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A brief history of The Canadian Club of Winnipeg
The Canadian Club of Winnipeg (the CCW) is one of the oldest of the many Canadian Clubs in existence throughout Canada and elsewhere. The Canadian Clubs of Guelph and Hamilton are recognized as the first such clubs, having been established in 1889 and 1893 respectively. The forty-eight people who attended the founding meeting of the Hamilton club included W. Sanford Evans, newspaper publisher, who was elected to be that new club's first president.
Mr. Evans was a keen supporter of Canadian Clubs: in 1897 he facilitated the establishment of the Canadian Club of Toronto and, in 1904, having moved to Winnipeg to edit and publish The Winnipeg Telegram, founded the CCW. In the same year a club was formed in Dawson City, a fact revealing both the breadth of popularity of Canadian Club ideals across Canada and Dawson City's progressive character.
The CCW's founding meeting occurred on March 31, 1904 in rooms in the Y.M.C.A. building on Portage Avenue. Those present included J.A.M. Aikens (who later served as Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba), Rev. C.W. Gordon (known as well by his nom de plume, Ralph Conner), R.H. Smith, J.B. Mitchell, Prof. W.F. Osborne, and Mr. Evans (who served as Mayor of Winnipeg from 1909 to 1911). A constitution was adopted incorporating objects similar to those of the clubs in Hamilton and Toronto;
...to foster patriotism by encouraging the study of institutions, history, arts literature, and resources of Canada, and by endeavouring to unite Canadians in such work for the welfare and progress of the Dominions as may be desirable and expedient.
An annual membership fee of $1.00 was approved, although it was soon doubled.
Lawyer John S. Ewart became the CCW's first president. Like the clubs established in the preceding 15 years, the CCW was formed in a period of growing awareness of, or desire for, a Canadian identity, which was sometimes in conflict with firmly held imperialist sentiments. This was reflected in the CCW's new constitution, and in comments included in Mr. Ewart's inaugural address:
... from a common Canadianism the forward movement must begin. This principle must be accepted and acted upon even though the patience of the new Imperialists be tried.
The CCW convened its first regular meeting on March 27, 1905, over lunch at Schofield's Café. On that occasion members themselves were invited to express their views to each other. Each speaker was restricted to not more than ten minutes so that business people could attend without interference with their affairs, consistent with current practice. The Winnipeg Free Press pronounced the event a success, reporting that nearly 200 of Winnipeg's leading businessmen attended.
Like other Canadian Clubs across the country, the CCW enjoyed strong membership in its early years. Within two months of its founding meeting the club had over 200 members. That number grew to over 1,800 by 1914, allowing the CCW to boast that it was the largest Canadian Club.
Although at present the CCW fulfills its mandate exclusively by inviting individuals to address members and guests on topics falling within its objects, this was not always so. In the past it undertook other activities in pursuit of its objects including distribution of flags, scholarship awards, and aid to victims of the Halifax explosion and the Quebec bridge disaster.
Since March 1905, the members of the CCW have welcomed hundreds of well informed speakers from Winnipeg, elsewhere in Canada, and places around the globe, including J.W. Dafoe, Rudyard Kipling, Lord Milner, The Right Honourable William Lyon MacKenzie King, Major J. Macintosh Bell, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Robert Baden-Powell, Lord Strathcona, Edward, Prince of Wales, J.H. Ashdown, Joseph Smallwood, The Right Honourable Pierre E. Trudeau, Mitchell Sharp, Duff Roblin, Edward Schreyer, Peter C. Newman, Bob Rae, George Erasmus, Mordecai Richler, Izzy Asper, Leonard Asper, Lloyd Axworthy, Jan Wong, Paul Martin, and recently Preston Manning, Alexa McDonough, The Right Honourable Joe Clark, Boutros Botrous-Ghali, Stockwell Day, The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, Allan Fotheringham, Mitchell Sharp, Gary Doer and Sami Jo Small and Jennifer Botterill, members of the 2002 Canadian Women's gold medal Hockey Team. More recently The Canadian Club has welcomed journalist Stevie Cameron, Canadian Consul General for the City of New York, Pamela Wallin, Bloc Québecois leader Gilles Duceppe, President and CEO, TSX Group, Mr. Richard Nesbitt, The Honourable John Harvard, Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, The Right Honourable Paul Martin, The Honourable Gary Doer, Premier of Manitoba and many many more.
The CCW thrives today. The 150+ members meet about 10 times a year, usually over lunch, to hear outstanding speakers from within Canada and elsewhere on a broad range of topics.
Annual membership fees have increased fifty-fold since 1904!
