Our History
The late 1940’s and early 1950’s saw the River Heights and Tuxedo areas of Winnipeg expand rapidly and this necessitated the building of a new Catholic church, to be named St. John Brebeuf Parish after Jean Brebeuf, one of Canada’s first martyrs. Under the direction of Most Reverend P.F. Pocock D.D., the land currently housing the school and parish was purchased. Prior to the building of the parish and school, masses were at St. George Army Chapel on Kenaston Blvd. As the parish grew, plans were put in place to build a permanent home for the new parish on the purchased land.
In August 1956, it was determined that an auditorium/chapel combination, administrative area and an eight-room school would be built first, at a cost not exceeding $242,000. What followed was nothing short of a tremendous community effort that involved a litany of fundraising activities, including door-to-door solicitation of donations from parishioners. The tireless efforts of the parishioners led to pledges of $125,000 and by June 1957, a contract to build a four-room school with an auditorium (to serve as a chapel) and a basement area was achieved.
The school opened in September 1957 in the basement of St. Ignatius Church with four rooms serving seven grades. The Holy Name Sisters hired all the teaching staff including the principal, Sister Maureen Patricia, teacher Sister Guy Mairie, and several other lay teachers.
Work on the new building progressed quickly so that on Monday November 25th, 1957 St. John Brebeuf School opened at its current location with 123 students. The parish continued to grow and with it, the school. Plans were drawn up for an additional six rooms at the north end of the school as well as a rectory. These plans came to fruition in December 1961. It was soon evident that the auditorium was insufficient for the needs of the parish and plans were made to build a proper church. The church was finally completed in October 1965.
Since then there have been some significant changes, including the development of a dedicated music room and the relocation of the library to the basement.
Both St. John Brebeuf School and Parish are truly tributes to the parishioners and priests whose energy, dedication, resourcefulness, and self-sacrifice made its concept a reality so that they and all those who follow can enjoy the gift that is our faith.
