The Canadian National Institute for the Blind is a centenarian.

An open house was held at the Winnipeg location on Portage this afternoon to celebrate its 100th year. Mayor Brian Bowman was there to hand out some awards recognizing individuals and organizations who've helped CNIB along the way.

CNIB's executive director in Manitoba Garry Nenson says the CNIB started in 1918 to service soldiers who lost their sight in the First World War and those blinded in the Halifax explosion.

Nenson says looking ahead into the next century, they consulted with clients and found a few key areas to concentrate on: employment, technology, accessibility, and walking the walk.

"We need to ensure that we're doing our part to support people in their employment endeavours, so that when we go out and talk with employers and try to move the needle on some of these things that we can point to ourselves as a leader," he says.

Nenson says consumers also told them there's a need for a guide dog program; the CNIB introduced such a program in April 2017. The first set of dogs acquired by the CNIB are getting now close to training. Nenson says the dogs get raised for approximately a year, and then are trained for about 6 months before being paired with individuals. He says CNIB will have 54 dogs countrywide by the end of the year, and Winnipeg will be one of the centres for raising and potentially training the dogs.

"We're going to support our consumers basically from cradle to grave so to speak, so the breeding, the raising, the training, the harnesses, the care, the feeding, the vet bills, right through to the retirement of the dog. So that an individual who wants a guide dog doesn't necessarily have to be concerned about having to support that dog if they're not in a position to be able to do so."

Nenson says they will only breed labradors and retrievers, or a mix of the two, exclusively.