Remarks by
The Honourable Anita Neville, P.C., O.M.
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
WINNIPEG 150 RECEPTION
Winnipeg City Hall
Friday, January 19, 2024, 12 noon
(please check against delivery)
Friends, proud fellow Winnipeggers, and Manitobans, it is my absolute pleasure to join you today to kick off a year of celebration of the city we love.
As Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, I acknowledge and honour that the space in which we are gathered today is located in the heart of Treaty One land and the homeland of the Red River Metis.
Though the city of Winnipeg is only 150 years old, we know that this land at the meeting of the rivers has been a home of Indigenous peoples for millennia – just as our province is the ancestral and present-day home of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Dakota, Dene, Inuit and Metis peoples.
Exactly 150 years ago today, Winnipeg’s brand-new city council got down to business in its first-ever meeting – and I’m sure the agenda then was dominated by establishing civic government for a small but rapidly growing city.
Today, this city and this province are working to build a future where all people have opportunities to live healthy, fulfilling and secure lives. I’m pleased to see that reflected in the beautiful logo developed for this milestone anniversary year.
Cities have long been drivers of innovation and creativity, freedom and opportunity.
They are places where different visions, beliefs and cultures
- meet and mingle and learn from one another,
- where partnerships are made
- where the seeds of great ideas can take root.
And Winnipeg has long been such a place.
In the arts and sciences,
- in the evolution of rights for women and for workers,
- in the growth of the idea of multiculturalism,
- in the dawning awareness of the need for work for justice and reconciliation, ideas born in this city have changed our country and our world.
The well-known scholar of urbanism, Jane Jacobs, became famous in the last century for championing the creative power of cities. She also made it clear that justice and democracy are prerequisites for the benefits provided by cities.
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody,” she said, “only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”
As we celebrate 150 years of Winnipeg, let’s give thanks for all of the visionaries who created and continue to create our city. And let us commit to a future where all Winnipeggers have a role in continuing the growth and evolution of this wonderful place we call home.
Happy 150th, Winnipeg.
Thank you. Merci. Meegwich. Shalom
