A Brandon nurse made a notable contribution in the First World War: the Great War. We citizens today are fortunate we can know about and remember her life and service. Documents from the war have been preserved. The Manitoba Historical Society on its website highlights her biography as a “Memorable Manitoban.” An account of her and her brother’s wartime service — including her letters sent home — appears in a recent edition of the Canadian Legion magazine. And she is remembered by her name on a building and a street in Brandon.

Sarah Persis Johnson was born in Ireland in 1886. When she was 12, her family immigrated to Canada and settled on a farm at Beresford, southwest of Brandon.

Johnson — who went by her middle name, Persis — became a nurse. She graduated from the school of nursing at the Brandon General Hospital and did further studies in Chicago. She was the assistant matron at the hospital when the Great War broke out in 1914.

In the war, women could serve as nursing sisters and Johnson volunteered with the Canadian Army Medical Corps. Johnson worked in war hospitals in England and field hospitals and clearing stations in France.

Last Monday in Ottawa, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew called for the Indian Act to be abolished. Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was open to working with First Nations to reform or repeal this law, calling it racist.

The act was created in 1876 and still controls Indian status, reserve lands and band governance. It’s understandable why many people want a better relationship.

But repealing a law and building a new relationship are not the same. What would replace the act’s protections? Who decides? How do governments ensure removing federal authority gives First Nations power while the Crown keeps its promises?

Manitoba has faced these questions before. In 1971, First Nations created a document called “Wahbung: Our Tomorrows” in response to then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s white paper on assimilation. More than 45 years later, elders and knowledge keepers met at Turtle Lodge, north of Winnipeg, to continue the conversation. Manitobans Dave Courchene Sr. and his son, Dave Courchene Jr., are generational links to the broader movement, and their story should be part of this discussion.