Broadway and City Hall drop-offs at 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. as Lemay forest letter-writing campaign surpasses 1,000 submissions
 

WINNIPEG / TREATY 1 TERRITORY AND HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS NATION —  The Wilderness Committee is delivering over 500 letters to both Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham today — in addition to the 500 letters already emailed to the Premier and Mayor over the last few weeks — calling for the preservation of Lemay Forest in south Winnipeg as a designated heritage site. The organization joined other community partners in collecting signed letters at public events last month and have now exhausted their printed supply.

“There isn’t another site in the city like the Lemay Forest and it must remain standing,” said Wilderness Committee Wilderness and Water Campaigner Eric Reder. “Culturally, ecologically, historically and as a place to memorialize loss, the Lemay Forest is hallowed ground that represents a better path forward for society.”

At a town hall two weeks ago in Winnipeg supported by 12 community organizations, 11 speakers presented on different facets of the Lemay Forest. From massive 237-year-old trees, to habitat for protected species, to Métis history with Louis Riel, to sacred Indigenous lodges operating continuously for more than 25 years, to the trafficking of impregnated residential school attendees, to what may be the largest mass grave site in the country with unmarked burials of 3,383 children, the Lemay Forest is a powerful place. As more people learn these stories, support for Lemay’s protection has rapidly grown. People understand that Winnipegers and Manitobans from all walks of life are served by a heritage site designation for Lemay Forest.

“You can’t hear the stories of the Lemay Forest without being emotionally drawn to action,” said Reder. “This is everything we should memorialize and protect so we grow as a society.”

Today’s letter delivery builds on support shown by a petition with 1,400 signatures submitted to the Municipal Board by the Coalition to Save Lemay Forest in February, as well as their online Change.org petition that has 7,100 signatures.

“We've seen a huge upswing of support for the Lemay Forest,” said Cat Gauthier of the Coalition to Save Lemay Forest. “We know we’re going to get governments to preserve this forest. We will win this fight.”

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For more information please contact:
Eric Reder | Wilderness and Water Campaigner
204-997-8584, eric@wildernesscommittee.org

Cat Gauthier | Coalition to Save Lemay Forest
(204) 230-6345, catness@shaw.ca