New AMC Grand Chief to push for results for First Nations
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/02/2025 (268 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Former Long Plain First Nation chief Kyra Wilson was elected Grand Chief at the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs last week. In her new role, Wilson will be the primary spokesperson for First Nations across Manitoba and will advocate on their behalf.
The Sun spoke with Wilson last week to learn about her goals and beliefs. Below is the conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Tell me about difficulties in the work of representing all First Nations?
Kyra Wilson says her strength as an advocate helped her to be elected to serve as grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs last week. Wilson is shown in 2023 speaking to the media in Winnipeg. (File)
A: Every nation is going to have priorities based on the needs of the people, what is being asked of the leadership. And you know, for me, I just need to respect all the different priorities based on every nation. I was elected to support all of our communities. So what that looks like for me is, finding that balance in terms of supporting all the different priorities that are being brought forward … and being able to push forward the issues that they need addressed.
Q: What issues do First Nations face that don’t get the attention they deserve?
A: Accessibility. For some of our communities, especially in the north, that is something that I’ve heard loud and clear from our leadership. We need to ensure that community members have access to their community. Whether they’re entering or leaving the community.
That is something we need to fix because in some communities, you can only enter it through a winter road. And when we look at the window of opportunity in terms of travelling and bringing supplies in, that’s lessening because of climate change. We need to start discussing building all-weather roads. We need to talk about, ‘What does the transportation look like for communities?’
I know some communities, they deal with railway. Some communities are fly-in. Making sure that our community members, our children, have easy access to their nations, that’s a priority that I think is not talked about enough. It is talked about, but we should be talking about it more.
Q: How do you explain your election win?
A: I have a lot of respect for each of the candidates that I ran with in the election. What I will say is that one thing that I shared with the leadership (the dozens of chiefs of First Nations that voted in the election) is that I’ve been an advocate since I became a mom.
Kyra Wilson (left) stands with Premier Wab Kinew. She was elected grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs last week. (AMC/Facebook)
My education, my career, my experience, has always been advocating for our people. So I’ve really been able to develop the skill set to be a strong advocate, and I’m very persistent when I want to see results. That is something that I shared with our leadership: I am a strong advocate, and I will continue to push to see the results that we want, and I won’t stop until we see the results.
Q: You were close with the former grand chief. What did you learn from her about this role?
A: Our late grand chief (Cathy Merrick) supported our leadership every single day, and I heard that from our leadership. Within my campaigning, that was the same message that I heard: she really cared for our leadership, she really respected all of our leadership. And that’s something I intend to continue: making sure our leadership feels supported in every way possible. They deal with so much every single day, and I want to be able to take some of that weight off of their shoulders and be able to support the work that they are doing for their nations. That is something that I see for myself and in the work as grand chief.
» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com