Festival du Voyageur gets $50K from province for Fort Gibraltar structural work after walkway collapse

Festival du Voyageur is getting a one-time $50,000 grant from the province for structural work at the Fort Gibraltar historic site to ensure the 2024 winter festival can go ahead safely, following the collapse of an elevated walkway at the site earlier this year.

Temporary fencing will replace the wooden walls that currently surround Fort Gibraltar — the primary site for the annual celebration of francophone culture in Winnipeg's St. Boniface neighbourhood, the province of Manitoba said in Thursday news release.

That fencing will serve as a backdrop for art installations and cultural displays while work continues on the site, the province said.

The funding will be used "to help secure the site to make sure everybody has a safe experience come February," Festival du Voyageur executive director Breanne Lavalée-Heckert told Radio-Canada.

Demolition work started on the fort walls at the beginning of November and is expected to be done by Dec. 1, she said.

"By the end of the construction there will be a temporary, eight-foot new fence surrounding the fort," said Lavalée-Heckert.

"It won't be to the magnitude of what the fort walls were before, but there will be a fence in place to ensure the security of the site." 

The organization estimates construction and installation of the new fence will cost about $100,000 in total. That means the $50,000 from the province is a huge help, Lavallée-Heckert said, and Festival du Voyageur will continue to seek other government funding. 

She also said Festival du Voyageur also received charitable status in the last year, and will use that to find other sources of funding.

Walkway collapse sent 17 to hospital

The work is required after Fort Gibraltar's walkway collapsed during a visit by a school group in May, sending 17 children and an adult to hospital.

An engineering assessment found several issues with the walkway, including a rotted support beam and possible damage from carpenter ants, according to documents obtained by Radio-Canada through a freedom of information request last month.

Festival du Voyageur's board decided that tearing down the walls and the walkway attached to them would be the best way to ensure Fort Gibraltar can reopen in time for the February event, festival president Eric Plamondon told CBC last month.

The structural work at Fort Gibraltar will continue after 2024's festival, the province's Thursday news release said.

The walkway's collapse happened during a school visit by a group of 10- and 11-year-old students from St. John's–Ravenscourt School.

At the time, officials said none of the injuries sustained in the collapse were severe or life-threatening. One injured boy had to stay in hospital to get orthopedic surgery for a fracture.

A lawsuit was filed against the city and the festival in August by the family of one injured boy, alleging their son was left at risk of being permanently disabled due to the collapse.

Fort Gibraltar, a 1978 replica of two earlier forts of the same name, is now owned by the city but managed by Festival du Voyageur. 

The last time the walkway was inspected before the collapse was in 2006, and the last time it had been repaired was in 2004, a city spokesperson previously said.

Festival du Voyageur is set to run from Feb. 16 to 25, 2024.