Remarks by
The Honourable Anita Neville, P.C., O.M.
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
FLIN FLON CULTURE DAYS VISIT
Wednesday, September 25, 2024, 4:30 p.m.
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Fellow Manitobans, citizens of the city built on rock – it’s a pleasure to join you and explore northern art and culture.
As Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, I am pleased to pay this visit to the vast Treaty Five lands that extend north and east to the barrenlands of Nunavut and tides of Hudson Bay.
I acknowledge that our province is located on the treaty territories and ancestral lands of the Anishinaabe, Anishininew (ANISH-IN-INEW), Cree, Dakota, Dene and Nehetho (NE-HET-HO) Nation and the homeland of the Red River Métis; and that northern Manitoba includes lands that were and are the ancestral lands of the Inuit.
As Manitobans, we respect the spirit and intent of treaties and treaty making and remain committed to working in partnership with First Nations, Metis and Inuit people in the spirit of truth, reconciliation and collaboration.
In a province of many peoples, with many languages and ways of seeing the world, there is no better way to encourage understanding and co-operation than through the arts.
So this visit, during Culture Days, represents wonderful timing.
Today and tomorrow, it will be my pleasure to discover the stories of this community and see the creativity of Flin Flon’s people.
I’ll hear your words, witness your visions, experience your history. And I will have the opportunity to meet the women and men who create, preserve and pass on cultural knowledge and artistic expression.
The many community resources and projects that I’m seeing on this visit feed the soul of Flin Flon and of Manitoba. And some of them, like the community garden, food bank and food forest I visited earlier today, feed more than the soul.
Like cities, towns and hamlets across Manitoba, Flin Flon is strengthened and enriched by the devotion, generosity and energy of volunteers who come together to plan, build and operate resources that enhance life.
Whether a place in Manitoba is built on prairie soil or on the hard granite of the Canadian Shield, the roots of community and caring run deep in this province.
To all who have made this visit possible, thank you for giving me the chance to experience Flin Flon at its finest.
Thank you. Merci. Meegwich. Shalom
