Winnipeg Free Press By: Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press Posted:
Last Modified: 5:14 PM CDT Wednesday, Jul. 7, 2021
The Queen Elizabeth II statue lays on the ground after being toppled last week.
WINNIPEG - Statues of two queens that were torn down by protesters on the Manitoba legislature grounds will be rebuilt, Premier Brian Pallister said Wednesday.
Winnipeg Free Press
WINNIPEG - Statues of two queens that were torn down by protesters on the Manitoba legislature grounds will be rebuilt, Premier Brian Pallister said Wednesday. Tearing down is a lot simpler than building up, Pallister said at his first news conference since the statues were pulled down on Canada Day.
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The Manitoba Métis Self-Government Recognition and Implementation Agreement was signed in downtown Winnipeg on Tuesday, and with the agreement, Canada now acknowledges and recognizes MMF as the government of the Manitoba Métis.
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The agreement recognizes the Manitoba Metis Federation’s jurisdiction over citizenship, leadership selection, elections and the operations of their government on behalf of the Manitoba Métis, according to the federal government.
Hours after Tuesday’s announcement, AMC released a statement expressing their disappointment with the agreement being signed while they said Canada was “ignoring Treaties made with First Nations in Manitoba.”
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The Progressive Conservative government promised last year to erect a statue of Chief Peguis to commemorate his signing of the first treaty in Western Canada in 1817 granting land along the Red River to settlers. It would be the first statue of a First Nations person on the legislature grounds.
Pallister said the plan has always been to update some of the language used on monuments so that they more accurately reflect history.
Pallister’s remarks on Canada’s history, however, were criticized.
“The people who came here to this country … didn’t come here to destroy anything. They came here to build,” he said.
The deal builds off a $154-million funding agreement signed in 2018.
Tuesday s announcement took place at Upper Fort Garry Heritage Provincial Park in downtown Winnipeg.(Jeff Stapleton/CBC)
Some of the money was to be invested to improve the social and economic well-being of Métis people in Manitoba, in areas like housing, health, child care and early learning.
The plan also began a process of working toward a self-government agreement, which would recognize the federation as a Métis government.
At the time, Chartrand said the Metis Federation was forced to structure itself as a corporation due to federal and provincial laws, which meant that other governments do not recognize its authority.
The almost two-hour ceremony on Tuesday, replete with a fiddle player, prayers, speeches and gifts, was called a historic step in recognizing the Métis nation’s right to self-government. Critics said it s a sure sign an election is around the corner with the Trudeau government using a longtime ally, federation president David Chartrand, in its quest to solidify its position ahead of a fall vote. Very clearly, we are the government of the Métis people, Chartrand said after the outdoor signing of what he called a modern-day treaty with Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett, who participated virtually from Toronto.