The old convent of the Grey Nuns, which today houses the St. Boniface Museum, was built between 1845 and 1851. This is the oldest building in the City of Winnipeg and is the museum?s main artefact. It is also the largest oak log structure in North America. In addition to being the first hospital in the Canadian West, it has been used as a school, a boarding school and a hospice for the sick and poor. It is a symbol of the Catholic missionary work carried out by the Grey Nuns and by other religious communities in St. Boniface.

The mission of the St. Boniface Museum is to collect and safeguard a collection representing the French Canadian and Métis heritage of the Canadian West. Our goal is to conduct research and interpret these collections, while at the same time recognizing the contribution of the First Nations and religious communities to the development of this heritage.

The exhibitions depict not only the period of the fur trade and the Red River colony but also the birth of the Métis nation. Our collections is focused on periods and events such as the arrival of the missionaries and the Grey Nuns, Louis Riel and the founding of the province of Manitoba, the life of the pioneers, the development of the town of St. Boniface, the development of the Francophone community (immigration, language rights and education) and the spread of French-Canadian culture in Manitoba.