Winnipeg Free Press

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has chosen an undignified site with poor public visibility for a First Nations urban governance centre, says an architecture critic. "Shoving" a culturally significant building into a "light-industrial backwater" -- on Madison Street in St. James, behind retail outlets such as Old Navy -- would be a mistake, says Paul Clerkin, operator of the international website Archiseek. "It's not appropriate," Clerkin said yesterday. "They're talking about it being (a First Nations) counterpoint to the legislature. It's not going to be the counterpoint to anything, down there." The planned site, now occupied by a Manitoba Hydro building that would be demolished, is near low-profile businesses such as auto-parts dealers. It's in an area west of Polo Park and the Canad Inns Stadium, increasingly dominated by big-box retailers.