Over 16 years ago we were promised something that never materialized. How many more years do we allow ourselves to be fooled?

On March 2, 2020, Joyanne Pursaga from the Winnipeg Free Press interviewed me about a blog post I had written — Friends of Upper Fort Garry: Time to Give Up? I declined to allow my name to be used because of my involvement with a local non-profit and also because my boss at the time was well connected in Winnipeg circles. The resulting article included a statement from the Friends that “the Friends are not giving up on the vision of replacing the lot with the interpretive centre”. But as I noted in my March 2020 blog post, it has been clear for a long time that an interpretive centre is not going to happen.

But Joyanne asked me a question that got me thinking afterwards. It was something to the effect of ‘why are you so passionate about this?’ or ‘why does this matter so much to you’? It’s a good question. It really doesn’t impact me in any material way.

There are two answers:

1. I care about this city, and despite what they claim to be their intentions, the actions of the Friends of Upper Fort Garry are not and never have been in the best interest of Winnipeg.
2. It’s a matter of principle. It irks me when I see people being taken advantage of, and nobody else really seems to be calling them on it.

To that last point, I need to give Brian Mayes credit. 4 years ago, Brian was skeptical about extending the Friends’ permit for the parking lot. Today he is outright calling for it to be returned to the city. (CBC Freep)

I really encourage you to read my last blog post on this — it is better than this one. It goes into some of the background and also literally NOTHING HAS CHANGED. No improvements have been made to the parking lot. The conditional use permit is still expired. The feasibility of an interpretive centre is as unrealistic as ever.

The only thing that is different is that the light display on their multi-million dollar wall has been busted all winter.

Although to be fair, it’s hard to fix stuff when you’re losing $70,000 per year.

The negligence of the Friends is not just apparent in their unwillingness to fix their wall in a timely manner, but in everything they do. Failing to make improvements to the parking lot, as I understand are required by City by-law, are included in that. Their last website news update was from 2018. Their last posted annual report is from 2017.

I also have not seen them post the date of their AGM as they are legally required to do. I may very well have missed it, but I also contacted them and specifically asked them to notify me, which they did not.

What does this all mean?

Nothing is ever going to happen to the parking lot that was supposed to be an interpretive centre. Ever. Unless we force something to happen by reclaiming the land. The Friends are borderline insolvent. Their board has dwindled from 14 members in 2018 to to 5 today. Past Chair and chief booster of the project Jerry Gray has apparently disowned the project. Current Secretary Penny McMillan refuses to comment, saying it’s not her job; although that didn’t stop her 4 years ago when she was Treasurer, who’s job is generally not spokesperson.

There is a skeleton crew manning the ship, filing requisite paperwork with the Federal Government to keep the charity alive, and paying the $125,000 tab for maintaining the gardens in the park.

(And by the way: while we’re looking at their expense filings … how do you ring up an $18,000 tab for office supplies with an operation like this??)

But perhaps the light is at the end of the tunnel, with Councillor Mayes beginning to get fed up with the inaction. Like I said last time, we need a realistic conversation about the future of this site — a site that was once going to support hundreds of residents, adding tax dollars and vitality to our downtown.

Perhaps it still can.