Fonds F 0015 - Bert Weeks fonds

Albert Howard (“Bert”) Weeks (1917-1990) was a native of Montreal who became a celebrated mayor of Windsor. Forced by the financial strains of the Great Depression to leave school after grade 7, Weeks was a voracious reader of newspapers and magazines ever after. Despite Weeks being largely self-educated, his daughter Elaine Weeks (of Walkerville Publishing) recalled her father as “the smartest man I knew.” Entering the workforce at age 14, he apprenticed in watch repair and by age 20 was able to open his first shop in Montreal, under the name Albert Weeks Watch and Clock Repairs. In 1946 he moved to Windsor with his first wife Sheila (née Marshall) Weeks and their twin toddler daughters. Bert and Sheila Weeks had six children altogether: Carolyn Weeks (m. Bill Chedour), Barbara Weeks (m. Harry Moluchi), Howard Weeks, Brenda Weeks (m. Chris Clarke), Elaine Weeks (m. Chris Edwards), and Douglas Weeks. In addition to many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, later in life Weeks gained two stepchildren through his second wife Sheelagh Beneteau Weeks.

In Windsor, Bert Weeks opened another watch repair business, which later expanded into Bert Weeks Jewellers on Ouellette Avenue. Once established, he quickly became involved in community affairs, organizing a Citizens’ Action Committee to combat widespread police corruption that was fuelling rampant prostitution, illegal gambling, and other criminal pursuits in the city. His behind-the-scenes investigations eventually led to an OPP investigation and the province intervening to replace the chief and deputy chief of police.

Weeks was elected to City Council in 1954 and 1965, and was a perennial candidate for political office at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels, under the banner of the CCF (later NDP) party. After upsetting incumbent mayor Frank Wansborough in the 1974 election, he served for eight years as the 28th mayor of the City of Windsor (1975-1982). His three terms as mayor earned him a reputation as one of the city’s best.

One of Weeks’ defining characteristics in public life was his vocal belief in the benefits of urban green spaces. Along with Councillor Roy Battagello, he championed the development of Windsor's waterfront into a connected chain of parklands when it was still broken up by railway tracks and warehouses – a vision successfully realized in 1999, nine years after his death. He also spearheaded the creation of nine Windsor parks, including the Ojibway Prairie Grass Reserve, Peche Island, Ganatchio Trail, Malden Park, Lakeview Park Marina, and Coventry Gardens.

A strong economy was another of Weeks' visions for Windsor. Among other efforts, lobbying the government to invest $65 million to bring the Ford Essex Plant to Windsor was one of his major accomplishments. He was also instrumental in coordinating social services for the unemployed. Weeks channelled his humanitarian impulses into a variety of efforts to assist displaced persons, including refugees from the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 and the so-called “Vietnamese Boat People” in 1976. He continued his community engagement after leaving the Mayor’s Office by serving on agencies and boards including the Windsor Housing Authority, the Windsor Utilities Commission, the Children's Aid Society, and the Windsor Harbour Commission.

Praised as “a man who believed in making the world a better place,” Weeks’ 1982 retirement from the Mayor’s Office was marked by the placement of a bronze bust (sculpted by Christopher Rees) in Great Western Park on the riverfront. From 2005 the monument formed part of the Bert Weeks Memorial Garden (linking Great Western Park and the Joan and Clifford Hatch Wildflower Garden), along with naturalized and formal gardens and a cascading fountain, as a tribute to his work championing city parks and his passion for gardening. A sculpture in the centre of the reflecting pool, called “The Noon Mark,” is a nod to Weeks’ watch repair and jewellery business.

Sources: “Former Mayor Bert Weeks Possessed Vision, Courage,” Windsor Star 17 December 2010, https://web.archive.org/web/20160324103013/http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=7f06ae8e-ec23-4a74-800e-def25ea9d969&sponsor= ; Elaine Weeks, “I Read You Loud and Clear Dad,” Windsor Then Windsor Now blog, 19 June 2011, https://windsorthenwindsornow.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/i-read-you-loud-and-clear-dad/ ; City of Windsor website, Information for Residents / Culture / Monuments / Albert Howard Weeks, https://www.citywindsor.ca/residents/Culture/Monuments/Pages/Albert-Howard-Weeks.aspx ; City of Windsor website, Information for Residents / Parks and Forestry / City Parks / Bert Weeks Memorial Gardens, https://citywindsor.ca/residents/parksandforestry/City-Parks/Pages/Bert-Weeks-Memorial-Gardens-.aspx ; “Bert Weeks,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Weeks ; obituary for Barbara Moluchi, Windsor Star, December 2020, https://windsorstar.remembering.ca/obituary/barbara-moluchi-1081091610 (all accessed 23 July 2021).