What is Winnipeg?

Winnipeg is the capital of Manitoba and the largest city on the Canadian prairies, with a population of about 750,000 in the city and about 875,000 in the Census Metropolitan Area (the seventh-largest in Canada). The city sits at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers (a junction known as The Forks). Winnipeg has been the provincial capital since Manitoba joined Canadian Confederation on July 15, 1870.

The city was founded as the Red River Colony or Selkirk Settlement in 1812 by Thomas Douglas, fifth Earl of Selkirk, who recruited Scottish Highland Clearance refugees and Irish settlers to farm the Hudson's Bay Company's Rupert's Land territory. The Metis-led Red River Resistance of 1869 to 1870, led by Louis Riel, prevented Canadian annexation without negotiation and led to the Manitoba Act of 1870 that created the province. Winnipeg was incorporated as a city on November 8, 1873 and grew rapidly with the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885 to become a major prairie transportation and commercial hub.

The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, the largest labour action in Canadian history, lasted from May 15 to June 25, 1919 and involved about 30,000 workers in a sympathetic strike for better wages, an eight-hour workday, and collective bargaining rights. The federal Royal Northwest Mounted Police charge into a parade on June 21, 1919 (Bloody Saturday) killed two people and led to the strike's collapse. The strike accelerated the formation of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF, the predecessor of the New Democratic Party) and shaped Canadian labour law.

Modern Winnipeg's economy includes finance and insurance (Wawanesa, Great-West Life, IGM Financial, and the headquarters of Manitoba's three credit unions), manufacturing (New Flyer Industries is North America's largest bus manufacturer), aerospace (StandardAero, Magellan Aerospace), agriculture and food processing, and transportation. The city is home to the Royal Canadian Mint's plant (the only Canadian Mint facility producing all Canadian circulation coins, plus coins for many other countries), the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (opened 2014, the only national museum outside the National Capital Region), the Manitoba Museum, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Winnipeg is one of the most multicultural Canadian cities, with significant Filipino, Punjabi, Ukrainian, Mennonite, and Indigenous populations. The Winnipeg Jets of the NHL (returned to Winnipeg in 2011 after the original Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996) play at Canada Life Centre.