The city is seeking ideas from the public on a new name for the soon-to-be-renovated Air Canada Window Park.
The popular downtown gathering space along Portage Avenue, while originally slated to undergo demolition last year, will be closed and construction is set to begin next week, a city spokesperson confirmed Friday.
The park is set to reopen in the summer of 2025. Concept images of the $2.5-million project released last year include changes to improve safety (using trees with high canopy and removing barriers), encourage gathering (a proposed food and beverage kiosk and spaces to host live performances and ceremonies) and celebrate Indigenous culture (a bird’s-eye view of the new park will be in the shape of a turtle).
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
The city is accepting feedback on possibly renaming Air Canada Window Park at 345 Portage Avenue. See Malak Abas story 240823 – Friday, August 23, 2024.
A new name will be part of the revitalization process, and the city’s committee of community members say its looking for names with historical relevance to the area and to Winnipeg as a whole.
“Renaming the park could give more recognition to the community, and make it feel more like their own,” the name change summary posted on the city’s website reads.
“Its existing corporate name gives sponsorship, with none of the monetary benefits or dedication this urban park needs.”
The park, originally built in 1985, is named after the corporation who donated the land to the City of Winnipeg. The Air Canada building sits adjacent to the park and the airline is in support of renaming the park, the project’s document says. Consultations with park users have taken place.
The redevelopment of Air Canada Park is one of the projects listed in the city’s 2022 downtown recovery strategy.
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Air Canada Window Park, at the corner of Portage Avenue and Carlton Street, is set to get a $2.5-million facelift.
“Air Canada Window Park is an important gathering place in the downtown, and improvements to the design and infrastructure at the park are needed,” a city spokesperson said in an email.
Heritage Winnipeg executive director Cindy Tugwell said the area has a rich history and she hopes the name change process involves collaboration with many different groups.
“History is ongoing. History isn’t just stuck in one era or one decade and reflecting on it,” she said.
“History is progressive and ongoing, so to be progressive and to really be part of reconciliation … the collaboration, I think, is a very progressive thing our city needs to do.”
Earlier this year, city hall received a petition from downtown residents asking that Central Park be renamed, arguing the inner-city park was a gathering space for Indigenous Winnipeggers and newcomers and that a new name reflecting that would be “a powerful act of decolonization.”
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Air Canada Window Park’s facelift meant to improve safety and transform it into a more open space that could host larger events.
The request is currently under review, the city’s website says. No suggestions for a new name were made in the request.
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Malak Abas
Reporter
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
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