Rainbow Resource Centre

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Type: Bâtiment historique
Adresse: 545 Broadway, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Itinéraire
Téléphone: (204) 474-0212

In 1973, a University of Manitoba campus gay social club rebranded itself as Gays For Equality, pivoting to an activist agenda. Fifty years later, after some name changes and a few moves, Rainbow Resource Centre, as it is known today, took ownership of and resides at 545 Broadway.

Now Canada’s longest continuously serving queer and trans community centre, Rainbow’s services are bookended by youth and older adult programs, and also offer short-term counselling, DEI and GSA education and consultation, Manitoba’s only overnight camp for 2SLGBTQ+ youth, as well as a variety of volunteer-led community groups.

Though currently an active construction site, the new location is being developed into a complete campus of queer services called Place of Pride. Upon completion in 2025, the campus will incorporate the historic Wilson House, purpose built programming and cultural space, retail space, a garden, and Canada’s first affordable housing for 2SLGBTQ+ older adults.

Faits amusants

In Winnipeg, Wilson House is often referred to as “the old Klinic building.” Klinic, a community based health centre, incorporated in 1973, the same year Rainbow Resource Centre started as Gays For Equality. The two organizations’ histories combine to tell the story of the fight for queer rights and health spanning five decades. In 1977, Klinic moved to Wilson House and was here through the AIDS crisis and housed services specific to women, children, and men affected by domestic abuse. The space had a crisis centre, and many of the people who volunteered there are now part of Rainbow Resource Centre’s older adult program.