Another publishing year is coming to an end. This issue of The Uniter is our final weekly publication of the 2020-21 academic year. For the past 13 years, this final issue has been dubbed “The Urban Issue,” a themed edition of the paper exploring affairs concerning people across Winnipeg, centred around a particular topic.

This year is no different, and our theme is “Invisible Winnipeg.” It’s an opportunity for our staff to take a look at the unseen spaces, both physical and virtual, that Winnipeggers have had to consider during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Physical spaces have been dramatically impacted by the pandemic. Many, like restaurants, venues and places of worship, have spent the past year in total or near-total emptiness, depending on the regulations and capacity restrictions of the moment. Others, like public transit, have become fraught with tension over masks, physical distancing measures and the very real dangers of exposure and infection.

Virtual spaces, on the other hand, have had to fill that void while Winnipeggers stay home. Online forums have become the venues not just for certain jobs, religious services and arts organizations, but also for social and leisure activities like gaming, streaming and other fandoms.

We touch on all of these facets and more in our (virtual) pages this week. While we will be ceasing weekly issues until the start of the U of W’s new academic year in August, we will continue publishing at uniter.ca throughout the spring and summer months. We won’t be dropping an entire issue’s worth of content every week, but we will be reporting on the issues most important to the campus and downtown communities.

Stay safe, everyone.

Published in Volume 75, Number 24 of The Uniter (May 1, 2021)