‘Blown away’: NDP cabinet minister named influential woman by BBC

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This article was published 22/11/2023 (727 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bernadette Smith is being mentioned in the same breath as former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama, feminist icon Gloria Steinem and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.

Smith, the NDP’s new housing, addictions and homelessness minister and MLA for Point Douglas, has been named one of 100 influential and inspiring women from around the world in 2023 by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

“I must say I’m pretty honoured. (At first) I thought it was like a prank to be honest — is this real?” said Smith, the co-founder of the Manitoba Coalition of Families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls as well as Drag the Red, an organization that co-ordinates river searches for missing people.

“When I saw the names of the people I was accompanied with, I was very blown away. I mean, I’ve done some pretty incredible work, but they have done some pretty incredible work as well… To be on that list with them is pretty amazing.”

A statement by the BBC said the list of names was compiled by its own research team.

“We were looking for candidates who had made headlines or influenced important stories over the past 12 months, as well as those who have inspiring stories to tell, or have achieved something significant or influenced their societies in ways that wouldn’t necessarily make the news,” it said.

Smith was assistant director of a mentorship and outreach program at Seven Oaks School Division when her 21-year-old sister, Claudette Osborne, went missing on July 25, 2008.

Osborne was last seen at Selkirk Avenue and King Street, 15 days after her daughter was born.

She has not been found.

Since Osborne’s disappearance, Smith has worked tirelessly to create organizations to help others, and to change the systems in place that failed her family.

“When my sister went missing, (Winnipeg police) had a policy where we couldn’t report her missing for 48 hours,” she said. “Now it is 24 and, under suspicious circumstances, you can report right away.”

Police also ask family for a picture of their missing loved one. When Osborne went missing, police used a mug shot of her from a previous arrest.

Victim services are also more readily available, Smith said.

“We couldn’t access victim services because no one was charged with a crime,” Smith said. “That was changed because of the work we did.”

Smith said the honour is bittersweet.

“This is a good honour, but at the same time you don’t want to be honoured for this reason,” she said. “I would rather have my sister here than having this honour.”

Premier Wab Kinew called it a “great achievement” for a person who comes from a humble background.

“Bernadette and her family have lived through the difficult experiences so many people in our society live in — poverty, addictions, or losing loved ones to the MMIWG2S crisis. Today she stands in the provincial legislature to lend her powerful voice to those who need it.

“Her journey is powerful and inspiring. Our province is very lucky to have her in our corner, and I’m honoured to have her in my cabinet.”

Smith is the lone Canadian on the list. However, another honoree, Yael Braudo-Bahat, co-director of Israel’s Women Wage Peace, credits the organizer’s co-founder, peace activist and former Winnipegger Vivian Silver, who was slain during the attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, as her mentor.

Meanwhile, Smith and NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine, who was recently named families minister, will be honoured at the Honouring Matriarchs event at the Winnipeg Art Gallery Sunday.

The event is in celebration of the pair becoming the first First Nations women cabinet ministers.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca