacy and sense of philanthropy have amazed her. “There’s also a huge indie scene here, which is great.” We spoke on one of the coldest days of winter, so the question of the weather had to come up. “It is really true that the dry cold is a different cold,” she says. “The great big bright blue prairie sky, it keeps us happy. The vitamin D that we get from the sunny days and the crisp cold… I love it.” It’s no small thing to follow up a 30-year Artistic Director at Canada’s oldest regional theatre company, but Kelly Thornton is taking on the task 24 • Spring 2020
Kelly Thornton is the Artistic Director of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre.
with confidence. She started in June, receiving the helm from the esteemed Steven Schipper, who has moved to the Brampton Rose Theatre, north of Toronto. Thornton brings with her a wealth of experience, having been the Artis-
tic Director of Toronto’s Nightwood Theatre Company for 18 years. During her tenure, she launched festivals and special projects for young or emerging directors, writers and actors. She has similar ambitions at The Hub
RMTC, starting with a festival called The Bridge in 2021. “It will be an annual event and it will have a centrepiece production attached to it that is on the mainstage and then ancillary programming around it,” she explains. For 2021, the theme of the festival is art and reconciliation and the play will be Children of God, by Oji-Cree playwright Corey Payette. Children of God is about residential schools and has had successful runs in Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa and Montreal. During the last week of Children of God, there will be additional programming around it, like plays, concerts and panels. The idea is to discover “how artists of all disciplines are pushing the conversation forward around reconciliation.” There is no better place than Winnipeg to have this conversation. And theatre is an excellent medium to stimulate it. “To hear a lecture is different than to see a play. Plays lurk in our minds… they let in air, into our whatsupwinnipeg.ca
brain, in a way that nothing else really can.” The first season she’s planned is not all so heavy, though. Thornton has chosen The Sound of Music for December, which she will direct herself. She’s also put a couple of other really accessible plays on the bill: Network, which is an adaptation of the 1976 comedy that was a hit on Broadway; and The Three Muskateers, which promises to be fun. The other plays are the mainstage are Calpurnia, a play that is, in part, a redressing of To Kill a Mockingbird from the maid’s point of view, written by Winnipegger Andrea Dwyer; and Burning Mom, a new play by Edmontonian Mikeo Ouchi about her mother’s first trip to the Burning Man festival at the age of 63. For the Warehouse, three out of four plays programmed by Thornton are by Canadian writers. A new play by Winnipeg’s Pamela Mala Sinha, called New, about a group of Indi-
an immigrants in Winnipeg in the 1970s; American Sarah DeLappe’s play The Wolves about a group of teen girls on a soccer team; Yaga, by Toronto’s Kat Sandler, a comedic murder mystery; and The Runner by Christopher Morris of Toronto about an emergency response volunteer’s decision to save the life of a Palestinian suicide bomber. In addition to programming the season, RMTC is responsible for the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival. It’s the only big theatre company in the country that takes care of a fringe festival, which is a collection of performances by small independent theatre companies, usually on a shoestring budget. This gives RMTC a closer relationship with the independent and younger theatre practitioners in Winnipeg, which Thornton is very enthusiastic about. Coming from Nightwood, she has a background of dealing with some of the best of the fringe-type groups. Spring 2020 • 25
Manitoba Business
The Motor Bus City A long history of designing and building passenger buses in Winnipeg By Alex Regiec
F
or the past 90 years, both New Flyer and Motor Coach Industries have manufactured urban transit buses and inter-city highway coaches at their Winnipeg-based facilities. From their humble independent beginnings, the companies prospered as bus transportation developed and grew into both a public utility and a commercial service. These companies are now part of the NFI Group, a leading global manufacturer of buses, headquartered in the Manitoba capital. NFI is the largest bus manufacturer in North America. From Fort Garry Motor Body & Paint Works to Motor Coach Industries Motor Coach Industries was started by Dmytro Federick Sicinski, in 1924, as Fort Garry Tire and Service Limited. It was located at 205 Fort Street. Responding to a growing demand for collision repairs to cars and trucks, Sicinski established a partnership with Harry Zoltok in April 1932. This became Fort Garry Motor Body and Paint Works which expanded into the business of automotive repair next door at 208 Fort Street. The company soon ventured into building truck bodies and converting automobiles into 11-passenger buses. Zoltok reportedly sketched the design details onto the factory floor for his workers to follow. The first bus was constructed and delivered to local motor bus service operator, Clark Transportation Company of Dauphin. By 1934, Fort Garry Motor Body and Paint Works was building bus bodies to be mounted onto truck chassis. After successfully rebuilding a pair of old buses for Central Canadian Greyhound Lines of Calgary, the company designed and constructed the rugged model 37-UM for its new western customer and its affiliate company, Trans Continental Coach Lines of Winnipeg. Fort Garry Motor Body and Paint Works was one of the first bus manufacturers to use stainless steel exterior paneling to prevent corrosion, a major problem for the early bus operators. In 1938, the company introduced the model 150 series, a 29-passenger coach powered by a pancake engine, a horizontal engine mounted under the “monocoque structure”, an automotive design system that combines chassis and body and provides better stiffness and
26 • Spring 2020
1968 Western Flyer D700 transit bus prototype.
weight distribution. The company changed its name in 1941 to Motor Coach Industries Limited, moving to a 20,000-squarefoot plant located on St. Matthews Avenue at Erin Street. Although the company had primarily built inter-city highway buses, in 1942 a one-of-a-kind electric trolley coach was constructed for the Winnipeg Electric Company, operator of the city’s urban transit system. During the Second World War the entire production capability of the Motor Coach facility was converted into manufacturing for the war effort. After the war, the company returned to the engineering and production of inter-city highway buses, developing the Model 100 in 1946 as Canada’s first rear engine bus. Throughout the 1950s MCI’s Courier series was a popular bus model sold to many service operators across Canada and becoming the standard for the Canadian Greyhound fleet. In fact, Greyhound liked the buses so much that, in 1948, they purchased an ownership stake in Motor Coach Industries. Then, in 1958, MCI became a wholly owned subsidiary of Greyhound Lines of Canada leading to much growth and innovation. The Hub
Western Flyer Canuck.
MCI MC-7.
In 1963, MCI entered the United States marketplace by forming a company called Motor Coach Industries Incorporated and establishing a plant at Pembina, North Dakota. In order to keep up with growing demand, the St. Matthews Plant was expanded in 1966 and an additional manufacturing facility was constructed in the Fort Garry Industrial Park in suburban Winnipeg. Historically, most inter-city highway coaches were a standard single deck at 35 feet in length and 96 inches wide, however in 1969 MCI challenged the norm by pioneering the revolutionary three-level MC-6 Supercruiser model measuring 42 feet in length and 102 inches wide. This set the future standard for modern present-day coaches. In 1987, the Greyhound Dial Corporation of Phoenix, Arizona sold off its Greyhound bus operations in both Canada and the United States. Then in 1993, Greyhound sold MCI. The company then established independent headquarters in Schaumberg, Illinois, but Winnipeg’s New Flyer acquired Motor Coach Industries in 2015. Today Motor Coach Industries is North America’s largest manufacturer of inter-city highway coaches commanding nearly 50 per cent of the market share.
John Coval.
whatsupwinnipeg.ca
MCI Fort Garry Plant in 1969.
MCI continues to move forward with innovative advancements in low-floor accessibility, fuel efficiency, environmentally clean engines and research and development of all-electric powered coaches. The company employs a multitude of engineers, technicians and tradespeople both in the Winnipeg and Pembina facilities. From Western Auto and Truck Body Works to New Flyer Located on the opposite side of Winnipeg, Western Auto and Truck Body Works Limited was founded by partners John Coval and Nicholas Syzek in 1931. The pair led a small cadre of tradespeople into building truck and bus bodies at the northeast corner of Martha Street and Logan Avenue. They constructed their first bus body on truck chassis for the Red River Motor Coach and Transit Company Limited of Winnipeg. Syzek sold his ownership interest in summer 1931 and Coval welcomed a new partner by the name of John Markiw by year’s end. In the early 1940s, Western Auto and Truck Body Works developed a monocoque-framed, 28-passenger bus called the Western Flyer. The strong performance record of this heavy-duty bus on the rugged highways
Harry Zoltok in October 1963.
Paul Soubry, President and CEO of NFI on November 27, 2014. Spring 2020 • 27
MCI Courier 85A.
1960 Western Flyer Coach P-41 Canuck.
of the Canadian prairies convinced the Government of Canada to award a major contract to build buses for the war effort. Shortly after the conclusion of World War II, the company changed its name to Western Flyer Coach Limited, focussing its business on manufacturing solid inter-city coaches for many regional scheduled bus operators and continuing to produce buses under contract for the respective military forces of Canada and the United States. As North America benefitted from a prosperous economy in the 1950s, top competitor General Motors Truck and Bus Division of Detroit collaborated with U.S. Greyhound Lines to manufacture and operate the very popular Scenicruiser, a distinctive two-level parlor design motor coach. In response, Western Flyer Coach developed a similar deck-and-a-half offering called the T36-2L but produced only four units for local customers; two units were purchased by Thiessen Transportation Limited, a third one was supplied to Moore’s Trans-Canada Bus Lines and the final one delivered to Eagle Bus Lines. However, immediately after this experiment, Western Flyer developed its very successful Canuck rear-engine model which was purpose-built for the rough and tumble road conditions experience by bus operators across Western Canada. Abraham J. Thiessen acquired Western Flyer Coach in 1963. Under his direction, the company redesigned its inter-city highway coach resulting in the introduction of the all-new light-weight Canuck 500, produced at a new factory located in the Fort Garry Industrial Park in suburban Winnipeg. Sales were less than expected and in four short years, the company redesigned the product and introduced the restyled Canuck 600 series. This new offering was available in two lengths; 35-foot and 38-foot versions. By late 1967, rapidly changing marketplace conditions led to the exploration of a completely alternative product line. The company’s research and development 28 • Spring 2020
1979 MCI MC-9 Demo.
wing constructed a prototype urban transit bus called the D700. Initial response was encouraging with orders from Winnipeg Transit and, in 1968, from the Toronto Transit Commission with a 150-unit order for a combination of D700 diesel buses and E700 electric trolley coaches. Facing financial challenges, Western Flyer Coach was sold in 1971 to the Manitoba Crown agency, the Manitoba Development Corporation. Western Flyer Coach was renamed Flyer Industries Limited and partnered with AM General Corporation of South Bend, Indiana to jointly develop the successful, heavy-duty D800 and D901 urban transit bus models. Flyer Industries also continued to offer electric trolley coach versions known as the E800 and E901 specifically for cities like Vancouver and San Francisco that operate active trolley coach services. Then in 1968, Jan den Oudsten, a member of the family that owned Den Oudsten Bussen BV, a manufacturer of buses in Woerden, Netherlands, purchased Flyer Industries from the Manitoba Government. He changed the company name to New Flyer Industries Limited and embarked on a modernization of its manufacturing processes, re-engineering its product line. Under private ownership, innovations such as the introduction of the first low-floor accessible urban transit bus in North America, leadership in development of alternative fuel technologies and all-electric battery powered buses have turned the company around, making it North America’s leading manufacturer of heavy-duty urban transit buses with nearly 50 per cent of market share. Shortly after den Oudsten retired in 2002, New Flyer was purchased by two private equity firms that lead to the entity becoming a publicly traded company in 2005. Now the NFI Group In 2009, Paul Soubry, formerly President and CEO of StandardAero, took over as President and CEO of New flyer Industries, now NFI Group. Under his leadership, the NFI Group has become The Hub
New Flyer Winnipeg Transit 996 Electric MCI J4500 Coach from July 20, 2018. Bus from Nov. 27, 2014.
the largest transit bus and motor coach manufacturer in North America. It manufactures and sells urban transit buses and inter-city highway coaches along with double-deck buses through five brands (including New Flyer, Motor Coach Industries and others like Alexander Dennis, Plaxton and Arboc) in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere around the world. The company is headquartered in Winnipeg and lists on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
New Flyer Xcelsior Electric from Nov. 21, 2018.
Alex Regiec is a Professional City Planner and author of articles about the bus industry in Manitoba. He spent 28 years as the Operations Planner for Winnipeg Transit, is currently the project manager for the City of Winnipeg’s Transportation Master Plan. He is a director on the Board of the Manitoba Transit Heritage Association. Alex enjoys holiday travels and has toured, researched and enthusiastically ridden on many public transport and bus systems worldwide.
LUXURY FURNISHED SU I TES Impress important clients and out of town guests with Fort Garry Place Luxury Furnished Suites. Stylishly furnished and fully equipped, these brand new suites offer the ideal home away from home when traveling for business or on vacation.
For Reservations, call 204-515-1186. EdisonProperties.ca/FurnishedSuites
Our convenient downtown location means you’re within walking distance to The Forks, The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, The Convention Centre, and so much more. Call or visit us online for more details. whatsupwinnipeg.ca
Spring 2020 • 29
Prince Edward Island
Eating your way through Charlottetown By Kathryne Grisim
What says the maritimes like a hearty seafood chowder poutine?
C
harlottetown offers a visitor all the conveniences of a major Canadian metropolis but without the crowds, stress or traffic. In fact, even though it is a city, it feels more like a small town. There are shops, restaurants and craft beer tasting rooms all conveniently located within walking distance of the harbour and Charlottetown’s Convention Centre. Sightings of the water occur frequently and parks and green spaces abound. One evening we caught the most glorious sunset. In thirty minutes or so you can be out in the country to gaze upon the lush rolling hills that reminded my husband and me of Tuscany. Sandy beaches and dunes are plentiful on the province’s North Shore. And a bonus if you happen to have mobility issues or are
30 • Spring 2020
pushing a baby stroller, beaches like Brackley Beach that we visited were ramped with “carpeted” areas to get almost down to the water’s edge. Visiting at the end of a busy summer season meant that we often had beaches almost to ourselves, and traffic on the roadways was leisurely. We devoted one full day to eating our way through the many seafood restaurants on the waterfront. When we travel we like to go on food tours as you get access to some special places as well as learning more about the culture and history of a community. The title of our tour was “Taste the Town–Shellfish Edition” hosted by Experience PEI. The first stop was Lobster on the Wharf where we could smell the saltiness of the bay. Our tour guide first The Hub
Victoria Row offers a diverse array of shops and restaurants for locals and visitors.
Of course, fish and chips!
whatsupwinnipeg.ca
Prince Edward island is known around the world for it’s beaches.
Spring 2020 • 31
Tea at Dalvay by the Sea.
took us to the retail area where we learned more about PEI Lobster including how to determine a male lobster from a female one. The attached restaurant was bustling with their late lunch crowd. Various cruise ships spend the day in Charlottetown and in the restaurants on the harbour you can meet people from around the world. Our first taste was of Malpeque oysters. They are PEI’s most famous oyster and are grown wild in Malpeque Bay. Their taste was briny but not overly so and they easily slid down our open throats. The correct manner of this was demonstrated by one of the managers of the Lobster on the Wharf. The oysters came with a wedge of lemon and a couple of unique sauces. The second seafood offering at Lobster on the Wharf
Sightings of the water appear frequently on PEI. 32 • Spring 2020
Scallops at Peake’s Quay.
was of both softshell and quahog clams. These too were served with a wedge of lemon and salty melted butter for dipping. Both varieties are native to the eastern shores of North America from Prince Edward Island to the Yucatán Peninsula. A short walk along the harbour took us to Peake’s Quay where scallops were the shellfish offering. If you wish to know what a scallop shell looks like, think of the logo of Shell gas stations. We are purists where scallops are concerned, loving when they are allowed to caramelize in a hot pan of butter. Peake’s Quay’s version were bacon-wrapped and good too. Our last stop on the tour was right next door at Brakish, which you might think was an odd name for a res-
PEI is home to many historic lighthouses.
The Hub
Lunch prepared by the “Queen of Fries”.
taurant. Blue mussels were the shellfish offering there. Next to scallops, mussels are our favourite as their subtly flavoured flesh take on whatever they are cooked in, be it white wine, garlic or fresh herbs. When served with French fries they become a classic Belgian dish called moule et frites. Coincidently, our last meal on PEI was at The Blue Mussel Café, located in North Rustico where we sampled seafood chowder poutine of all things! On another day we stuffed ourselves with lobster rolls and French fries from The Chip Shack also on the harbour. The “Queen of Fries” prepared our lunch that day. We also just had to try Cow’s, said to be the world’s best ice cream. Who were we to argue? One
cone was dubbed Chip Chip Hooray and I did cheer when I tasted the sea-salted English toffee and chocolate covered potato chip pieces. In fact, we bought a pack to bring home as well as another PEI delicacy– Potato Garlic Jam. Speaking of jam, one day we stopped for tea, scones and jam on the front porch of Victorian home Dalvay by the Sea. Originally a private home, it was built in 1896 and is a Canadian National Heritage Site. We didn’t just eat during our stay in PEI, although it may appear so. We visited the farmer’s market on Saturday and a craft market on the streets of Charlottetown Sunday and had a chance to listen to some fine fiddling along the way.
A colourful Charlottetown sunset.
whatsupwinnipeg.ca
Spring 2020 • 33
Los Angeles
Downtown LA Story by Shauna Dobbie, photos by David Johnson
Our hearty tacos from Ana Maria in the Grand Central Market.
“W
hy?” a friend asked when I told him I was going stay in Downtown Los Angeles with my husband David when he went there on business. This friend had lived there about 20 years ago and figured I must be crazy. He thought of Downtown LA as a wasteland of empty buildings and scattered denizens of evil. Over the last decade, though, the area has been gentrifying, with the empty buildings becoming lofts, cafés and trendy restaurants. In 2015, a Whole Foods—the bougie supermarket— opened, sealing the deal: DTLA is now a happening spot. We spent a full day wandering around 34 • Spring 2020
DTLA hunting down sites from David’s favourite Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connelly. To be clear, our “full day” started with lunch at the Grand Central Market and ended with an early dinner at Musso and Frank Grill, in nearby Hollywood. We managed to see some of the most-filmed places in that limited time. The Grand Central Market has been on the main floor of the Homer Laughlin Building since 1917. Today it is a collection of stalls, most of them selling prepared food. There are a few Latino places, a couple of Chinese, Japanese and Jewish places, a Filipino place and one or two gourmet outlets, plus others selling barbecue or chicken or coffee. There are also some grocers
and a single jewelry shop. We opted for tacos from a place called Ana Maria, thinking they would be smallish, enabling us to try something else as well. Turns out “two tacos” is a heaping plateful of two taco fillings with tortillas on the side, so we were sated. But oh, it was so good! The Grand Central Market is located at the bottom of Angels Flight, which is a funicular running down from Bunker Hill and dating back to 1901, when Bunker Hill was an upper-crust residential neighbourhood. The funicular would give easy access to Bunker Hill servants to purchase groceries and goods on the high street, which was actually below. After lunch, we visited the Bradbury The Hub
The Grand Central Market features a diverse array of food stalls and shops.
Angels Flight funicular.
Building. The atrium of this building will be known to you if you are a fan of the 1982 version of Blade Runner. It’s also featured in various other movies, TV shows and music videos. Today it is overrun with Instagram influencers. It is an impressive place, topped in glass. Sunlight flows down to brighten whatsupwinnipeg.ca
the polished wood and black wrought iron interior. The walls are clad in tiles of yellow and pink, and running up five storeys are open iron elevator shafts. The wrought iron grillwork, made in France, was displayed at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair before being installed.
It was built by Lewis Bradbury, the owner of a gold mine. He wanted something grand to be remembered for. He agreed to a cost of $175,000, but construction cost ran to $500,000; some things never change. Bradbury died in 1892, before the building opened in 1893. The building has been Spring 2020 • 35
The Walt Disney Concert Hall.
The iconic Bradbury Building atrium. 36 • Spring 2020
on the National Register of Historic Places since 1971. From the Bradbury Building, we took Angels Flight up the hill. The funicular ride is all of 315 feet, so it doesn’t take long. The cost is one US dollar. The car wasn’t full and those on board were all tourists. Was it the experience of a lifetime? Well, no, but it’s worth saying you did it. The interior comprises wooden benches along the sides, going up several stairs. The walls and ceiling are wood, too, which gives it a warm feeling. At the top, we took a stroll, past the Broad Museum of Modern Art, which is a dizzying building with its outer “veil” creating filtered light for the works inside. We were wowed by the silver curves and angles of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by Frank Gehry. We paid tribute to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, where the Academy Awards were held several times before the year 2000. Across the street from all this glory were some hints of Downtown LA that my friend was talking about. A group of young fellows were skateThe Hub
Older buildings are being turned into lofts.
boarding and doing tricks. They were rough only in style, though, and barely gave us a second look as we made our way to Grand Park, back down to where our rental car was parked. We rested for a bit, sitting on some bright pink furniture in the park and watching Angelenos around us. The park has an interactive splash pad where kids (of all ages) can play. It’s a central point for the area, hosting events throughout the year which culminate in a New Year’s Eve countdown. For dinner that evening we went to Musso and Frank at the insistence of my husband. Musso and Frank Grill is a Hollywood institution; they’ve been serving meals there for over 100 years. If you’ve watched The Kominsky Method on TV, this is the restaurant that Sandy and Norman go to regularly, with the very old, very slow waiter. And the waiters are… of an advanced age. The menu includes such old goodies as lobster thermidor, calf ’s liver and oyster stew. It’s a little like Rae and Jerry’s, but it’s twice as old, twice the price, and only half as good. As a day on the town, it was a great whatsupwinnipeg.ca
The splash pad at Grand Park.
success. If we’d gone earlier, we might have made it to some other sites. Little Tokyo might make you think you’re in Japan, with its restaurants and shops. Chinatown looks interesting, too. Santee Alley Flea Market might be good for cheap tchotchkes. The Last Book-
store, in addition to selling books, has such wonders as a tunnel of books. And the Central Library has a gorgeous rotunda, painted with a mural on four walls and topped by a beautiful arched ceiling. There is so much more to see. Spring 2020 • 37
Cruising
Take a transatlantic Story by Shauna Dobbie, photos courtesy of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
A
ship with a merry-go-round. Neighbourhoods. An ice rink. Mini golf. A climbing wall. A zip-line. And it was only half full! My husband David and I took the Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas from Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona in April of 2015. It was in celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. The ship was on its way to drydock for refurbishment, but unless you take a suiteclass level stateroom, not much has changed. (If you do travel in a suite, you now have a dedicated lounge.) Now, there are a few things about the Fort Lauderdale 38 • Spring 2020
to Barcelona route that you need to consider. There are no ports for 10 days. Some ships might stop in the Bahamas on day one or go north a bit to Bermuda on one end or the Azores on the other end, but even then, you’ll be eight days without a port. This means you can’t contact anyone from home without incurring great expense (unless you pay for a data package with the ship, again at great expense). And if someone does call from home with an emergency, you cannot leave. Not even if you could afford a helicopter evacuation. On a less serious note, aside from drinking, eating, The Hub
cruise
The Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Allure of the Seas.
Scan this to find out what it’s like to manage gardens on Scan me a huge cruise ship. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/blog/managing-a-floating-garden-on-the-worlds-largest-cruise-ships/
trivia contests, crafts, karaoke, guest lectures, gambling and shows, you’d better be able to entertain yourself. The shows, by the way, include the usual “Broadway-style entertainment” in the ship’s theatre, diving shows at the Aqua Theatre and ice shows (think Ice Capades) at the rink. Also? There is no such thing as ship-lag. You lose an hour every day or two, and it’s really quite manageable. Plus, the cruise company has no port fees to pay and no in-port closure of the casino to deal with, so transatlantics are a good deal cheaper than other cruises. At that time, Allure was the largest cruise ship on Earth. whatsupwinnipeg.ca
Royal Caribbean has since launched Symphony of the Seas and Harmony of the Seas, which take the numbers one and two spots respectively. They are slightly bigger but they’re all Oasis-class ships—they all have the same essential design with minor differences. One thing that sets these ships apart is the Central Park venue. It’s an area on Deck 8 that is open to the air above. This, although there are 18 decks. It’s achieved through the unique design, with towers of guestrooms with balconies over the park on either side. The very cool thing about Central Park is the flowers, trees and plants. Spring 2020 • 39
The chairs where Shauna would sit and read
The trees and plants in Central Park at night.
There are no loungers and the sun only comes over the sides of the ship at the peak of the day, so this is where I could be found most days, book open and enjoying the freshest air possible, from the middle of the ocean and cleaned by plants. I’m a member of the rare breed who do not care for sunbathing; I can spend a week or two on a beach quite happily as long as I’m in the complete shade of umbrellas. David, on the other hand, is a sun worshipper. His favourite spots were on our balcony or on the upper decks. Of course, this was the end of April in the mid-Atlantic; warmth was not guaranteed all day. He would join me for a bit in my spot most days. We would meet for lunch then go back to hang out in our favourite places until it was time to dress for an early dinner. Then we usually hit the champagne bar before the restaurant. The tradition on cruise ships is to have a main dining 40 • Spring 2020
Inside the 150 Central Park specialty restaurant.
room and an always-open buffet. About 20 years ago, ships started adding some for-a-fee venues, known as specialty restaurants; originally, the fee you paid might be 10 to 20 dollars. Now there are a minimum of 3 on a ship and the added fee is at least 30 dollars, going up to 60 dollars. As well, casual eateries have been added that may or may not have an additional fee. On Allure, there was Johnny Rockets, a kind of 50s diner, and Rita’s Cantina, a Mexican joint. There was also a pizzeria called Sorrentos. We dined at the main dining room most nights. We love getting glammed up for dinner after spending the day reading, and though there were only three formal nights (gown and tux!) on our two-week cruise, we made the most of the “smart-casual” nights by dressing more smart than casual: dresses for me, jackets for David. You can wear casual clothes at the buffet every night, but we never went to the buffet for dinner. The Hub
during the day.
A performer at the high-diving show.
We did try all the specialty restaurants, saving a few bucks by buying a dining package before the cruise. (You pre-purchase multiple specialty restaurants for a discount of about 10 per cent.) The specialty restaurants are mostly centred on Central Park. Giovanni’s Table is an Italian restaurant, 150 Central Park is supposed to be very fine dining, Chops Grill is for steaks and, way up on Deck 15, Samba Grill is a churrascaria, or Brazilian steakhouse, where they bring out endless just-roasted meats on a spit until you pass out in a meat coma. Unfortunately, the specialty restaurants weren’t that special. The Italian was too salty and garlicky. The fine dining was tired. The churrascaria was not necessarily fresh off the grill. Adagio, the main dining room, was likewise uninspired. This is a problem on five-star cruise ships that has been developing for the past five or more years: the quality of the food is going down while whatsupwinnipeg.ca
the prices are going up. The different cruise lines will sign on a master chef everyone knows from TV then go about making everything banquet-style. When you have 5000 people to serve day in and day out, it seems to be the only way. Nonetheless, we did enjoy going for a romantic dinner every night dressed in our glad rags, and the food wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t great. The purpose of our voyage was to get David away from the rigours and stresses of his job and to enjoy each other’s company. We had plenty of time to do that and were a little sad when the voyage was coming to an end. We did make one stop; after 10 days at sea, we stopped at Malaga, Spain, and David and I took an astonishing tour of Alhambra. Then another day at sea before reaching Barcelona, where we got onto our plane well rested and ready to take on the world. Spring 2020 • 41
India
A day in Mumbai Story by Shauna Dobbie, photos by David Johnson
The Gateway of India.
P
eople who’ve been to Mumbai have either of two opinions. One, that it is a hot, busy cesspool they could not wait to leave. Two, that it is captivating city, teeming with aromas and colours and
people. I’d heard enough of the second opinion to make me long to go, but enough of the first to make me too nervous to sink much money into a tour. My husband David, who is usually far more adventurous than I, felt about the same. So, when we found a cruise itinerary that stopped for two days in Mumbai, it was the ideal way to get a taste of India. We were there in January of this year, a couple of weeks before I write this. And it was magnificent. The Dharavi slum was the highlight of the trip. Of course, we wanted to see it, after watching Slumdog Millionaire; remember the kids running through the garbage heaps at the beginning? That scene moistened my eyes,
42 • Spring 2020
seeing those tiny children with tender bare feet surrounded by so much muck. Our children were appalled that we were planning to tour the slum. “You’re spending how much on a cruise then going to take a tour through a poor area?” But our tour guide was from Dharavi, so it must be alright. Right? On our first morning in Mumbai, we got off the boat and through immigration, into a crowd of our fellow cruisers looking for their tours. When we finally found ours, he was dressed in jeans and a ball cap and his stage name—“I’m a rapper”—was Maze. He led us to a little Suzuki, where our driver, Ali, was waiting, and we four set off in the heat and traffic in a well-air-conditioned car. All the guides of what to do in Mumbai tell you to go to the Gateway of India, a 1924-edifice built to host King George V and Queen Mary, and that is where we started. What does it look like? I don’t know. It’s quite unremarkThe Hub
Photo by Raju Kasambe.
Victoria Terminus.
able. Now that I’ve read several reviews of the place online, I still don’t get it. Some mention that you can see the Taj Mahal Palace (not the Taj Mahal in Agra; that’s an 18-hour drive inland), which is a remarkable 1902-hotel with red domes and rooms that start at $450 per night. We went to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, known as the Victoria Terminus when Mumbai was known as Bombay. This central train station is a gorgeous mixture of Victorian Italianate Gothic Revival architecture and classical Indian architecture. It’s truly remarkable. We took a train a few stations from here to stand on an overpass and gaze down at the dhobi ghat, the area where 200 families live and wash 500,000 to 1,000,000 linens and pieces of clothing per day from hotels, hospitals, families and the textile industry. Most are washed by hand in big concrete basins and hung to dry without clothespins; the lines are doubled and twisted together so the corners of an item can be slipped between the individual lines. We also saw the dabbawallas organizing to deliver lunch. Some 5,000 men in white shirts with white topi hats bring home-cooked lunches to 200,000 workers each day, 6 days a week. The dabbawallas pick up individual lunches at their clients’ homes each morning and use trains and bicycles to deliver them to the correct jobholder by one o’clock. They make fewer than 3.4 mistakes for every 1,000,000 transactions. It’s quite an impressive feat. Maze was excited about taking us to Dharavi. The smells I was mentally girding myself for did not really appear that day; I cannot say why not. There are open sewers running down narrow alleys between houses, with whatsupwinnipeg.ca
The dhobi ghat. Spring 2020 • 43
An overview of the slum.
bricks and blocks to walk on. We did walk down a couple of those alleys, which was very dark and only one-person wide. The couple of locals we met stood aside in doorways, smiling, to let us pass. Most people in Dharavi have a job, and most of those jobs are done in the area. It’s estimated that the slum turns over $1 billion per year in commerce. Leather (sheep and goat) is a major profit centre; although the stuff is no longer tanned in the area, it is processed into all kinds of goods to be sold to high-end retailers. Recycling is another huge industry, employing 250,000 people in Dharavi. Production of snack-food is a third business in the area. The jobs aren’t high paying though. A worker might get $240 per month. Rent here could be about $18 per month. For the rent you pay, you get a shack one to three floors high. You don’t get running water, which means no toilet, and electricity comes from a wire you string to the powerlines on the street. Water comes from a pipe down the street. Toilets are communal, with the most horrific
Cutting hair. 44 • Spring 2020
estimates being one toilet for every 1,440 people. (Many people go en plein air.) While we may shudder at the thought of these living conditions, many people continue to live in Dharavi long after they’ve got good jobs in Mumbai. It’s cheap; average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is about $750 in the centre of the city. Dharavi is a community. Would you leave your community to pay 40 times as much just for running water? Probably not, if you knew how to live without running water. The slums of India have many problems. Disease is one, fed by improper sanitation. Fire is another, without safety codes and fire hydrants. Crime is yet another; women and girls are too often assaulted when using public washrooms at night. Reading about Dharavi on the internet, there are reports calling it an eyesore in Mumbai’s “city of dreams”. It might seem this way, but how can you ever look at a place people call home as anything other than being full of life and hope and emotion?
Dharavi women sorting plastic for recycling.
The Hub
A dabbawalla delivering lunches.
One of the streets in Dharavi.
Principle mode of transportation in Mumbai.
Everyone hooks up to the electrical mains.
whatsupwinnipeg.ca
One of the many small-scale industries. Spring 2020 • 45
Postcards
Thailand North Carolina
Tom and C
ate capital bu siting the st vi d ei R hy Dorot ina. North Carol
ilding in Ral
indy Best
in Koh Pha
ng a n , T h a
iland.
eigh,
Easter Island
Ireland Wanda G rift, Este lle in front o f the Cliff Brais Mousseu a nd B o nn s of M o h Ireland. ie Steven er, the m s standin ost visite g d tourist attractio n in
on Wanda Pike
Easter Island
.
We want to hear from you! Where did your trip from YWG take you? Send your photos to shauna@pegasuspublications.net. 46 • Spring 2020
The Hub
1-888-831-8472 charters@charterconnexions.com Charter Connexions launched in 2016 as a logistics solution for charter customers of Calm Air, Custom Helicopters, Keewatin Air, Perimeter Aviation and Bearskin Airlines. The aircraft we manage are our own, so we have better asset management, and enhanced flight coordination.
With aircraft located across Canada, we are equipped to service many different client requests. Our team can help you arrange optimum flight routing, find the best port of entry for cross border flights, arrange ground handling or find accommodations in challenging locations. We want your air charter experience to be as smooth and seamless as possible.
www.charterconnexions.com
whatsupwinnipeg.ca
Spring 2020 • 47
Accessibility Works Some disabilities look like this.
Most disabilities look like this.
Among working-aged Canadians ages 25 to 64, the most common disabilities are pain-related.
Open for everyone. It’s good business to employ Manitobans with disabilities. Visit: accessibilitymb.ca
