Remarks by
The Honourable Anita Neville, P.C., O.M.
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
AN EVENING OF GRATITUDE FOR TOBA CENTRE’S WE WILL CAMPAIGN SUPPORTERS
Government House
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
(please check against delivery)
Friends of an important new community resource, welcome to this celebration of generosity.
It’s a pleasure to welcome you to Government House – here in the heart of Treaty One land and in the homeland of the Red River Metis.
Here in the capital of a province that is the ancestral and present-day home of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Dakota, Dene, Inuit and Red River Metis peoples, we welcome the support that Toba Centre will provide to children throughout Manitoba.
Canadians are strong believers in a publicly funded social supports for those in need. We have come to think of public health care as central to our values – along with a well-funded education system, support for housing and other aspects of our social safety net.
But we also know that there are gaps between what’s needed to make a healthier and more just society and what government funding can provide at all times.
And that’s where the generosity of individual Canadians is essential.
No case better illustrates that than the successful campaign by Manitoba’s own Toba Centre to create a new full-service child advocacy centre to provide support for children who have been victims of abuse.
Bringing together specially trained forensic interviewers with police investigators and doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists and counsellors will allowed for the needs of children and their families to be addressed during and after any legal proceedings.
And doing so in the calming, forested setting of Assiniboine Park will surely support the important healing going on within Toba Centre.
None of this would have been possible without the generosity of the donors and campaign leaders who guided Toba Centre to its capital goals.
While I’m sure many hands pitched in to carry this project forward, I want especially to congratulate Ken* and Peggy Talbot, Lorraine Maciboric* and Robert Bockstael* on the success of the We Will capital campaign.
To all who support children through Toba Centre and to all who have made that support possible through their gifts of expertise and money, thank you.
Your contributions help to make Manitoba the province we dream it can be.
Thank you. Merci. Meegwich.
