RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg
Building in Winnipeg, Canada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg (formerly the Winnipeg Convention Centre) is a major meeting and convention centre located in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg | |
 Interactive map of RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg | |
Former names | Winnipeg Convention Centre (1975–2013) |
|---|---|
| Location | Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Coordinates | 49.8891187°N 97.1447611°W |
| Owner | Convention Centre Corporation |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1975 |
| Expanded | 2015 |
Cost | C$25 million[1] ($142 million in 2025 dollars)[2] |
| Website | |
| wcc | |
It has five levels including indoor parking for 729 vehicles, and three levels of various meeting trade show space totalling 260,000 square feet (24,000 m2).[3][4] The main exhibit hall has 131,000 square feet (12,200 m2) of pillar-less space.[4]
The convention centre is connected to the Winnipeg Walkway system via a skywalk connection crossing St. Mary Avenue and Hargrave Street, connecting the venue to the neighbouring Delta hotel, Cityplace, and Canada Life Centre.[5]
History
The convention centre was recommended as part of the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg (Metro) Downtown Development Plan of 1969.
Metro and the Province of Manitoba announced the $35-million Winnipeg Convention Centre on 10 September 1970. Always in opposition to metropolitan government, Mayor of Winnipeg Stephen Juba did not attend the announcing press conference.[6][7]
Originally named the Winnipeg Convention Centre, the publicly-owned facility was built and opened in 1975. The building, designed by Canadian architect Isadore (Issie) Coop, of the Number Ten Architectural Group,[8] was among the first "purpose-built" convention centre of its kind built in Canada.[9]
Aside from trade shows and conventions, the Convention Centre has also been used as a sports venue and was home to the Winnipeg Cyclone basketball team from 1995 to 2001.
A $180-million expansion, completed between 2012 and 2015, roughly doubled the size of the facility, adding 131,000 square feet (12,200 m2) of exhibit space and underground parking.[10][11] In July 2013, the facility was rebranded as the RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg after its naming rights were purchased by Royal Bank of Canada.[12][13] By 2017 the annual visitor count to the RBC Convention Centre had increased by about 50,000 to 557,000, which was directly related to the expansion.[14]
Events
The Winnipeg Convention Centre hosts regularly scheduled annual events such as a New Years' Eve dinner and dance, a Christmas crafts show known as the "Signatures Handmade Market", the Mid-Canada Boat Show, the Manitoba RV Show and Sale, the Winnipeg Career Fair, the Home & Garden Show (formerly Home Expression Show), the Winnipeg Comicon Show, a Wedding Show.
The convention centre has hosted pop culture events such as the anime convention Ai-Kon,[15] Central Canada Comic Con until 2019, and its spiritual successor Winnipeg Comiccon since 2021.[16] It hosted Pemmi-Con—the 15th North American Science Fiction Convention—in 2023.[17]
In January 2021, the convention centre operated as a "super site" for COVID-19 vaccinations.[18] In 2026, it hosted the New Democratic Party leadership election.[19]
