Remarks by
The Honourable Anita Neville, P.C., O.M.
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
SOUTH WINNIPEG FAMILY INFORMATION CENTRE 50TH ANNIVERSARY
Government House
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
(please check against delivery)
Volunteers, staff and friends of the South Winnipeg Family Information Centre, welcome to Government House and this celebration of 50 years of supporting families in our city.
I am pleased to welcome you to Government House, here on Treaty 1 territory and in the homeland of the Red River Metis. As Lieutenant Governor, I acknowledge that Manitoba 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 I acknowledge 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.
Our dream of building an equitable society that provides opportunities for all requires commitments at the government level that reach out across Manitoba and Canada. But just as important is a constellation of individuals and organizations working at the local level.
Organizations like the South Winnipeg Family Information Centre bring people together right where they live and support them to learn, to care for their families, to fulfill their dreams and goals.
For 50 years, staff and volunteers at the South Winnipeg Family Information Centre have built community spirit through programs for youth and parents.
From your North Fort Garry site, you have created waves of caring that have rippled across this city and province.
Thousands of children and adults take part in babysitting or study skills training, parenting and seniors programs each year. Hundreds of women each year acquire new outfits for work or study. As much as those numbers add up over fifty years, consider the lives touched when past participants carry on the spirit of community in their lives.
Over the years, those waves of caring grow into a tsunami.
None of that could happen without fifty years of leadership, sponsorship and volunteer commitment.
To all who have supported the South Winnipeg Family Information Centre, I thank you for enhancing life in our city and province.
Congratulations on this milestone anniversary.
Thank you. Merci. Meegwich. Shalom
