Historical artifacts removed from downtown Winnipeg park

A series of historical artifacts have been removed from a Winnipeg park as part of its renovations.

Air Canada Window Park, which was originally built in 1981 at Portage Avenue and Carlton Street, is being renovated into a new gathering space with a focus on Indigenous culture. Demolition work started earlier this month.

When the park was first built, it included pieces of Winnipeg buildings that were previously demolished, including two columns from Northern Crown Bank, a cast-iron column from the McIntyre Block, and balustrades from the Devon Court Apartments. These pieces were torn down as part of the renovations, upsetting Heritage Winnipeg, who said they were not consulted about it.

"We urge the city to consider the significance of our built heritage in future projects, and to approach situations such as this with greater respect and care," the organization said in a statement.

CTV News Winnipeg reached out to the city, who said the people designing the new park had considered the significance of the shards.

"While it is the preference of the City to preserve historical assets wherever possible, an important aspect of the new design of Air Canada Window Park was a focus on Indigenous stories, which would not be reflected at all by incorporating the Greek columns and colonial-era style of the remaining shards," a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The spokesperson said the shards themselves did not have official heritage status, and it wasn't possible to preserve them during the demolition.

"With a limited project budget, design elements that supported increased safety, accessibility, and function were prioritized by the project team above potential costs to relocate the shards," the spokesperson said.

Christian Cassidy, a local historian, said the park needed to be redeveloped, but called the loss of the pieces tragic.

"Like any historic artifacts, once they're gone, they're gone and you're not going to get them back," he said. "It would have been the prudent thing, I think, to at least announce to the community, announce to heritage groups, that these pieces will be available.

"This isn't the case where there was a sudden fire, or a foundation failure and they had to tear the park down overnight. This was going to be a two-year process to rebuild the park. They knew a year ago that the park was going to be redeveloped and those pieces weren't needed. There was plenty of time to get the word out."

The work on the park is expected to be finished in the summer of 2025.