A park in the Bridgwater neighbourhood is the first to be named after a member of Winnipeg’s African community, the city says — and it’s named for one of the people who helped to make the area what it is today. A ceremony was held Saturday for the official naming of Emeka Nnadi Park, at 119 Bridgeland Dr. in the southwest Winnipeg neighbourhood. It’s named for architect Emeka Nnadi, a member of Winnipeg’s Nigerian community who is the CEO and founder of Nnadi Group, a Winnipeg architecture firm, and has done work with the Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation for almost two decades.
Nnadi, who is from Igbo descent, helped develop the Bridgwater area, transforming what in 2006 was roughly 600 hectares (1,400 acres) of provincially owned farmland into multiple neighbourhoods with thousands of homes. Dozens of people in the Igbo and broader Nigerian communities showed up for the ceremony Saturday, including Nnadi himself.
