Kapyong set to come down

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This article was published 29/05/2018 (2403 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fourteen years after the troops pulled out, and a decade after First Nations groups began fighting the federal government in the courts over the property, the long-awaited demolition of the former Kapyong Barracks has begun.

Maj. Dez Desjardins, of the Armed Forces property operations detachment, said crews have been working for about two weeks, readying the south Winnipeg site for demolition and removing hazardous materials.

Desjardins said the first phase of the $2.6-million project consists of demolishing 13 buildings south of Taylor Avenue, and on the east and west sides of Kenaston Boulevard, along with Lipsett Hall, north of Grant Avenue. It is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

“There will be some noise, but they have stipulated the demolition had to be done around normal business hours,” Desjardins said.

The next stage of demolition — the main barracks area and parade ground — will be tendered later this summer.

Last month, an agreement was signed in principle between the federal government and First Nations chiefs for control of the 160-acre site.

The agreement is intended to help guide the creation of a final settlement agreement, which is to include the future use of the land and terms of the sale. Details of the agreement are being kept confidential at this time.

When the deal is finalized, 110 acres will be transferred to seven Treaty 1 First Nations, and the remaining 50 acres will stay with Canada Lands Co., the federal Crown corporation which oversees public land.

The land will be held in common between the First Nations, and will be redeveloped as a joint urban reserve.

The chiefs have said the site could become a place for condo development, as well as a place for government, retail, arts, culture, cadet programs, green space and hotels.

Desjardins said passing motorists might look at some of the buildings and think they could be reused or repurposed — but not if they were to see the inside any of them.

“In Lipsett Hall (Kapyong’s former recreation centre), the mechanical room was full of water and we found it was still frozen. We’ve had doors open during the day to help it thaw. Even in these warm temperatures, it was an ice cube,” he said.

“The others have water that has made its way in, they have mould, and pipes have burst. And animals have made their way in some… there’s a family of foxes living under one of the barracks.”

In total, there are 40 buildings of different sizes spread over the site destined to come down, as well as roads and the parade ground to be removed.

The federal government tender for the demolition of the Kapyong Barracks required companies that applied and were hired have to have 51 per cent of the business owned and controlled by Indigenous people, and have at least one third of the firm’s employees be Indigenous, if it has six or more full-time staff.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca