Manitoba

Manitoba is one of the ten provinces that, together with the three territories, make up the thirteen federal entities of Canada. Its capital and most populous city is Winnipeg. It is located in the center of the country, bordering Northwest Territories to the northwest, Nunavut to the north, Hudson Bay to the northeast, Ontario to the east, the United States to the south, and Saskatchewan to the west.

The province covers an area of 649,950 km², dominated by grasslands and a continental climate, with thousands of lakes and many rivers. The economy of the territory is based on agriculture that is practiced in the fertile areas of the south and west of the province. Other important economic sectors are transportation, manufacturing, mining, logging, energy, and tourism.

Manitoba's capital and largest city is Winnipeg, Canada's eighth largest city in population and home to 60% of the province's inhabitants. Winnipeg is the seat of provincial government and is home to the Manitoba Legislative Assembly and the Manitoba Court of Appeal, the highest judicial body. Four of Manitoba's five universities, their professional sports teams, and most cultural activities are in Winnipeg.

Fur traders first arrived in the territory of present-day Manitoba in the late 17th century, and the area became the heart of Rupert's Land, owned by the Hudson's Bay Company. Manitoba achieved the status of a province of Canada in 1870, after the Red River Rebellion. A general strike took place in Winnipeg in 1919, and soon after the region was hit hard by the economic crisis known as the Great Depression. These events led to the creation of what would eventually become the Manitoba New Democratic Party, one of the major political parties in the province.

Its current prime minister is Heather Stefanson, a member of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party.

Etymology

The name Manitoba is believed to be derived from the Cree, Ojibway, or Assiniboine languages. The name derives from the Cree manitou-wapow or Ojibwa manidoobaa, meaning 'straits of Manitu, the Great Spirit', a place in reference to what is now called The Narrows in the center of Lake Manitoba.

Historical aspects

Three different Native American tribes inhabited the region that now constitutes the province of Manitoba, at the time of the arrival of the first European settlers on the continent. The Cree, the Assiniboines and the Ojibwa.

The former, in turn, were divided into three subgroups, each with its different dialects and cultural aspects: three of these tribes were part of the Cree Amerindian group: the Chippewyan, the Wood Cree and the Plain Cree.

The Assiniboines were allies of the Cree. The Chippewya, on the other hand, lived in northern Manitoba, the Wood Cree in the south-central forests, the Plains Cree and Assiniboines on the southwestern plains, and the Ojibwa on the southeastern plains, all of them being native tribes. nomadic americans.

Early Explorers

The first European explorers to arrive in present-day Manitoba were members of an English expedition led by Thomas Button, in 1612. They landed on the coast of Hudson Bay, spent the winter of 1612 and 1613 in the river estuary Nelson, and claimed the region for the British crown.

Later, two English expeditions, led by Luke Foxe and Thomas James, would land in Manitoba, on the coast of Hudson Bay, in 1631.

In 1670, King Charles I of England ceded the trading and administrative rights of the province to the Hudson's Bay Company. This area was part of a huge territory administered by the aforementioned company, known as Rupert's Land.

East - including the entire region of present-day Manitoba - was taken over by the French, who settled in the neighboring colony of New France. During the 1680s and 1690s, both the British and the French established various trading posts in the region.

Quickly, a series of tensions and conflicts arose between the two colonizing powers. In 1690, the Hudson's Bay Company directed Henry Helsey to find new sources of animal skins for future and eventual trade. Helsey explored the entire south-central region of Manitoba, and managed to persuade the native Americans there - who lived mainly by hunting bison - to send their skins to the trading posts of the Company, located in the provincial north.

18th century

In 1731, the Frenchman Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye, commanding an expedition made up of fur traders, set out from Montreal for the Pacific coast. He built several forts between the Lake Superior region and the Saskatchewan River, passing through the southern region of Manitoba, one of these fortifications being Fort Rouge, in 1738, where Winnipeg is currently located. Varennes established friendly relations with the Native Americans, who also arranged to work in the fur trade.

In around 1763, after the French defeat in the Franco-Indigenous War, the French were forced to hand over the region to the British. For a brief period, the Hudson's Bay Company enjoyed a fairly powerful trade monopoly. Thus, in the 1770s, the North West Company was founded in Montreal, and came to compete with the Hudson Company.

The North West Company failed soon after, but was reopened in 1784. The Hudson's Bay Company still held administrative control of the territory, but was forced by UK government decree to allow the Hudson's Bay Company Northwest operate in your jurisdiction.

19th century

In 1811, the Hudson's Bay Company had control of a large regional estate - totaling 100,000 square miles in area - for Thomas Douglas. This region included much of the current Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, as well as a good part of the North American states of North Dakota and Minnesota, a sector that would be known as the Red River Colony. Douglas, between 1812 and 1816, sent Scottish and Irish settlers to those places, with the aim of trying to start an agricultural practice.

Rains, frosts and heavy snowstorms initially ruined early growing plans. In addition to that, these colonists had settled in the north of the area ceded by the Hudson's Bay Company to Douglas, in a region where the North West Company had its main bases of operation.

Food began to become scarce, and they had to resort to food sources that until then had been consumed only by the aborigines. The situation worsened in 1815, when the Hudson Company prohibited the sale of food by Native Americans to the North West Company, as well as the export of food beyond the limits of Rupert's Land.

Members of the latter attacked settlers in the Red River colony, while the Métis - an aboriginal tribe descended from Native Americans and European settlers, and who spoke primarily French - whose main source of income was the sale of food for the North West Company, of which the Métis were close allies, attacked members of the Hudson's Bay Company, during the Battle of Seven Oaks, which resulted in a Métis victory. Hostilities continued until 1821, when Hudson's men and the North West Company amalgamated. The successful practice of agriculture would, however, have its best moment from the 1840s.

Louis Riel led the Red River Rebellion between 1869 and 1870.

In 1867, the Canadian Confederation was formed by the British colonies of "Canada", New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which together made up the country, the only Canadian Britain. Two years later, in 1869, the Hudson's Bay Company agreed to cede all of its land to the Canadian government. Thus, the current province of Manitoba became part of Canada.

This measure was not entirely to the liking of the metis, who feared that large numbers of Canadian citizens - especially English-speaking settlers - would settle in their habitat, and culturally assimilate them. In 1869, Louis Riel led a rebellion at Fort Gary, present-day Winnipeg. This, which lasted until 1870, became known as the Red River Rebellion, and was marked by the expulsion of Thomas Scott - an Anglophone who was convicted of treason.

Manitoba Act

In 1870, the Canadian government, in an attempt to put an end to the rebellion, gave the Métis a Bill of Rights, through the Manitoba Act, which effectively created Manitoba. This new province, by then, had barely 5.6% of its current territory, and occupied the southeastern canton of present-day Manitoba, which would become the fifth Canadian province on July 15, 1870.

The elevation of the Red River region to the category of province caused large numbers of settlers from other parts of the country to decide to settle in its confines, so the metis did not receive the long-awaited protection against cultural assimilation. These mostly English-speaking men later became the majority community in Manitoba.

Between 1871 and 1881, the province's population had even more than doubled its inhabitants, from 25,228 people in 1871 to 62,260 in 1881. The Manitoba government immediately revoked many of the rights granted to metis through the Manitoba Act. One of the main guarantees was access to education in French.

Schools and public and private educational institutions ceased, by law, to teach classes in that language towards the end of 1870, relegating it to the background. As a consequence, large numbers of metis decided to migrate west towards the present-day provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Manitoba's agricultural industry prospered after assuming the typical functions of a new province, especially in regard to growing wheat. He would begin to export this cereal to other regions (to the United States and other parts of the country) in 1876, transforming it into his main source of income.

Around 1878, the first railroad connecting the city with other counties - specifically, with St. Paul in Minnesota - was inaugurated. During the early 1880s, a Canadian Pacific train was in charge of connecting Winnipeg with the main cities in the eastern part of the subcontinent.

The full opening of the railroad in 1886 positioned the province at the center of North America's first transcontinental rail network, and made Winnipeg a major rail hub, stimulating wheat production, which is now it could easily be transported to ports located in the Great Lakes, and from there, to other corners of the planet.

20th century

Manitoba on a map of Canada from the beginning of the centuryXX..

Manitoba's population growth continued steadily until the 1920s. A number of Canadians from other parts of the nation, as well as many immigrants - primarily German, Ukrainian, English, Scottish and Irish - settled in Manitoba. Province.

Wheat production in Manitoba increased dramatically during this great period. From 1871 to 1912, Manitoba's territorial limits were gradually extended northward and westward. In 1912, the province acquired its current dimensions.

The 1910s saw great upheavals on Manitoba's political, social, and economic scene. The First World War led to an improvement in the provincial agricultural industry, stimulating its industrialization. During the war, the Liberal Party of Canada seized power in Manitoba, replacing the Conservative Party of Canada, which had ruled Manitoba from 1900 to 1915.

While the conservatives focused primarily on the province's economic growth, the liberals were concerned with carrying out various reforms, giving women the right to vote, instituting labor rights and compulsory education for youths up to 14 year old.

strikers in front of the city council during the general strike of Winnipeg (June 21, 1919).

Despite the reforms, in general, workers were not satisfied. Industrial laborers' wages remained below normal, while blue-collar workers complained about the provincial government's lack of attention to Manitoba's agricultural sector. In May 1919, Winnipeg witnessed a huge general strike organized by 52 different cooperatives and unions. This march gave rise to various violent conflicts between strikers and police.

The Manitoba government, in the face of this confrontation, ignored the measure, and endeavored to continue supplying services previously carried out by the striking workers. This procedure gave results, and the strike ended in June, by decision of its organizers. The Manitoba United Laborers party came to power in 1922.

The Great Depression

Manitoba was one of the provinces hardest hit by the Great Depression. It depended on the export of wheat to other countries, and the sudden rise in prices in the months before the crash of the New York Stock Exchange led to a decline that would last throughout the 1930s.

On top of that, Manitoba laborers also suffered from prolonged periods of drought; many of them abandoned their properties and headed towards the cities; others simply emigrated to other provinces in search of new employment options.

The population growth rate decreased considerably in that interval. The depression was one of the causes of the creation of new political parties in the province, which would later become known in the rest of the country: the Commonwealth Corporate Federation, which would later be called the New Democratic Party, and the of Social Credit.

The province's negative balances only ended with the country's entry into World War II, after armed confrontations. This markedly increased the demand for agricultural products in general and gave rise to the industrialization of trade. A large batch of factories was built during the war. The slight growth of the manufacturing industry persisted at the end of the Second World War, while the agricultural industry went into recess, due to the increase in prices of products in the international market.

By the end of the 1940s, manufacturing had surpassed agriculture as the main source of income in the province. The modernization of the latter and the rise of the manufacturing industry caused large numbers of workers to move from rural areas of the State to the metropolis, preferably in Winnipeg.

World War II

In 1945, geologists were discovering large deposits of copper, nickel, and zinc in northwestern Manitoba. Mining became an important source of income for the province. By the 1950s and 1960s, the province was already one of the main nickel producing centers in the world, being to this day the second largest producer in the American continent, surpassed only by the neighboring province of Ontario. During the heyday of the 1950s, Manitoba developed its own electrical generation and distribution system, and by 1955, all rural areas had this service.

Manitoba's industrialization led to a period of rapid population growth during the second half of the 20th century. As a consequence, few factories were built in the province from the late 1960s. The decline in Manitoba's manufacturing sector - which had been its main source of income since 1950 - declined noticeably along with population growth. Since then, the population has been growing gradually, but at a slow rate, except for a short period between 1981 and 1986.

French official language

In 1979, the Manitoba Act, which had declared French an unofficial language in Manitoba, and consequently prevented its dissemination in educational centers and its use for legal procedures, was judged unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada. In 1985, this body ordered Manitoba to translate all of its 4,500 provincial laws into the French language, and to begin public instruction in that language, in communities with a significant French-speaking population.

Geography

Manitoba is located in the longitudinal center of Canada, although it is considered part of the western region. It is bordered to the west by Saskatchewan, to the east by Ontario, to the north by Nunavut and Hudson Bay, and to the south by the US states of North Dakota and Minnesota. Its territory occupies an area of 553,556 km², which for comparative purposes is similar to that of France.

The province has a coastline along Hudson Bay and has the tenth largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Winnipeg, next to two other lakes of similar size: Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipegosis. Manitobean waters cover an approximate surface of 14.5% of the territory or, what is the same, 94,241 km². Winnipeg is the largest lake in southern Canada and is one of the rare few regions on the planet to keep its dividing lines intact.

The large rivers that flow east into Lake Winnipeg are very pristine, with no major features to note. Many islands and islets can be found along the eastern shore of this great lake. In addition, there are thousands of lagoons throughout the province. Notable river courses include the Red River of the North, the Assiniboine, the Nelson, the Winnipeg, the Hayes, and the Churchill.

Relieve of Manitoba.

Deep Lake at Riding Mountain National Park.

Most of uninhabited southern Manitoba, near Winnipeg, is the site of prehistoric sites from glacial Lake Agassiz. This south central part is flat and dotted with some hills.

However, there are numerous rocky and mountainous areas in the province, along with tumultuous dunes and sandy mountains left behind by glaciers. Baldy Mountain is the highest point at 832 meters above sea level, and the shoreline of Hudson Bay is the lowest, at sea level. Other slight geographical features are made up of the regions of the Riding Mountain, the Pembina Hills, the Sandbanks Provincial Forest, and the Canadian Shield.

The north and east, practically unpopulated, present an irregular panorama of soils formed from granite from the Canadian Shield, among which the Whiteshell Provincial Park, the Atikaki Provincial Park, and the Nopiming Park stand out. Birds Hill Provincial Park was originally an island on Lake Agassiz, after the glaciers melted.

North Manitoba polar bear.

Manitoba's climate is characteristic of its location at a northern mid-latitude. Generally, temperatures and rainfall decrease from south to north. Summers are warm to warm, and winters are very cold. Both spring and fall are short, contracted seasons.

Because Manitoba is far from the regularizing influences of mountain ranges and reservoirs (all the great lakes freeze over during the winter), and because of its flatness, it is exposed to numerous weather systems throughout throughout the year, such as prolonged cold spells when high pressure air masses of arctic origin penetrate their surroundings. This is why the provincial capital has often been nicknamed "Winterpeg" (from English "winter", winter). It is normal to register minus 40 degrees Celsius on some winter days, and weeks with thermometers that do not mark more than 20 degrees below zero.

In summer time, the climate is influenced by low atmospheric mass pressures that come from the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in warm and humid conditions that tend to turn into frequent electrical storms and tornadoes each year. Finally, Manitoba is one of the sunniest places in Canada and North America.

Only the southern sectors of the province practice extensive agriculture. The most common prototype of a farm found in rural areas is that used for raising cattle (35.3%), followed by that directed to the production of natural oil (25.8%) and flour mills (9.8%). About 11% of Canada's farmland is in Manitoba.

The eastern, southeastern, and northern ends are covered by coniferous forests, "muskegs," Canadian Shield, and northward tundra. The forest area covers about 263,000 square kilometers. Its vegetation consists of pine, spruce, tamarack, cedar, poplar, and birch. The vast expanses of preserved forest areas are considered by many naturalists and sportsmen to be pristine wilderness.

Some of the world's last largest boreal forests can be located on the eastern shores of Lake Winnipeg, with only winter roads, no waterway development, and a few densely populated communities. To all of the above, it is worth mentioning that there are still virgin rivers on the east, and that they are born in the Canadian Shield to flow into Winnipeg.

Map of Manitoba showing the location of the main cities.

Government and politics

This consists of King Carlos III (legal head of state), the viceroys he appoints, the governor general (who acts on behalf of the head of state), and the lieutenant governors, who perform most of the ceremonial functions of the monarch.,

The lieutenant-governor represents King Carlos III as head of the province. The head of the government, in practice, is also the highest official of the provincial executive branch, being, in other words, the premier governor (or prime minister in Spanish), the person who leads the political party with the most representation in the Manitoba Legislative Assembly. The governor presides over an Executive Council, which is in turn the cabinet of the province. This is made up of 25 different ministers, who lead a certain department (economy, education, etc.), and are appointed by the premier. Both the governor and the members of the cabinet can resign in case they obtain the approval of the majority of the members of the Assembly.

Manitoba Parliament in Winnipeg.

Manitoba's legislative branch is the Legislative Assembly proper, which has 57 members. The province is divided into 57 electoral districts. The electoral population of each of these districts elects a member, who will act as the representative of the district in the Assembly, for terms of up to 5 years. If the lieutenant-governor wants to dissolve the Assembly before the five years are over, at the request of the governor, all must attend elections again. There is no limit to the number of times the same person can practice.

Manitoba has nearly 200 incorporated cities, towns, and rural municipalities. Taxes are responsible for 95% of the provincial collection. The remaining amount comes from incentives administered by the federal government.

Historically, Manitoba has been a conservative province. Until the 1920s, most of the premiers had been candidates for the Conservative Party of Canada. Between the 1920s and 1950s, the vast majority of premiers were candidates of the Liberal Party of Canada. Since then, the main political parties that have dominated the provincial Assembly have been the Progressive Party of Canada (which in 2003 became the current Conservative Party of Canada) and the New Democratic Party. In order to vote, a person needs to be at least 18 years old.

Demographics

The 2001 national census estimates a population of 1,119,583 inhabitants, a growth of 0.5% in relation to the figures obtained in 1996, of 1,113,898. A study carried out in 2004 assumes a provincial population of 1,177,556 inhabitants, a growth of 5.7% in proportion to the data collected in 1996.

Winnipeg taken from The Forks.

Manitoba demographic evolution figure between 1871 and

Ethnic groups and minorities

According to the 2006 Canadian Census, the largest ethnic group in Manitoba is Anglo-Canadian (22.9%), followed by German (19.1%), Scottish (18.5%), Ukrainian (14.7%), Irish (13.4%), American Indian (10.6%), Polish (7.3%), Métis (6.4%), French-Canadian (5.6%), Dutch (4.9%) and Russian (4%). Nearly a fifth identified their ethnicity as "Canadian".

There is a significant indigenous community: Aboriginals (including Métis) are the fastest growing ethnic group, representing about 13.6 of its population in 2001. There is a Franco-Manitoban minority (148,370) and a growing Amerindian population (192,865, including Métis). Gimli is home to the largest Icelandic community outside of Iceland.

Religion

Percentage of Manitoba's population by religious affiliation, as of 2019:

• Christianity – 77.7%
  • Protestants – 43%
  • Catholic Church - 29.3%
  • Orthodox Church – 1.4%
  • Other Christian affiliations – 4%
  • Jews – 1.1%
• Other religions – 2.6%
• Non-believers – 18.6%

Official language

English and French are the official languages of the Manitoba legislature and court, according to the Manitoba Act of 1870 (part of the Canadian Constitution):

Both English and French can be used by any person in the debates of the Houses of the Legislature and both languages must be employed in the respective Registers and Newspapers thereof; and any of those languages shall be used by any person, or in any Declaration or Process, or in decrees of any Court of Canada established under the Constitutional Act of 1867, and from all or some of the Courts of the Province. Legislative acts should be printed and published in both languages.

[Manitoba Act, Section 23]

However, with the pro-English mass power revolt in Manitoba from the 1890s onwards, this provision was relegated in practice and in Manitoba law. In April 1890, the Manitoba legislature introduced a measure to suppress the statute of the French language in the organization, laws, registers and newspapers, as well as in the Provincial Court. Among other things, the Manitoban Legislature stopped publishing in French, publishing only in English. Despite this, in 1985 the Supreme Court of Canada took sides in a Reference to Language Rights in Manitoba, arguing that the mere fact that the Legislature published anything other than English was incorrect (although Manitoba was not downgraded to illegality, the unilingual legislation was declared void for a temporary period, to give the Manitoba government sufficient time to produce the translations).

While French is required as an official language for the purposes of the legislature, legislation, and in the courts, the Manitoba Act (as interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada) need not be used for executive purposes at the governmental level (except when the executive branch takes over legislative or judicial functions.) Thus, the Manitoba government is not fully bilingual, and as reflected in the 1982 Constitution Act, the only bilingual province is Manitoba. of New Brunswick.

Manitoba French-Language Police Services, 1999, is designed to provide an equal level of civilian care in both official languages. Public services, including utility and clinical care, as well as official documents (tickets, subpoenas, etc.), viewed, etc) are available in both English and French.

Economy

Carmato caravan in the Red River.

Manitoba has a relatively strong economy based largely on natural resources. Its GDP was C$50.834 billion Canadian dollars in 2008. The province's economy grew by 2.4% in 2008, for the third consecutive year. In 2009, however, its growth was zero. As of October 2009, Manitoba's unemployment rate was 5.8%.

The economy is based primarily on agriculture, tourism, energy, oil, mining, and forestry. Agriculture is vital and is found mainly in the southern half of the province, with cereals the dominant crop. About 12% of Canada's farmland is in Manitoba. The most common type of farm found in rural areas is livestock (34.6%), followed by a variety of grains (19.0%) and oilseeds (7.9%).

Manitoba is the nation's largest producer of sunflower seed and dry beans and a major source of potatoes. Portage la Prairie is a large potato processing center, and is home to McCain Foods and Simplot plants, which offer French fries from McDonald's, Wendy's, and other commercial chains. Can-Oat Milling, one of the largest oat factories in the world, also has a plant in the municipality.

Manitoba's largest employers are government institutions and health programs, including state-owned enterprises and services, such as hospitals and universities. Major private sector employers are The Great-West Life Assurance Company, Cargill Ltd., and James Richardson and Sons Ltd. Manitoba also has factories and major tourist areas. Churchill's Arctic wildlife is its biggest tourist attraction. Manitoba is the only province with a seaport deep in the waters of the maritime Arctic Ocean, which links the shortest shipping route between North America, Europe and Asia.

Transportation

Transportation and warehousing contribute approximately C$2.2 trillion to Manitoba's GDP. Total employment in the industry is estimated at 34,500 personnel.

Manitoba has several modes of transportation; train, air communication, trucks, marine means, etc.

Freight

The TransCanada Highway was built at the turn of the 20th century, and remains in operation to this day, makeshift with first-hand technology. This highway is the largest and the only highway in all of Canada that connects east and west, for trade, travel, tourism, and heavy vehicle traffic.

About 350 charter companies with 4 or more cars operate in Manitoba. Many of those firms are private, management companies. The vast majority of Manitoba freight companies work both interprovincially and internationally. Trucks carry 95% of Manitoba's merchandise. Cargo companies drag 80% of the provincial merchandise to the United States.

Five of a total of twenty-five freight rental firms are concentrated in Manitoba. In addition, three of the ten largest companies in the field are based in Winnipeg. Over a billion dollars of the province's GDP, directly or indirectly, comes from freight. About 5%, or what is the same, 33,000 people work in this field.

Railway

Union Station (Winnipeg).

Manitoba is served by two first-class rail lines: the Canadian National Railway (CN) and the Canadian Pacific Railway. Winnipeg is located in the center of these two main lines, and is home to a vast number of terminals. The CN and CP operate on a combined route of 2,439 kilometers within the provincial limit. The first railroad to run through Manitoba was the CP, and the tracks were diverted south to culminate in Winnipeg, as the capital and center, and not Selkirk, which is further north.

There are a number of small regional lines. The most important are the Hudson Bay Railway, the Southern Manitoba Railway, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Manitoba, the Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway and the Central Manitoba Railway. As a whole, they operate approximately over an area of 1,775 kilometers of route in the province.

Airport

Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport is one of the few 24-hour unrestricted airports in Canada. It has a large capacity for passengers (3 million in 2003) and cargo services. Some 140,000 tons of cargo pass through it annually. 11 regional flight companies, plus another 9 smaller firms operate daily at the airport, as well as 11 cargo and 7 commercial ones.

Winnipeg presents a vast range of possibilities for both FedEx and Purolator. It also receives daily transshipment service from UPS. Air Canada Cargo and Cargojet Airways make use of the airport as a domestic traffic hub.

Port

Churchill Port.

OmniTRAX's Port of Churchill is Manitoba's key to the Arctic and the sea in general. It is closer to European ports than others in the rest of the country. It has 4 underwater berths for loading and unloading grain, common cargo and tankers. The port is connected to the Hudson Bay Expressway (also owned by OmniTrax).

Cereal represented 90% of port traffic in the 2004 shipping season. In that year, close to 600,000 tons of agricultural products anchored at its docks.

Education

Administration Building from Manitoba University, Winnipeg.

Manitoba's first school was founded in 1812, on the banks of the Red River. Beginning in 1818, missionaries from the Catholic Church began building Catholic schools in the region. In 1820 the first Protestant school was built.

Until the early 1870s, basic education was provided only by religious institutions. In 1871, with the creation of the province of Manitoba, a Department of Education was opened, which became responsible for the operation of the classrooms in the public school system of its circle.

Currently, all basic education schools located in the province must follow patterns imposed by the Department of Education. Public schools in the southern region of the province are managed by an adjudicated school district, which operates in a certain region, in various cities, towns and municipalities at the same time.

Schools in some isolated regions of southern Manitoba, like the entire north-central region of the province, are, as a whole, directly administered by the cities, towns or municipalities in which they are located. School education is compulsory for all children and adolescents from the age of seven, until the conclusion of the second grade or until the age of sixteen.

Manitoba has four universities. The University of Manitoba, the largest of all, is based in Winnipeg. Others are the University of Winnipeg, in Winnipeg, Brandon University, in the city of the same name, and the University of St. Boniface, in St. Boniface, a suburb of Winnipeg. Manitoba has 38 public libraries, of which 21 are located in the capital.