Manitoba Lieutenant Governor

Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba

The Honourable Anita R. Neville, P.C., O.M.

The Winnipeg Kinsmen 100th Anniversary

Remarks by

The Honourable Anita Neville, P.C., O.M.

Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba

100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WINNIPEG KINSMEN

Government House

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

(please check against delivery)

 

Fellow Manitobans, builders and nurturers of community – welcome to this celebration of a century of service.

As Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, I would like first to acknowledge that we are gathering on Treaty 1 land and in the heartland of the Red River Metis. Our province is located on the treaty territories and ancestral lands of the Anishinaabe, Anishininew (ANISH-IN-INEW), Cree, Dakota, Dene, Nehetho (NE-HET-HO) Nation and the homeland of the Red River Métis. As well, Manitoba includes northern lands that were and are the ancestral lands of the Inuit.

Manitobans 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.

Canadians are proud to live in a country characterized by compassion and co-operation.

Our commitments to universal health care and public education are defining features of our country. The need to address deficiencies in health, safety and opportunities is always at the top of our societal agenda.

A commitment to our fellow human beings is a value that predates the creation of government safety net programs. It’s something that sprang spontaneously from the hearts of Canadians – like those who founded Winnipeg Kinsmen one hundred years ago.

Service clubs like the Kinsmen are an expression of the empathy and the vision of Canadians who see unmet needs and envision a way to meet them.

As a national service club that was founded in Canada, the Kinsmen have a special connection to communities across our country.

Here in Manitoba, the projects supported by Winnipeg Kinsmen provide comfort to the suffering, food for the hungry, housing for the homeless and a path forward to families looking for a better life. Our health care and social agencies have benefitted enormously from the hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours provided by Kinsmen members.

Since the founding of Winnipeg Kinsmen, Canada’s population has grown from a little over nine million to just over 40 million. And our society has become vastly more diverse: culturally, ethnically and religiously.

But the caring and openness Kinsmen have demonstrated throughout that time has shown us that – whether or not we are strangers to each other – we are all family, we are all truly kin.

Thank you for a century of service and may you share that compassion and community spirit in your second century.

Thank you. Merci. Meegwich. Shalom