# Rural Municipality of West St. Paul

West St. Paul is a rural municipality (RM) in Manitoba, Canada. It lies adjacent to the north side of Winnipeg, and directly west of the Red River. It is part of the Winnipeg Metro Region, and had a population of 5,368 at the 2016 census.
It contains two communities, Middlechurch and Rivercrest. Middlechurch is the larger of the two communities and includes the municipal hall, cemetery, curling club, fire station, St. Paul's church, the Middlechurch Home of Winnipeg, and Grassmere Creek all lie at the southern portion of the municipality.
The community of Rivercrest lies to the north and contains the West St. Paul School and Royal Manitoba Yacht Club.

## History

West St. Paul was formed on 3 November 1915 when the municipality of St. Paul (1888-1914) was subdivided into West St. Paul and East St. Paul.

## Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, West St. Paul had a population of 6,682 living in 2,228 of its 2,270 total private dwellings, a change of 24.5% from its 2016 population of 5,368. With a land area of 87.49 km$^2$ (33.78 sq mi), it had a population density of 76.4/km$^2$ (197.8/sq mi) in 2021.
Panethnic groups in the Rural Municipality of West St. Paul (2001−2021) :
| Panethnic group | 2021 | 2021 | 2016 | 2016 | 2011 | 2011 | 2006 | 2006 | 2001 | 2001 |
| Panethnic group | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % |
| European | 4,825 | 74.4% | 4,245 | 82.51% | 4,045 | 86.34% | 3,810 | 91.48% | 3,625 | 93.19% |
| Indigenous | 685 | 10.56% | 470 | 9.14% | 370 | 7.9% | 160 | 3.84% | 130 | 3.34% |
| South Asian | 495 | 7.63% | 215 | 4.18% | 100 | 2.13% | 95 | 2.28% | 30 | 0.77% |
| Southeast Asian | 250 | 3.86% | 145 | 2.82% | 85 | 1.81% | 20 | 0.48% | 50 | 1.29% |
| African | 105 | 1.62% | 35 | 0.68% | 40 | 0.85% | 30 | 0.72% | 45 | 1.16% |
| Latin American | 35 | 0.54% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 20 | 0.51% |
| East Asian | 20 | 0.31% | 20 | 0.39% | 15 | 0.32% | 50 | 1.2% | 0 | 0% |
| Middle Eastern | 20 | 0.31% | 0 | 0% | 25 | 0.53% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Other/multiracial | 60 | 0.93% | 25 | 0.49% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Total responses | 6,485 | 97.05% | 5,145 | 95.85% | 4,685 | 94.99% | 4,165 | 95.59% | 3,890 | 95.23% |
| Total population | 6,682 | 100% | 5,368 | 100% | 4,932 | 100% | 4,357 | 100% | 4,085 | 100% |
| Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses |||||||||||

## Municipal Hall

The two-story municipal hall was built in 1917 and expanded with a North and South addition in 1989. It is considered a municipally-designated historic landmark of Manitoba and currently the only official historic site within West St. Paul.

## Municipal services
### Water

Water services are provided by the Cartier Regional Water Co-Op via the Headingley Water Treatment Plant. From there the CentrePort distribution line serves Rosser Reservoir, the Rural Municipality of Rosser and the CentrePort development. Further northeast is the West St. Paul Reservoir which serves the RM.

### Fire Department

The West St. Paul Fire Department is not a full-time fire department, but rather a paid-on-call department, meaning firefighters are paid only for the emergency calls and training that they attend.
The department's fire coverage area encompasses the entire municipality of West St. Paul or 87.66 km$^2$ (33.85 sq mi). The department responds to a variety of emergency situations including but not limited to fire response, medical response, motor vehicle collisions, Carbon Monoxide alarms, downed power lines and water rescue response. The department responded to a total of 264 calls for service in 2013.
The West St. Paul Fire Department's current organizational structure consists of 1 Fire Chief, 1 Deputy Fire Chief, 3 Captains, 2 Lieutenants, 1 training officer, and 24 firefighters. The department has a total of 32 members.
The department currently has seven vehicles and one boat it uses to respond to calls for service including two pumper engines, two water tankers, one rescue/command truck, two squad and one zodiac boat for water rescue response.

## Curling Club

The West St. Paul curling club was built and has been in operation since 1963. It received some notoriety in 2015, when team Reid Carruthers, from the West St. Paul club, won the Men's Manitoba Curling Provincials and placed third in the Men's National Brier

## St. Paul's Anglican Church

Established in January 1825, St. Paul's Anglican Church was built in order to keep up with the growing population along the Red River. The structure of the church was rebuilt in 1844 and again in 1878 as result of damage due to flooding. The Historic Sites Advisory Board of Manitoba erected a plaque in 1975 owing to its historical importance, however it is not yet listed as a historic site in Manitoba. Prior to becoming a municipality, the region surrounding the church was known as the parish of St. Paul's or parish of the middle church (middle owing to its being situated between the older St. John's Cathedral ("upper church") and St. Andrews-on-the-Red ("lower church")). Thus the church and parish provided a name to both the municipality as well as the nearby community.

## West St. Paul School

West St. Paul has one school is a kindergarten to grade 8 school that was built in 1947, expanded in 1953 and expanded again in 1959. Prior to building the school, classes were held at a local church (K to 3) as well as the municipal hall (grades 4 and up). In 1959, it joined the newly formed Seven Oaks School Division. Its current capacity is 600 students.