On September the 24th, my history class went on a field trip down main street and the forks to learn about continuity and change.

If we want to understand continuity and change we must ask these questions..

1. For each aspect of life how have things stayed/remained the same?
2. Were the continuities and changes positive or negative?
3. How rapid or slow were the changes?
4. Did any of the changes mark/represent turning points in history?

So for our trip we stopped by the remains of Upper Fort Gary.

As you can see there is not much left of the fort.  All that remain is a small part that I assume to be the entrance.  The fort has changed because people began taking materials from it to build their own houses.  Although I don’t think that had any substantial impact on current day Winnipeg.  And it also appeared that it was slow process, meaning that the materials were not essential because a part of the fort still remains even though it was built-in 1822.  Therefore, the erection of Upper Fort Gary was important in Canadian history because it was an important Hudson Bay Co. trading post which caused masses of people to arrive in the place we now refer to as downtown Winnipeg and stay there.  Meaning it was one of the causes for people to come and stay in this area.

We then went to the Union Station on Main Street to see how the railway had changed.

It was interesting to see the different groups of people who came in and left the railways.

And also how the railway its self had changed

As you can see these changes were quite rapid and these were all positive changes accustomed to our new lifestyle.  The people who came in via train are often just travelers who came for vacations or business when back then it was shipping army men or workers in masses.  Also, the railway back then was not for comfort but now you can see that it looks a lot nicer and the inside is more comfortable which are all positive changes but in my opinion did not mark large turning points for Canadian history.

We then went to The Forks a place of great importance since it was the intersection of the two rivers and that caused many of those who travelled by boat to stop and then go to the Hudson’s Bay trading post to buy materials. And we also stopped for lunch.

The Forks has changed into more of an attraction in Winnipeg even though it has some museums and things related to it prior to when the Europeans came. it now focuses more on bringing in more people to come skate on the rivers during winter or stop and buy mini donuts.  These changes seem to of happened quite quickly and I do not think that it marks a turning point in Canadian history but I do believe it marks a point were Winnipeg became a social hub of activity and started to become a place were those would come to visit.

That was the end of our field trip though we did stop at a few other places but these were the important ones and the ones that I believe if you want to make your own decision on Winnipeg continuity and change.