Thunderbird House across the street is part of the Higgins and Main rejuvenation.


any Aboriginal groups” were interested in it. Mamawiwichiitata was then the largest organization serving off-reserve Aboriginal people in Winnipeg. Stuck in an expensive and inadequate second floor walk-up on Notre Dame at a cost of $141,000 a year, Wayne said Ma- mawiwichiitata was looking for about 12,000 square feet in a centrally located building. As the knowledge that no Ab- original group actually owned any real estate in the city sank in, an idea began to germinate in Wayne’s fertile mind. What if his group could find a way to buy the property and develop an equity base by renting to other agencies? Alongside fellow board members, San-


di Funk and Don Wilson, Wayne went into action. Tey contacted local realtor, Joe Diner, who became enthused by the idea and introduced Wayne’s group to Charlie Pike, then vice president of CP Rail. Charlie thought that nothing could be more fitting than for the local Ab- original community to buy the station; it would symbolize the return of this vital population to the mainstream and per- haps pave the way for better things to come. Charlie suggested they contact Doro-


thy Dobbie (the only sitting government MP for Winnipeg at the time). She and Charlie had discussed the matter some years earlier and Dorothy, eager to help, started shopping the idea around Ot- tawa.


Sounds easy, but . . .


Tis all sounds so cut and dried but nothing is ever as simple as it appears. Wayne and his group faced


seem- ingly insurmountable hurdles, yet they thehubwinnipeg.com


Former Heritage Minister, Jean Charest, and Wayne Helgason at a reunion meeting last year.


Fall 2016 • 29 Neeginan College students learning welding.


Neeginan College.


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