Remarks by
The Honourable Anita Neville, P.C., O.M.
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR’S AWARD FOR HISTORICAL PRESERVATION AND PROMOTION
Government House
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
(please check against delivery)
Fellow Manitobans and lovers of history and heritage, welcome to Government House.
As Lieutenant Governor, I am always pleased to welcome Manitobans to this historical landmark in the heart of Treaty One land and the heartland of the Red River Metis.
This residence of over 140 years represents a province that is the ancestral and present-day home of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Dakota, Dene, Inuit and Metis peoples. Here in Manitoba, we are committed to understanding, learning from the past, advancing healing and reconciliation and building a healthier community for everybody.
As Manitobans and as Canadians, we seek continually to build a society that better supports the rights and dignity of its members. We seek a society that provides opportunities to dream and to accomplish.
But to achieve that, we need to know who we are.
On the walls of the Oracle at Delphi – where the ancient Greeks went to seek prophesies about the future – a message was inscribed: “Know thyself.”
Without self-knowledge, who knows where you’ll end up?
And what’s true for individuals is true for nations and provinces.
Knowledge of who we are and what made us is essential to all of our efforts to build a better future and to safeguard our rights and prosperity.
And that is why since 2011, Manitobans who have made great contributions in preserving and promoting historical knowledge have been recognized with this award.
Manitobans who have received the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Historical Preservation and Promotion have contributed to Manitobans’ understanding in countless ways.
They have restored, maintained and investigated historic buildings,
- operated community museums,
- built and maintained archives,
- taken part in historical interpretation,
- preserved artifacts, written historical articles – and much more.
As this year’s group of recipients shows, they have used a variety of technologies – from the internet to podcasts – to enhance our understanding of times long before those technologies existed.
And they have enhanced our understanding of the diversity of Manitoba’s history, working to preserve and disseminate knowledge of Indigenous, Ukrainian and LGBT and two-spirit communities, among many others.
Thanks to Manitoba’s lovers of history and heritage, the people of this province are better able to discover who they are. And perhaps, supported by this knowledge, we can be better able to chart a future together.
To all of today’s award recipients, and to the Manitoba Historical Society, thank you for helping us all know ourselves and our province.
Thank you. Merci. Meegwich. Shalom
