Good to be back; anything happen while I was away?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/05/2024 (547 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I came back to the Free Press this week just in time, it seems, to witness a century of issues intersect, spark and explode.

There is, of course, the trial of Jeremy Skibicki, who is alleged to have murdered four First Nations women — Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois, and a woman known as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (Buffalo Woman). A jury was chosen last week and opening statements from Crown and defence lawyers are scheduled for Wednesday.

Winnipeg police investigators believe the remains of Myran and Harris are buried at Prairie Green Landfill north of the city.

The case has become the central example of how and why Indigenous women — past and present — are murdered and missing and why governments, police and the public have failed to address the issue.

The case also illustrates how complex it is to find solutions to the issue of murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit peoples as the Kinew government tries to support families of the victims during the trial and deliver on its promise to search the landfill in a highly politicized and traumatized environment.

The complicated situation came to a head in March, with Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Cathy Merrick angrily calling on the premier to “Do the f—-ing work!” on the steps of the Manitoba Legislative Building to much applause from Indigenous activists.

Last week also featured a state of emergency declaration from Peguis First Nation Chief Stan Bird over the devastating health and social effects that repeated flooding has had on the largest first nation in the province. The declaration came a week after Peguis named the federal and provincial governments, along with two rural municipalities as defendants in a $1-billion lawsuit claiming damages from the floods.

Members of the First Nation were illegally removed from their homeland north of Selkirk in 1907 and relocated to the Interlake, where the community exists now, about 200 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

Echoing history, community members have, for years, been forced to leave their homes — this time by the catastrophic flooding — fleeing to hotels in Winnipeg, including 549 members still displaced from the flood of 2022.

Peguis claims Ottawa and Manitoba breached treaty or other obligations by failing to protect reserve lands from disasters. The governments supported land-clearing and drainage work in the RMs that led to flooding, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit alleges the defendant RMs “approved and permitted” or failed to prevent the development of the drained wetlands to improve agricultural land, while exposing Peguis to flooding.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, eight First Nations announced a $4.8-billion lawsuit against the City of Winnipeg, the province and Ottawa over decades of untreated sewage spills into Manitoba’s river system and, in particular, a massive incident in February.

The First Nations claim that the often-repeated spills have damaged downstream communities and violated their constitutionally ensured Indigenous and treaty rights and devastated their cultural, economical and physical livelihoods.

That’s just over the past few days.

Oh, and the videos showing violent incidents involving Indigenous women, including one who had an altercation with a Food Fare employee who accused her of stealing last weekend. Another occurred at the Marlborough Hotel, where a young woman was restrained by staff.

Then there’s the battle between the Manitoba Métis Federation and Métis across the country over Bill C-53 and self-government, and Air Canada’s disrespectful confiscation of Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse’s headdress.

It all can feel a bit like reconciliation is on fire.

Only, it’s not.

This week Wasagamack Anisininew Nation unveiled its long-awaited $70-million airport project, $8 million of which is coming from the Manitoba government.

For a community that has experienced deadly helicopter crashes, wildfires that risked the lives of hundreds of trapped citizens and trauma due to a lack of infrastructure, this is a game-changer in economic, social and psychological well-being.

In honour of this week’s National Week of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the province announced a pilot project in partnership with the federal government and Indigenous organizations called the Red Dress Alert system to notify the public when someone goes missing.

This is in response to Winnipeg Centre NDP MP Leah Gazan’s unanimously supported motion in Parliament for a national alert system.

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet just wrapped up its season with the world premiere of Tla’amin First Nation artist Cameron Fraser-Monroe’s new piece T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods, based on a traditional story from his community. It received a standing ovation.

There’s the hiring of nine new Indigenous faculty members at the University of Winnipeg, the $5-million donation by the Winnipeg Foundation to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, next week’s huge economic reconciliation summit hosted by Treaty 1 at the Winnipeg Convention Centre, the announcement of new Vice-President (Indigenous) Angie Bruce (a Métis Woman from St. Laurent) at the University of Manitoba, and the many investments in Winnipeg’s downtown by the Manitoba Métis Federation, the latest being the purchase of the former Wawanesa building at 200 Main St.

It’s not an easy time. We’re in the midst of turbulence; a shift and destabilization, with moments of change that range from good to ugly to remarkable — sometimes all at the same time.

This is what it looks like when a long period of neglect and violence meets a short period of commitment and growth.

It’s hard not to focus on the negative, feel overwhelmed and grow apathetic. Frankly, it’s easy, because that’s what ensures the status quo.

What’s harder to see is hope in the struggle, beauty in the dark, warmth in the fire.

It’s good to be back.

niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca

Niigaan Sinclair
Columnist

Niigaan Sinclair is Anishinaabe and is a columnist at the Winnipeg Free Press.

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