Merrick re-elected grand chief in first ballot

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This article was published 25/07/2024 (691 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The first female grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs was offered a strong showing of support and a second mandate by AMC First Nation members Wednesday, winning re-election for a full three-year term in a first-ballot victory.

“I worked really hard to be where I am as the grand chief. I had a year and nine months to be able to show the chiefs the work that I can do. Moving forward I will work just as hard for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs,” said Grand Chief Cathy Merrick following her election win during the AMC’s 36th annual general assembly.

“This will give me more time to be able to do the work that I wanted to do. When I came on board on a byelection it was to be able to ensure that the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs is the place for the chiefs to come. And I have done that. And it shows here by winning in the first ballot.”

Also, Willie Moore of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation was elected as the AFN Regional Chief in the third and final round of ballots on Wednesday afternoon, beating fellow candidate Sheldon Kent with a vote of 26-23.

Cheers and whistles erupted throughout a packed tent during the annual general assembly, held on Waywayseecappo First Nation lands just north of Brandon, when it was announced that Grand Chief Merrick had been re-elected after only one round of voting.

And while instructions were read out for the second ballot for the ongoing regional chief election, Merrick took the time to walk around the large circle of member chiefs that were seated within the main tent and give many of the voting members a hug.

Of the now 62-member First Nation chiefs or their representatives who were eligible to vote, 58 chiefs had been confirmed by the 1 p.m. deadline, and only 54 votes were recorded on the first ballot. In order to win on the first ballot, a candidate required at least 28 votes for a full majority and 11 votes in order to remain on the ballot for the next round of voting.

Merrick received 35 votes, with fellow candidates George Kemp receiving nine and Darrell N. Shorting receiving 10 votes.

In 2022, Merrick, a former councillor and chief of Pimicikamak Cree Nation, was elected at the provincial First Nations advocacy group’s annual general assembly, with 37 of 59 votes. That byelection came after former AMC grand chief Arlen Dumas was removed from his position, following an independent investigation finding he had engaged in workplace sexual harassment.

In her remarks to The Brandon Sun on Wednesday, Merrick said one of her major goals over the next three years will be to improve and develop the relationship between the government of Manitoba and the AMC.

“There’s a lot of issues that we have to deal with when it comes to First Nations in Manitoba,” Merrick said. “First and foremost is with the provincial government. We need to be at the table when decisions are made. Not an afterthought.”

And in order to make that happen, the AMC leadership can now count on the full support of all of Manitoba’s 63 First Nations, with the addition of Sioux Valley Dakota Nation as of Tuesday afternoon, following a vote of the AMC executive council of chiefs.

Located about 50 kilometres west of Brandon, Sioux Valley had withdrawn from the AMC more than a decade ago when the handling of a casino development in southwestern Manitoba had caused a rift between the two organizations.

Sioux Valley Chief Vince Tacan said it was time to rejoin the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, and gave credit to Grand Chief Merrick for helping to bring the band back into the fold. Her leadership tipped the scales in favour of rejoining the membership, he said.

“It was largely because of the leadership of Cathy Merrick,” Tacan said. “We couldn’t vote in the AMC (grand chief) election, but I did support her. And I made that known.

“I don’t think anyone else would have got the search done for the landfill. And in the past, women’s issues have not been at the centre for the AMC leadership. She checks that box. And she can do that other work that needs to get done.”

For his part, Tacan says he hopes that membership in the AMC will help give Sioux Valley a seat back at the table with the province and the federal government. Even with self-government, Sioux Valley had found itself alone, and struggling to be heard.

“The difficulty for me was, it’s hard to be on the outside looking in in terms of getting information,” Tacan said. “Governments still like to deal with a delegation of First Nations rather than nation to nation. At this point, Sioux Valley was not getting the information that it needed. We’re having difficulty in getting meetings that we need. Our profile has really taken a nose dive in the last few years.

“The AMC is the organization that represents the chiefs, in my view. I’m a Manitoba chief. That’s the organization I feel we need.”

Merrick praised Sioux Valley for its decision to return to the fold, and said it was Sioux Valley that made the decision to reach out to the AMC and start that discussion.

“They came to us,” Merrick said. “They knew that the AMC was able to speak in one voice for our First Nations. And being a self-governing nation, they were kind of left out. I’m very happy, I’m very honoured that they would come back. It shows me that we’ve done good work. That we’re able to provide information to the chiefs as much as possible, and to be able to be self-governing for our people.”

But there is much yet to do for member First Nations, Merrick said, noting that several bands have outstanding Treaty Land Entitlement claims that need to be addressed.

“First and foremost that needs to be dealt with, with both the federal government and the provincial government.”

Her first priority following her election victory, however, will be to address ongoing water issues that have been affecting First Nations across the province. Last month federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault concluded that the $540-million Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin outlet channels project was “likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects” to local Indigenous people.

If completed, the project would allow floodwater, diverted from the Assiniboine River into Lake Manitoba, to flow through to Lake St. Martin and then to Lake Winnipeg.

The minister also said that construction of two 24-kilometre diversion channels could cause harm to their physical and cultural heritage, current use of land and resources for traditional purposes, and sites of historical and archeological significance.

Merrick has previously called for the Manitoba government to revisit the project.

“I’m going to gather all our First Nations,” Merrick said Wednesday. “We need to talk about water. There’s always the north and the south where the water does affect each and every one of us. And I know that in the south there’s a lot of First Nations that are impacted by the Lake St. Martin channel. I want to be able to help, I want to be able to be there.”

» mgoerzen@brandonsun.com, with files from Winnipeg Free Press

» X: @MattGoerzen