| A small field lies behind the shopping centre at the SE corner of Provencher and Des Meurons in Old St. Boniface. Across the railroad tracks from La Vielle Gare the green grass, long and uncut all summer, gently waves in the breeze. At first glance this bit of land seems of no interest to anyone. But is it really of no interest? This fallow field beside the Seine River may have been cleared by a soldier of the Des Meurons Regiment long before Manitoba was officially a province. The Des Meurons are long buried, remembered only by a street name. We know that St. Boniface author Gabrielle Roy remembered this land. It stretched unbroken to this place from behind her house on Deschambault St. and was a source of much pleasure to her and her father. She walked these fields and paths as a child. This is the land that made her the woman that she became. To older Winnipegers the field is infamous for its association with the shocking murder of Constable Len Shakespeare on Friday, July 18th, 1969. On that summer night panicked robbers, St. Boniface Police and an RCMP police dog crisscrossed that long grass countless times. Save Our Seine would prefer that the field and forest be remembered for happier times. We would like to create a proper trailhead for the Seine River Greenway Trail that runs beside the Seine from Provencher to Youville, and we would like to celebrate Gabrielle Roy's life and love of nature.The park could be another site of pilgrimage for the many Canadian and international visitors who will come to the newly restored Roy house on Deschambault St. Obviously a lot of community consultation still needs to be done, but SOS already has the support of Annette St. Pierre, president of the Corporation of La Maison Gabrielle-Roy. City planners have stated that they would allow a park to be built on the city owned land. Local residents have told us that they want improvements made to the existing river trail. After the Bois des Esprits in South St. Boniface is made safe and secure from the bulldozers, expect SOS to lead the way for a new park for Old St. Boniface, Parc Gabrielle Roy Park. |
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| Parc Gabrielle Roy Park |
| "Later my brother came to the foot of the stairs to cry out to me that he was going fishing in the little river... Would I go with him? ... make up my mind! He was not referring to the Red, our valley's important river, but to our small Seine, a narrow watercourse that twisted its way onward like a snake between thickets filled with rose haws, a tiny river buried in the grass, muddy, secret, of little danger to us, even were to plunge into it headfirst... my pretty river, green as cats' eyes!" Street of Riches (Rue Deschambault), Gabrielle Roy (translated by Harry Binsse) |