Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 9, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba II II The RW tax holiday is at SALISBURY HOUSE on Thursdays! No PST NoGST APPLIES AT ALL SALISBURY HOUSE FAMILY RESTAURANT LOCATIONS VALID FROM DECEMBER 19 2024 THROUGH FEBRUARY 13 2025 -THURSDAYS ONLY THURSDAY JANUARY 9, 2025 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM SECTION B CONNECT WITH WINNIPEG’S NO. 1 NEWS SOURCE ▼ CITY ● BUSINESS RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS ON EDGE With the Nestaweya River Trail now running from The Forks to the Manitoba legislative building, there was no shortage of skaters ready to lace up the blades and try it out Wednesday. The weather is expected to remain cold before turning mild towards the end of next week. Wyatt pushes for expropriation while mayor urges caution Politicians drawn into battle over Lemay Forest T HE pitched battle over the fate of St. Norbert’s Lemay Forest was being fought on several fronts Wednesday as activists prevented the developer’s planner from accessing the property at one spot, a work crew got in at another and cut down some trees and a city councillor called on the may- or and premier to expropriate the land. Some area residents have fought to save the trees on the land amid con- cerns about potential unmarked graves of Métis children and others in a for- mer Catholic orphanage cemetery and the protection of bird habitat. The landowner, Tochal Development Group, has sought approval to build a large assisted-living facility. Council rejected the plan, but the developer intends to appeal the decision before the provincial government Municipal Board in February. “It’s come to a crisis point, we need this to get resolved,” said Louise May, a spokeswoman for the Coalition to Save the Lemay Forest, prior to the arrival of a work crew Wednesday morning. Development planner John Wintrup arrived at the access point with a dump truck and skid-steer equipment oper- ator just after 9:30 a.m. but did not make it past the protesters. Another work crew gained access in another area earlier and began felling trees. Court of King’s Bench Justice Sarah Inness granted an interim injunction request last week, ordering defendants suspected to have protested at the prop- erty to leave and refrain from blocking the property’s owner from accessing it through an easement over city-owned land. At a contested hearing Monday, the developer’s lawyer sought to bar the group that is opposed to the develop- ment from the adjacent city-owned land. Inness ruled Monday protesters are allowed to remain there but, again, said they could not impede access. Wintrup and the equipment operator tried to get through three times Wed- nesday, but May said they were waiting for police to arrive to discuss the mat- ter. Police did not show up, but were ap- parently in the area. The situation grew heated, as protest- ers and Wintrup argued, people on both sides recorded video and May repeat- edly called police. She said the group wanted police to enforce provincial cemeteries legis- lation concerning tree-cutting in grave- yards. Kevin Toyne, lawyer for the develop- er, declined to comment on his client’s next steps Wednesday afternoon. Protesters have an Indigenous sacred fire burning on the adjacent city land. The developer has granted one man ac- cess to its property to conduct Indigen- ous sweat lodges and other ceremony — and Wintrup said the owner will allow access to others, too — though the protesters said some individuals haven’t been able to get on the land for that purpose. Wintrup said the contractors have been made aware of a buffer zone where graves are thought to be and that the developer has sought to mark graves. Ian Histed, the lawyer for some group members, unsuccessfully argued in court Monday that the judge should halt tree-cutting based on cemetery legislation and federal migratory bird legislation. The group intends to file an injunc- tion of its own this week based on those issues, May said. “Then it will be the other side that’s in contempt,” she said, adding she is also hoping governments expropriate the land to be used as a park. Protesters and environmental groups argue the developer has not done a proper sweep for pileated woodpeckers on the land, contrary to federal legis- lation. Wintrup has said there is no evi- dence of the birds. ERIK PINDERA MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Coun. Russ Wyatt (right) met with protesters Wednesday morning, including Louise May (centre), a spokeswoman for the Coalition to Save the Lemay Forest. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Development planner John Wintrup films protesters as he tells them to move at Lemay Forest on Wednesday. They would not. ● LEMAY, CONTINUED ON B2 Wrecking ball comes for hard-luck 111-year-old Charleswood school CHAPMAN School is being torn down once and for all, following an 111-year- old lifespan often marked by misfor- tune and mishap. Construction crews were on site at 3707 Roblin Blvd. on Wednesday to tear down the third and final version of the school. The original building, established in 1913, was set ablaze three years after it welcomed its inaugural cohort. A re- placement was destroyed in a second fire that broke out during the Second World War and it was hastily resur- rected. “It’s always unfortunate when we see historic property come down, particu- larly in Charleswood; they have such limited historical buildings there,” said Cindy Tugwell, executive director of Heritage Winnipeg. The campus was named after George Chapman, the first reeve of the now-de- funct rural municipality of Charles- wood and inaugural chairman of the area’s hyperlocal school division that was swallowed by Assiniboine South, and, after the latest round of amalgam- ations in 2002, Pembina Trails. Tugwell said the school itself and surrounding green space bordered by Roblin Boulevard, Alcrest Drive, Vialoux Drive and a line of backyards on Princeton Boulevard, hold historic significance and are believed to have been used by the Red River Métis. It’s disheartening that yet another park is shrinking, she said, noting re- cent headlines about housing projects slated for the Parker Lands in Fort Gar- ry and St. Norbert’s Lemay Forest. A local real estate company bought the campus, which includes a school, daycare facility and playground, from the Pembina Trails School Division in 2019 for $2.41 million. Karma Development Group is transforming the grounds into a high- end condominium complex dubbed “Princeton Estates.” Realtor Adam Nemy said a line of trees along Vialoux Drive has been dedicated to the City of Winnipeg to preserve green space. MAGGIE MACINTOSH ● SCHOOL, CONTINUED ON B2 LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER ;