Saint Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
St Boniface

St Boniface, Manitoba, former city and historic French community, now a municipal ward of the metropolitan government of the city of Winnipeg (incorporated in 1972). St Boniface is located on the banks of the Red and Seine rivers in eastern Winnipeg. With St Vital and St Norbert, it is part of the Riel Community, one of five community committee areas in the Unicity government. The 3 wards of Riel Community offer bilingual municipal services. One councillor represents St Boniface on Winnipeg City Council. Its population is more than 45 000.

History
Fur traders and European mercenaries hired by Lord Selkirk to protect his fledgling Red River Colony were among the area's first settlers. With the founding of a Roman Catholic mission (1818), St Boniface began its role in Canadian religious, political and cultural history - as mother parish for many French settlements in Western Canada; as the birthplace of Louis Riel and fellow Métis who struggled to obtain favourable terms for Manitoba's entry into Confederation; and as a focus of resistance to controversial 1890 legislation to alter Manitoba's school system and abolish French as an official language in the province (see Manitoba School Question).

Early educational, cultural and social-service institutions were started by religious orders, including the Sisters of Charity of Montréal (Grey Nuns) who arrived in 1844. The Collège de Saint-Boniface (dating back to 1818), a founding college of University of Manitoba, and St Boniface General Hospital grew from these institutions.

The early economy was oriented to agriculture. Union Stockyards, developed 1912-13, became the largest livestock exchange in Canada and focal point for a meat-packing and -processing industry. By the early 1900s, numerous light and heavy industries were established. St Boniface was incorporated as a town 1883 and a city 1908. As one of the larger French communities outside Québec, it has often been a centre of struggles to preserve French language and identity within Manitoba.

The Canadian Encyclopedia

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