Audio Transcript

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So, now, let’s pretend for a minute it’s 1929. The Mount Royal Apartment block, built only one year earlier just across the road from you, was already quite a place to call home. Can you imagine how tenants must have felt when one of Canada’s most elite status symbols opened its doors right across the street, where you're standing now?

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The Winnipeg Winter Club was famously known as one of the finest Canadian buildings and held that reputation until 1942, when it was sold to the Royal Canadian Navy. Even then, as headquarters of the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve, it was a very special neighbour.

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In 1998 that building was demolished and replaced by a combination training facility/naval museum, which you see here now.

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This may be surprising for a prairie town, but during WW11, in spite of being just one of many recruitment centers throughout the prairies, Winnipeg consistently held the highest numbers for inland naval recruitment in Canada.

The "Prairie Sailor Salute", in front of the museum, honours brave sailors from across the prairies, especially those who served during the Battle of the Atlantic,1939 - 1945. An anchor from the HMCS Protecteur, was dedicated in 2010, to commemorate the Navy’s centennial year.

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The museum celebrates all Canadian sailors though, and is filled with interesting information about our Royal Canadian Navy.