It's to the point where I wonder if Chinese newcomers even know that old Chinatown exists. If you're a U of M student living near campus and whose social life revolves around the places on Pembina Highway, what do you need that little clump on King Street for? There are probably more things of interest to someone like that on any random block of South Pembina than there are in all of Chinatown.

At some point a new Chinese cultural centre will be built in Fort Richmond and that will basically spell the end of Chinatown.

I don’t think any of North America’s historic Chinatowns are the dominant landing place for Chinese immigrants anymore, and probably haven’t been since the 1950s. Just like Italians coming to Toronto most likely don’t move to Little Italy. But some of these historic Chinatowns continue to have a great cultural or familial significance to the region’s Chinese people.

The issue with Winnipeg’s Chinatown is that there does not seem to be any group taking the lead on even talking about the future of the neighbourhood. The Chinatown Development Corp. has been around for almost 50 years and has sometimes been very long on vision (they hired Gustavo Da Rosa to develop an urban renewal scheme in the early ‘70s) but mostly short on money to execute their vision. I don’t know where they’re at now – I think the last thing they did was demolish the Shanghai Restaurant, which was arguably the most important Chinatown landmark of them all. I worry they are unwilling to let go of the Chinatown ‘brand’ while continuing to the see the physical fabric of the neighbourhood gradually disappear. Decades of property owners waiting for the Second Coming of the Core Area Initiative has eaten away at the small scale buildings, the texture, the colour, and the interest that makes historic Chinatowns successful. Currently it’s more or less a wasteland that only really sees crowds on Sundays when the suburbs come for dim sum.

Meanwhile, I would imagine neither the City, the BIZ, the Market Lands team, or anyone else would ever do anything but defer to the Chinatown Development Corp. and whatever’s left of the Chinatown business community. They wouldn’t want to look like they’re erasing the cultural history of the neighbourhood by moving away from the Chinatown image.

^ One of the big the problems is that Chinatown lacks critical mass, and it isn't very visible. As such I think there's less importance attached to making it a presentable place. No heavy hitters in the Chinese community are going to donate a million dollars to a project in an area that's surrounded by vacant lots and run down buildings.

By contrast, Edmonton has a fairly small Chinatown too as far as Chinatowns go, but it does at least dominate a couple of city blocks on 97th with shops and restaurants and as such I think it's taken care of a bit more. Not surprisingly, it manages to draw activity and development. It may not be the hub of the Chinese community anymore there either, but it's still to some extent the face of the community in that city, and as such it is still a bit of a priority.

I guess what it boils down to is that Chinatown feels more like a vestigial part of ye olden days that's slowly fading away than a living, breathing, dynamic part of Winnipeg's ethnocultural makeup.

Yes, they tore down a 128 year old heritage building to put up an empty lot.

Yeah, losing the Shanghai and Marigold closing across the street certainly hasn't helped.

http://www.centreventure.com/market-...gn-competition

^ Well, that's encouraging...

Yes nice to see some progress on this, even if it's the very early stages. I'm looking forward to seeing what some of the design ideas are.

Public market! Public market!

Too bad we don't have any major fisheries nearby. That would be amazing

Really? Have you considered Lake Winnipeg?

Pickerel only goes so far

Some very prestigious firms have been shortlisted, very good news indeed.

Ummm, Lake Winnipeg is home to Canada's largest commercial freshwater fisheries industry. And, also, there are more freshwater species available than just Pickerel.

Pickerel followed by lake whitefish. Goldeye is a popular smoked fish. A lot of rough fish have a bad reputation. Burbot ( other wise known as freshwater cod) can be very tasty if it is prepared properly. It is called poor man’s lobster because of the similarity in flavour to lobster. There also is perch and northern pike. Smoked carp is popular in England. I just wish that the fishing industry here can be promoted more. It would be nice to have a Manitoba chef create something great with Manitoba fish or at least explore freshwater fish.Have like a few popular local “seafood” restaurants in Winnipeg or some of the lakeside resort towns one day. Oh and a fish market would be great also. We should be the new maritime province.

https://www.gov.mb.ca/waterstewardsh...sh_profile.pdf

Ok then where is my fish market with the catch of the day?

Edit: sorry for sounding snarky. I feel like if there's a fishing industry here it is severely underrepresented and impossible to find. (Almost)

I think the way freshwater fish was marketed until very recently (through FFMC) probably had a lot to do with the low profile of the industry. With a few odd exceptions, fishermen had to sell through the single desk. That likely stifled the growth of fisherman-operated shops and markets.

(Although I do recall that around Gimli there are a couple of longstanding fish stores that sell directly to consumers, I'm not quite sure how that works. Maybe they just bought through FFMC?)

Shops are fine but a public market where you can get fish caught the same morning and many fishermen bring in there catch is awesome. A building like the forks market would actually be perfect for the task.

There is a fresh fish market on Dufferin and another on Pembina. Local fresh fish every day when in season.

There's also a Gimli Fish in Transcona now too! Although it's not to open air market with catch of the day, still gets you fish. I believe you can also special order from them. Or at least ask if they have certain types of fish that could be brought in.

Gimli fish was caught selling mis-labelled fish a few years back, claiming Manitoba pickerel but really out of Europe. Saying it must have been an error, despite it being the case in all their stores, and despite it being brought to their attention months earlier by an employee and ignored.

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/local-fi...abel-1.2304760