A small tight-knit community, with a busy main provincial truck highway disrupting residents
Words and Photos by Alison Flores
St. Norbert – Seine River is in the southernmost part of Winnipeg with beautiful views of the La Salle and Red rivers in the surrounding area. The busy Lord Selkirk Highway connecting into southern Manitoba and the U.S. border near Emerson runs through the ward and has been a concern for some residents of the area.
Residents of the area appreciate the tight-knit community, making the area feel very safe and peaceful.
St. Norbert is the home of historic buildings and landmarks like the Trappist Monastery Provincial Heritage Park and the St. Norbert Arts Centre, and the St. Norbert Farmers Market, which runs every Saturday year-round.
Coun. Markus Chambers announced that he was stepping down from his role after eight years leading the St. Norbert Ward this past summer.
He has decided to focus on his family while his wife undergoes cancer treatments, and as they prepare to become grandparents in December.
Taylor Klassen, 28, Cashier at Red River Co-op Food Store
Has lived in St. Norbert from grades 5-11 and had just moved back to the ward a year ago.
What’s life like in the ward?
Since moving back, it feels a lot safer here now that I’m older. When I was growing up here were smaller gangs, and people fighting. Now there are a lot more younger families in the area, so it feels a lot safer. It’s nice because I can bring my kids out and they can play without worry.
What are some local needs that you notice?
I would like to see more environments and community for younger kids. We need a lot more family centers and community activities for families to attend. We only have the community centre and the daycare right now but there are no activities for younger kids to do and for families moving to St. Norbert.
What’s your take on the Oct. 28 election?
I just want someone that cares for the community and wants to keep the area safe. I’ve been happy with the safety of the area so far, even walking home I don’t feel like I have to watch my back, if someone keeps it safe it would be nice for the community.
Lorraine Klymko, 76, retired teacher
Has has lived with her husband in the ward for 24 years.
What’s life like in the ward?
I would say that my experience of the area is safe. I’ve never seen anything terrible. It’s very heavily trafficked with the highway; I live right on the highway. There’s always a steady stream of traffic, lots of trucks passing by … like who needs this down their main street? I live here.
What are some local needs that you notice?
If they could bypass us and divert the heavier traffic that would be great, but I don’t think it’s a critical issue.
I think things for young kids to do would be great. Maybe they could learn how to garden and preserve food. I taught here for 30 years, and in this area there’s no recreational opportunity for kids. At least not St. Norbert-based. There’s the hockey rink, but I don’t see a soccer pitch. Soccer is great everyone can afford it.
I’m talking adolescent and teen kids we need something constructive and positive for them to do. We like to talk about all these issues but don’t do anything about it. Kids get out of the foster system when they’re 18, what are they supposed to do? Why isn’t there a resource here that kids can drop into and say, ‘hey I’m having trouble.’
What’s your take on the Oct. 28 election?
I don’t really know. I would like them to address the traffic issues … I mean coming in off the ramp up there on the perimeter — my god, you’re taking your life into your hands. Fix that.
Victoria Bablola, 54, Owner of Favour’s Meat Shop
Bablola has had her store for a year and six months.
What’s life like in the ward?
The safety and the environment in this area is not bad. I opened my shop in this area, and the bus stop right in front makes it easy for students and traffic to come in. The market helps my business. Many people didn’t know that there was a meat shop here, the moment I placed my sign in front people come in and come over to see what I’m selling and say, ‘oh she’s very impressive.’ When I first started, I go there and give flyers to people just for them to see there is a meat shop here.
What are some local needs that you notice?
There’s not much for people in this area. I would say for the safety of people, there’s a farmers’ market in front of this place, so, if possible, we could make it easier for people to cross over. Most of the time in the afternoon this is a busy road. There’s a cross sign there, but it is not as safe. People are still carrying the stop signs for people. We have thousands of people every Saturday, what I think for the safety is that they do something for the cross over. This is a main road with thousands of trailers every second, and every minute, so if the government could do something for the safety of the people.
When it’s Saturday, sometimes my customers don’t’ have a place to park, because the people that come over here for the market park here. So sometimes you struggle to get a place to park.
What’s your take on the Oct. 28 election?
For every election I encourage people to come out and vote. I think that St. Norbert is one of the best environments with people coming out to vote. There is a lot of turn out in this area.
And if there’s a way that they can (deal with) the traffic for the safety of people.
Daniel Michael, 54, Owner of Daniel’s Farm
Michael has farmed near St. Norbert for 11 years.
What’s life like in the ward?
My farm is located just outside of St. Norbert, so for me it’s quiet and it’s peaceful. I enjoy it. If I want to do anything like socialize and attend events I drive in and come to the community center, it has everything that I need.
What are some local needs that you notice?
There’s not really any needs that I notice. St. Norbert is a very nice area. Theres a very good community center here where all of the events and everything happens it gets very busy. The farmer’s market is here every Saturday and it’s good to us. We’ve been selling at this farmer’s market for 11 years, the farmer’s market is a big community for us, we have hundreds of customers that come to see us here. I enjoy it here; I wouldn’t change much.
What’s your take on the Oct. 28 election?
I’m not aware of it, but I vote every year so I will go out and vote with my family.
Danielle Mondor, 45, Executive Director of the St. Norbert Farmers Market
Mondor lives downtown, but has been the executive director of the St. Norbert Farmers Market for four years.
What’s life like in the ward?
It’s interesting, we have 200 vendor members as a co-operative and not many of us live in St. Norbert, but we come here every Saturday. We sort of put St. Norbert on the map as a place to get groceries and a place to bring your family for tourism.
We are not vacant here the rest of the week, so we have an interesting relationship with the community. We would love to be more active, so we rent our facility and we often have community events here.
What are some local needs that you notice?
Traffic management, and more parking.
The volume of visitors coming and the cars make it really challenging for a St. Norbert resident to get out and move in their day. We try to do a lot of things to help the community like hiring crossing guards to help move the traffic in a slow, smooth pace.
Now that the blue line bus route is prominent here, the bus service has improved greatly.
What’s your take on the Oct. 28 election?
We are doing a post online to ask the candidates what their platform is on local food systems. We hope that our city councillors and mayoral candidates engage on supporting food and agriculture to increase resilience in the sector.
Robert Masters, 82, retired pastor
Masters has lived in the ward for five years.
What’s life like in the ward?
It’s nice here. The sidewalks are very neat and tidy. There’s not much garbage around. It’s quiet and feels like a safe area. The farmer’s market is a great space. Me and my wife, we come here every Saturday, we like to walk over and buy coffee and pierogis from here.
What are some local needs that you notice?
The sidewalks are tidy, but the city is neglecting the area and needs to do a better job at cleaning up the area. There is lots of long overgrown grass hanging over on the sidewalks. It’s hard to walk on the sidewalks when the grass is hanging over and it doesn’t look good.
What’s your take on the Oct. 28 election?
I haven’t been following, but each area needs to be community minded.
For information on how to vote and where, head to the official City of Winnipeg election website.
The staff of Winnipeg Better can be reached by email at jmajorrrc@gmail.com