“The promises made now must never be broken or trust will be lost. I look forward to seeing the words of promise today being put into action. SCO commits to working with our Treaty partner to continue relationship building on the path to reconciliation and a better future for all.” – Grand Chief Jerry Daniels
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 19, 2024
ANISHINAABE AND DAKOTA TERRITORY, MB —The Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) is responding to the Speech from the Throne, delivered by the Honourable Anita Neville, Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba, to open the second session of the 43rd Manitoba Legislature.
“There are several promises made today which will lift up our First Nation citizens and begin to move us towards reconciliation in a meaningful way.” stated SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels. “I am hopeful the momentum and commitment from this government to work with First Nations and First Nation citizens will continue to grow, and that promises made today will be supported with the resources needed to quickly bring them to reality.”
It has been more than three years since the statue of Queen Victoria was toppled to protest the death of so many children who were forced to attend residential schools. In place of this reminder of colonialism which our people walked by day after day, there will now stand a statue of a new mother and her child bison, symbolizing the bonds of family which were destroyed in residential schools and for which the impacts are still felt today.
We were heartened to witness a choir of students from Giinawind Riverbend Community School Abinoojiiyag Nagamog close the chamber ceremonies with the singing of the national anthem in Anishinaabemowin.
“Healing is not just of the body, but of the spirit. There is a promise to bring our languages back to the classroom,” continued Grand Chief Daniels. “Our languages are intrinsic to our identities. Language instils our future generations with their culture, history, and traditions. Imagine the impact of culture so long denied being welcomed where it was once shunned, in schools.”
We are also pleased to know all First Nation citizens will have the right to vote in school board elections, as not all of our citizens living on reserve have that right as the rules now stand.
As we recognize the 35th anniversary of the Anishnaabemowin word ‘niizh manidoowag’, which means Two Spirits, we welcome the pledge to invest more to help people escaping gender-based violence, and area that has been underfunded for generations. This promise must be followed with investment now, and not in the distant future, to end the epidemic of violence against women, girls, and gender-diverse people and make the world safer for our citizens.
SCO recognizes that the government is forming a working group with the goal of protecting Weeniibiikiisagaygun (Lake Winnipeg), and we look forward to joining the government at the table. As decisive action must be taken now to save the lake, in September SCO announced a court action against Manitoba Hydro and the Government of Manitoba. The Charter challenge was launched to protect Lake Winnipeg and it demands an environmental assessment be conducted with First Nations at the table.
SCO encourages the Manitoba government to address systemic and structural inequities. The province is accountable to First Nations and must step up to close the education gap, the health gap, and the prosperity gap, and address the over incarceration of First Nation people.
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The Southern Chiefs’ Organization represents 33 First Nations and more than 88,000 citizens in what is now called southern Manitoba. SCO is an independent political organization that protects, preserves, promotes, and enhances First Nations peoples’ inherent rights, languages, customs, and traditions through the application and implementation of the spirit and intent of the Treaty-making process.
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Email: Media@scoinc.mb.ca