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About us » Welcome to Winnipeg

Welcome to Winnipeg - A Profile of Our City

Geography

Winnipeg is the heart of North America – the geographic centre of the continent. Situated just 20 kilometres west of the longitudinal centre of Canada, the Manitoba capital lies 102 kilometres north of the Canada-U.S. border.

Located on the eastern edge of the Canadian prairies, Winnipeg is surrounded by fields of grain, forests, marshes and lakes. Lake Winnipeg, the 13th largest lake in the world, is less than an hour’s drive away.

Situated in the Red River Valley, at the junction of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, Winnipeg is also one of Canada’s greenest cities. Many of its older streets are lined with elms, whose branches create a leafy canopy. More formal gardens and wide-open expanses of green are found in the century-old Assiniboine Park, designed by Frederick Todd, considered the grandfather of Canadian landscape architecture.

With a population of 730,018 (2011), Winnipeg is among Canada’s Top 10 largest cities.

History

The name Winnipeg is believed to have its origins in the Cree word “Winnipee” or muddy water. The name was given to a tiny fur-trading post established in 1738 by Pierre Gaultier de Verennes de la Verendrye, whose arrival marked the first European in the area. In 1812, a group of Scottish crofters chose the fur-trading post as the area’s first permanent settlement. However, long before the fur traders and farmers, the junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers was an Aboriginal meeting place and today continues its tradition as a meeting place with the development of The Forks.

It was in 1873 that Winnipeg was officially incorporated as a city (population 1,869). Francis Evans Cornish was elected the city’s first mayor. Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885 brought the arrival of a large number of immigrants. The flood of immigrants, high wheat prices and improved farming techniques made Winnipeg the wholesale, administrative and financial centre of Western Canada.

Economic base

Viewed as the historical financial centre of Western Canada, Winnipeg today is headquarters for Great-West Life Assurance Company, Canada’s largest insurance company, and Investors Group, Canada’s largest mutual fund company.

Winnipeg has one of the most diversified secondary manufacturing sectors. Agriculture, transportation, aerospace, biotechnology and information, communications and media are key economic sectors.

With its central location, one of Canada’s only 24-hour airports and a major rail and road-way system that connects east, west, north and south, goods from Winnipeg can reach anywhere in the world within 48 hours.

Major attractions

Winnipeg loves to party, and it does it in style – celebrating more than 130 days of festivals and other events each year, from Folkorama and Le Festival du Voyageur to the Fringe, Jazz and Folk festivals … to name just a few.

The Forks Market and National Historic Site has been a traditional gathering place for hundreds of years. Today, railway engine shops have been converted to specialty boutiques and restaurants. The Winnipeg Children’s Museum, the Manitoba Theatre for Young People, the Inn at the Forks and CityTV, all call The Forks home.

From The Forks, the City’s riverwalk leads west along the banks of the Assiniboine to the Manitoba Legislative Building, where the Golden Boy perches atop its dome. To the east, the riverwalk gives rise to a view of St. Boniface Cathedral on the opposite shore of the Red River, and leads to the Esplanade Riel, whose mast-like spire marks the entrance to the city’s French Quarter.

Corydon Avenue is home to Winnipeg’s Little Italy - its trendy, outdoor cafés are a place to sit and be seen or to simply watch the world go by. Winnipeg’s reputation as Chicago of the North is fostered by the turn-of-the century architecture of the Exchange District, some of the best-preserved buildings on the North American continent.

Winnipeg also has a rich arts, entertainment and culinary scene. Sir Peter Ustinov once observed that Winnipeg is home to: “a ballet company of world renown, a fine symphony and a superb art gallery. The quality of the food is … incomparably superior and rare wines appear in bewildering profusion.”

With its more than 900 restaurants, Winnipeg boasts the most eateries per capita in Canada – offering dishes from all corners of the globe. In addition to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, of which Ustinov eluded, Winnipeg is proud of its live theatre – Prairie Theatre Exchange, Manitoba Theatre Centre and Manitoba Theatre for Young People – as well as the Manitoba Opera and Manitoba Museum, one of the finest history museums in North America.

The city’s world-class zoo is situated in Assiniboine Park, 115-hectares of what was once cow pasture, where today it’s possible to watch a game of cricket, stroll through the English gardens, visit the Leo Mol sculpture garden or pitch a blanket in front of the Lyric Theatre’s outdoor stage for an afternoon or evening of entertainment.

Two theme casinos, Club Regent and McPhillip’s Street Station, provide an option for those wanting to gamble, play bingo or dine out.

For the sports enthusiast, there’s any number of professional teams to follow, whether it’s football and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, hockey and the Winnipeg Jets or baseball and the Winnipeg Goldeyes. Or for those who’d prefer to be active themselves, there are more than 850 parks and 23 golf courses in the city and surrounding area.

Famous names

Perhaps because of its Prairie heritage, Winnipeg boasts of being home to many famous names: musicians Neil Young, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman, cartoon characters Homer Simpson and Bugs Bunny, spymaster William Stephenson, ballerina Evelyn Hart, game show host Monty Hall, filmmaker Guy Maddin, author Carol Shields, comedian David Steinberg, Academy Award nominees Richard Condie and Cordell Barker, pro-wrestler Chris Jericho, former Canadian foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy, fashion mogul Peter Nygaard and businessman Gerald Schwartz.

Discover Winnipeg

Whether you are just visiting, have recently moved to Winnipeg or have lived here all your life, we’ve created a directory of links that will help you discover our city and all it has to offer – from how to get around and where to live to what to do and what is cool about Winnipeg.

About Winnipeg
Transportation
Housing
Community Centres
School Divisions
Post-Secondary Institutions
Major Public Buildings
Shopping Malls
Newspapers
TV
Radio
Arts and Culture
Festivals
Museums
Sports Teams

About Winnipeg

Got a question about government regulations, the politicians who represent you, looking for statistical and economic development data onWinnipeg and Manitoba or simply want to find out what there is to see and do.

City of Winnipeg

Province of Manitoba

Economic Development Winnipeg Inc.

Travel Manitoba

Tourism Winnipeg

Transportation

Winnipeg is located at the heart of the continent, and provides travelers with air, rail and bus service to other points within the country and overseas. Within the city itself, it’s easy to get around by car, bus, taxi or limo.

Google Maps

Winnipeg Airports Authority

VIA Rail

Greyhound Canada

Winnipeg Transit Online Trip Planner

Unicity Taxi

Duffy’s Taxi

Winnipeg Shuttle Van and Limo Service

Housing

Whether you are looking to buy a home, build or rent, Winnipeg remains an affordable market with a variety of housing choices.

WinnipegREALTORS

Winnipeg Internet Apartment Guide

Manitoba Home Builders’ Association

Community Centres

For many neighbourhoods, the local community centre is the focus of year-round activity, whether it’s sports (hockey, soccer, baseball and much more), recreation, classes or hall rentals (from socials and showers to craft sales and meetings). To find the community centre in your neighbourhood, go to: General Council of Winnipeg Community Centres

Schools

Winnipeg is divided into six public school divisions, each represented by a school board of elected trustees. There is no separate school division, although private schooling is available.

Louis Riel School Division

Pembina Trails School Division

River East-Transcona School Division

St. James-Assiniboia School Division

Seven Oaks School Division

Winnipeg No. 1 School Division

Catholic Schools

Manitoba Education

Post-Secondary Education

Winnipeg boasts two universities and a college, along with numerous private vocational institutions.

Red River College

University of Manitoba

University of Winnipeg

Private Vocational Institutions

Major Public Buildings

From theatres and stadiums to concert halls and seats of government, Winnipeg offers a variety of things to see and places to go…

Burton Cummings Theatre

Centennial Concert Hall

City Hall

Legislative Building

Millenium Library

MTS Centre (hockey and events)

Pantages Playhouse Theatre

The Forks Market

Shopping Malls

Not including big box retail outlets, Winnipeg has seven traditional shopping malls, representing each quadrant of the city.

cityplace

Garden City Shopping Centre

Grant Park Shopping Centre

Newspapers

Winnipeg has two daily newspapers, the Winnipeg Free Press and the Winnipeg Sun. The Sun publishes seven days a week and the Free Presssix days a week. Canstar Community News also publishes five weekly neighbourhood newspapers.

Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Sun

Canstar Community News - (The Herald, Lance, Metro, Times and Headliner)

Metro News

Locally produced television programming airs on the following stations:

CBC (CBWT – 6)

CTV (CKY-TV – 7)

Global (CKND-TV – 9)

Joytv (CIIT-TV – 35)

Radio-Canada (CBWFT-3)

Radio

Winnipeg radio stations represent a wide range of interests from country to talk, classic rock to jazz, oldies to First Nations and more.