Winnipeg
6,000-year Indigenous trading hub became Gateway to the West, then Canada's third-largest city by 1911. Now: largest urban Indigenous population (72,000), third-largest aerospace center. By 2026: testing whether aerospace can include the descendants of original traders.
Winnipeg exists because two rivers meet. The Forks—where the Red and Assiniboine converge—has been a gathering place for at least 6,000 years. The Anishinaabe, Cree, Nakota, and Dakota came here to trade, fish, and negotiate. When French traders built Fort Rouge in 1738, they were joining an economic network that had operated for millennia. The Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company fought over the spot; the Métis Nation was born here, from the mixing of European traders and Indigenous peoples.
The modern city emerged from violence and grain. The Red River Settlement, founded in 1812, became the nucleus for the city incorporated in 1873—but incorporation followed what some call the Reign of Terror against the Métis, forcing many to flee their lands. The railways arrived in 1886, and the grain economy exploded. Between 1881 and 1911, Winnipeg's population surged from 25,000 to 135,000, making it Canada's third-largest city. The Winnipeg Grain Exchange became the center of the Canadian grain trade; the city earned the nickname 'Gateway to the West.'
Winnipeg's role as a continental crossroads continues in different forms. The city is now Western Canada's largest aerospace center and Canada's third-largest, with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion. Boeing Winnipeg, employing 1,500 people, is Canada's largest aerospace composite manufacturer. But the city's most distinctive feature is demographic: Winnipeg has Canada's largest urban Indigenous population, with 72,000 people—12.4% of residents—identifying as Indigenous, over half of them Métis. The Neeginan College partners with Manitoba Aerospace to train Indigenous workers for aerospace careers.
By 2026, Winnipeg faces the question of whether its Indigenous economic inclusion model can scale. The city that was built on Indigenous trade networks, then nearly destroyed its Indigenous population, is now attempting to rebuild those communities as aerospace manufacturing grows. Manufacturing output is projected to grow 2.8% annually through 2028; whether that growth includes the descendants of the Forks' original traders will define Winnipeg's next chapter.