WINNIPEG – This isn’t how Jennifer Bottema imagined life in Winnipeg.
The pregnant mother of 4 is packing up her rental home after she was forced to leave because the next phase of rapid transit will run right through her home and two of her neighbours properties.
READ MORE: Public not getting enough info on rapid transit plans: councillor
“I guess you could call us the stubborn ones,” said Bottema, “because we’re the last family to be leaving.”
But they have no place to go. She and her husband moved to Canada and were renting a home on Chancellor Drive until they could get their permanent residency and buy a home.
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“We can’t, we can’t just uproot after being here for five years uproot and not have a place to go,” said Bottema.
Out of 33 properties, one home and three duplexes will be torn down. The rest are mostly commercially owned and could see parts of their land expropriated for the rapid transit expansion.
It will run from Jubilee through the undeveloped Parker Wetlands, head south following Manitoba Hydro lines and connect to Pembina Highway and the University of Manitoba.
“Along this alignment where the transit line is placed is essentially the only place that it can go,” said Bjorn Radstrom, “there’s no real wiggle room.”
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But dozens of people opposing the route want it moved. A public inquiry is underway to determine if this is the best option.
Since Bottema has to start over, they may as well do it somewhere else. So her husband just got a job in Thompson.
“But we don’t have a place,” said Bottema, “we’ve been calling around, we don’t know anybody up there.”
The inquiry could last six days at the Delta Hotel Downtown. After which the inquiry judge will decide if the expropriations are necessary. The ultimate decision will still be up to city council on whether to move the route or keep it the same.
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