Remarks by
The Honourable Anita Neville, P.C., O.M.
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
GALA 2023: RAISING OUR VOICES
Canadian Museum for Human Rights
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
(please check against delivery)
Fellow Manitobans, friends, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the Raising Our Voices Gala.
As Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, I honour and acknowledge that this spectacular building in which we gather this evening stands at a vital meeting place in the heart of Treaty One land and the homeland of the Red River Métis.
This location has been a meeting place for Indigenous peoples for millennia – and it remains an important place in a province that is the current and ancestral home of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Dakota, Dene, Inuit and Métis peoples.
Together, we must continue to work to hear truths, and to advance understanding opportunity, and healing for all.
Since 2014, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights has brought people to this site to learn, listen and share their stories. It has encouraged visitors to reflect on progress toward human rights and to learn from the stories within that recognize and reinforce that need for progress.
We are living through a time where the reports of immeasurable tragedy throughout the world seem endless.
And so it’s so very important that institutions like CMHR continue to bring people together to learn of advances in understanding and justice and progress in dismantling of legal and cultural barriers.
Given that music has played an important role in our struggles for centuries, your upcoming exhibition Beyond the Beat: Music of Resistance and Change, will undoubtedly serve to inspire us, and will nurture hope and determination.
Author Sanchita Pandey beautifully wrote:
“Music with all its subtlety has immense power to unite people, spread love and bring peace in the world”
I look forward to hearing from both Susan Aglukark and Alanis Morrissette – both gifted artists who unite people around the world in the spirit of love and peace.
And I look forward to hearing from a non-musician – a true visionary, dedicated to bringing people together in harmony – tonight’s honoree, Moe Levy.
Their contributions to human rights – and your support as Friends of the CMHR and organizers of this gala – help us all to envision a time when freedom, safety, dignity and opportunity are upheld in Manitoba, in Canada and around the world.
Thank you Merci Meegwich Shalom
