We are fortunate to have retained the best of the physical aspects of its previous narrative: remnants of the fur trade era, the early urban development and immigration, the coming of the railway, and finally the evolution of the site to an internationally recognized public amenity. The regeneration of The Forks transformed it from an industrial site to the number one tourist destination in Manitoba. This is a salute to the many visionaries who made it happen. It is all this and more: it is the heart of the city, a national historic site, a place of commerce and recreation, a place of beauty. What emerged in the process was dedication to returning this site to people, to restore access to the rivers, to replenish the natural habitat that had attracted First Nations people there for 6,000 years and to make The Forks a meeting place for all to enjoy. As the vision gradually took shape, there were hard choices and informed leaps the path was not always smooth.

Priorities were identified within a planning framework developed by professionals who had to step beyond the confines of their disciplines to make it work. Co-operation and broad visions needed to be grounded in dollars and cents. As the site’s industrial infrastructure needed to be removed, the stakes were too high for any one corporate entity or single level of government. It grew slowly but surely over the next 30 years. Efforts to reclaim the obsolete railway lands behind the CN line and station began with a few individuals who climbed over the barricades, investigated the site, imagined what could be, and started the process towards reclaiming land which had been the intersection not only of rivers, but of cultures and economies for thousands of years.įirst, the new vision had to be shared among many dedicated and tenacious individuals. For a hundred years, the 55-acre site was closed off physically and visually from the rest of the city, removed from public awareness, and abstracted from the realm of greater Winnipeg. It took the vision, talents, tenacity, and hard work of many committed people to make The Forks district of Winnipeg a reality. The Forks aerial (The Forks, 2015) Preface

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