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The Indigenous Friendship Centre began operating out of 410 McGregor St., May 1, while they renovate their former home at 45 Robinson St. They\u2019re holding an open house June 5 in hopes of letting more people know their resources are available to the North End, regardless of their cultural background.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is where our heart lies, with the community,\u201d McKay said.<\/p>\n
The North End Neighbours Culture Fest began in 2024, when the Winnipeg branch of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians with the hope of \u201cbringing together people doing cultural work in the North End,\u201d said board vice president Emily Halldorson.<\/p>\n
Part of that work is providing what she described as \u201csoft resources\u201d \u2014 friendship, emotional connections, community building and free family programming.<\/p>\n
\u201cNewcomers can be connected with all of those resources \u2026 like employment and literacy and English language training, and still be socially isolated, because they need to have friends and they need to connect to people and have a community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The association even connected with a number of newcomers who had just arrived in Winnipeg and are staying in temporary housing who came out to volunteer Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m most happy about with the festival this year, is that we\u2019ve been able to bring in more people and kind of grow and just represent even more that the North End has to offer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ralph Jean-Paul knows the value of those connections all too well.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s part of the Regroupement des Haitiens du Manitoba, a local organization that helps support the province\u2019s small \u2014 but growing \u2014 Haitian community. He\u2019s been in Winnipeg for around 35 years and remembers when there were only a few dozen Haitians in the city \u2014 now, the number is around 300, he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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He\u2019s been involved with the North End Neighbours Culture Fest since its inception. He likes to see newer members of the Haitian community come and meet their neighbours, and, even after his decades in Winnipeg, he finds joy in meeting new people, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is similar to our culture in the Caribbean, in Haiti, in particular, where it\u2019s always doors open to everyone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou come and help and celebrate, nobody is a stranger or visitor, so it feels natural, really, to come and be a part of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The festival is funded in part through contributions from community organizations and grants, including from the City of Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Malak Abas Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg\u2019s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Reporter
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