St. Boniface & Cathedral Ruins
Saint-Boniface
The largest French-speaking community in western Canada, with the white stone façade of a fire-ravaged cathedral, Louis Riel buried in the cemetery beside it, and French bakeries and cafés everywhere.
Saint-Boniface lies on the east bank of the Red River. In 1818, Catholic missionaries founded the first Catholic church in western Canada here, and the community later became the centre of the Franco-Manitoban and Métis populations. The cathedral, completed in 1906, was destroyed by fire in 1968. The surviving stone façade and round window frame now stand as a distinctive open-air ruin, and a new church was built after the old one. Louis Riel, Métis leader and founder of Manitoba, is buried in the cemetery in front of the church. Next door, the Saint-Boniface Museum occupies an 1846 Grey Nuns' convent. It is Winnipeg's oldest building and the largest oak log building in North America. Every February, the Festival du Voyageur features ice sculptures, snow sculptures, fur trader performances and maple taffy. You can walk here from The Forks across the Esplanade Riel footbridge.
Opening hours
All day; museum approx. 10:00–16:00
Nearby sights
- Esplanade Riel
- Manitoba Children's Museum
- The Forks
- Canadian Museum for Human Rights
- Manitoba Museum
- Dalnavert Museum
- Exchange District
- Manitoba Legislative Building