Did you know?
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Leaf Rapids’ Town Centre won the coveted Vincent
Massey Award for Excellence in the Urban Environment
in 1975. It is interesting to note that university urban planning
courses across Canada feature Leaf Rapids in their studies. |
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The Town Centre Complex
was originally supposed to be blue in colour. The building was painted
with a rust-coloured solution that was supposed to turn a brilliant
shade of blue when affected by pollutants – however because
Leaf Rapids has no pollutants the rust colour has never changed. |
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Leaf Rapids has a sister city
in the town of Jabiru, Australia which grew largely out of common
interest. Their main industry is mining (uranium). |
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Leaf Rapids is built on an esker.
An esker is a glacial deposit in the form of a continuous, winding
ridge, formed from the deposits of a stream flowing beneath the ice.
Eskers are favourite sources of sand. |
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Locally known as Thompson Turkeys
due to their size, our local heavy-billed dark birds can reach a length
of as much as 66 cm. (26") and a wingspan of more than 1.3 m
(4 ft). It is among the hardiest of birds, inhabiting the northern
tundra and coniferous forests as well as barren mountains and desert.
If captured while a nestling, a raven may make an interesting pet
capable of learning to mimic a few words. One captive bird on record
lived 69 years.
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Leaf Rapids' culture and history are well mixed with the
Cree nation. The Cree are one of the major Algonkian-speaking
Indian peoples of Canada, formerly occupying an immense area from
east of the Hudson and James bays west as far as Alberta and the
Great Slave Lake. Originally inhabiting a smaller nucleus of this
area, they expanded rapidly in the 17th and 18th century due to
the fur trade with the Europeans.
One example of the Cree’s influence on Leaf Rapids is the
naming of our roads that are named in Cree after the native culture
in our area. For your interest we have included a list of our roads’
Cree names and their translations:
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Leaf Rapids has tried to ensure that economic development in this area
provided the northern Manitoban Cree with a fair chance at the jobs created.
A pilot project, the Ta-wow project, initially began just for this purpose
when the mine and the town's existence first started. Some natives in
the area still trap, hunt, fish, and harvest berries and
traditional forest products for medicinal purposes. Others have integrated
into other jobs and live in town.
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History
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