Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 27, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2025 A4 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS I MANITOBA Next grand chief faces long road returning AMC to spotlight T HE Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has faded into obscurity since the death of grand chief Cathy Merrick last September. The representative body of Mani- toba’s 63 First Nations has continued operating, of course. The organization continues, for example, to be the prov- ince’s primary partner in the search for the remains of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (Buffalo Woman) at the Prairie Green Landfill and has also organized successful gatherings on First Nations membership and climate change over the past few months. Acting grand chief Betsy Kennedy is doing an admirable job, but the fact is that, as a primarily lobbying and advocacy body, the organization isn’t the primary voice of First Nations in the province anymore. Ask yourself, for example, if you’ve heard about its announcements, including criticism of the provincial plan to end chronic homelessness (Jan. 15); condemnation of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s patient advocacy unit (Jan. 14); or demands for Jordan’s Principle funding (Dec. 13; and emergency health care for the north (Dec. 12)? Meanwhile, regional entities such as the Southern Chiefs’ Organization, Interlake Reserves Tribal Council, and the Treaty One Development Corp. have filled ink, TV time and social media feeds far more. Well, there’s nothing like an election to steal some of that attention back. The ninth grand chief in AMC histo- ry will be selected Wednesday by the chiefs of Manitoba in Winnipeg. There are four candidates vying to lead AMC for the next three years. Two are well-known and have accom- plishments as well as political baggage. The other two are largely unknown outside of their communities. Best known is former Peguis chief Glenn Hudson, who led his commu- nity for 14 years and has a long track record on economic development, gaming and treaty land entitlement. Hudson has endorsements from seven chiefs (chiefs are only permitted to endorse a single candidate each). Hudson, though, led Peguis into a financial crisis when the commu- nity was sued for over $172 million over loans from an Ontario financial company. This was a large reason he was defeated by Stan Bird in the 2023 election. Hudson, if elected, would be one of the older grand chiefs in AMC history at the age of 57. The oldest was Mer- rick, who started her term at 61 and notably told anyone who would listen, including me, that the job of AMC grand chief was relentlessly exhaust- ing. Also carrying political baggage is former Long Plain First Nation chief Kyra Wilson. Wilson served a truncat- ed 20-month term as leader before a judge ordered a new election for chief due to a snow storm on the communi- ty’s election day. During her short term, Wilson became a leading voice on searching the Prairie Green Landfill and on the issues of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls, and child welfare. She also seconded the motion in the controversial and forcible 2023 removal of Assembly of First Nations national chief RoseAnne Archibald. If elected, Wilson, 38, would become one of the youngest AMC grand chiefs in history. The youngest is Louis Stevenson, who was 37 when he started his term in 1987. The other two candidates are both around the average age of previous grand chiefs (mid-40s) but have less experience and are far less known: former York Factory First Nation chief Leroy Constant and Sapotaweyak Cree Nation band councillor Bava Dhillon. Constant, elected chief in 2018, helped lead the search for two fugi- tives from B.C. near the community in summer 2019. He also was a leading voice for northern health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dhillon, meanwhile, is a newcomer to politics but has some experience in business, having been owner of a pharmacy and car dealership. He also helped bring awareness to potential unmarked graves of children at a residential school site in Brandon. Constant and Dhillon are running nearly invisible election campaigns. They’ve released virtually nothing to the public: no platforms, statements, or promises. Oddly, this doesn’t really matter since to be grand chief, one only has to win the majority of votes from 63 chiefs. Front-runners Hudson and Wilson, the oldest and youngest candidates, This election presents an interesting choice between generation X Hudson and millennial Wilson. It’s noteworthy that the average age of Manitoba chiefs is closer to Hudson than Wilson and the organization has a history of electing male candidates. It really depends on the speeches, promises and negotiations on the AMC assembly floor. Manitoba’s next grand chief faces a long road ahead to bring AMC back into the spotlight — and perhaps rele- vancy. niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca NIIGAAN SINCLAIR OPINION MALAK ABAS / FREE PRESS Arek Manyang (centre) chose to attend Saturday's gathering at the South Sudanese Community Centre to call for justice for her family and others in South Sudan. Local community gathers to pray for victims of violence in South Sudan A REK Manyang arrived in Winnipeg from Sudan in 1998, before the country was split into Sudan and South Sudan. Today, she calls her family back home nearly every day, terrified that the growing civil war in the region will reach the people she loves. “Just hearing what’s going on there, you can hear some gunshots on the phone when you’re speaking with your family back home,” she said Saturday. Manyang joined around 50 people at the South Sudanese Community Centre Saturday to call on the provincial and federal govern- ment to step in against the fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces, which began in April 2023 but exploded last week when riots broke out after social media videos emerged purport- edly showing South Sudanese people murdered in Gezira state. South Sudanese authorities imposed a dusk- to-dawn curfew on Jan. 17 and ordered a social media ban in the region for at least 30 days be- ginning last week, hoping to stop retaliatory violence. South Sudanese and other non-Arab groups have been targeted by the Sudanese Armed Forces based on their skin colour and faith, said Reuben Garang, the president of the Council of the South Sudanese Community of Manitoba. “To kill vulnerable people, people who are not fighting them, just killing them simply because they are South Sudanese, this is not accept- able,” he said. “They need to embrace human right values, because they can not continue with this.” The Sudanese civil war has resulted in one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. More than 28,000 people have been killed since April 2023 and millions of people have been dis- placed, resulting in famine across the region. On Jan. 7, the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Rapid Support Forces had committed genocide, saying the war had “de- prived communities of basic needs and services and led to these horrible crimes.” In December 2023, Blinken said both the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces had committed war crimes. In April 2024, Canada sanctioned some mil- itants and companies in Sudan, but faced criti- cism for not targeting foreign groups allegedly providing weapons to militants. In December, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen released a joint statement calling on all parties to “end hostil- ities and to engage in mediation efforts to ad- dress the conflict” in Sudan, but stopped short of declaring it a genocide. Canada has a responsibility to do more, Gar- ang said. “We call on our government, also, to play their role condemning the atrocities committed by the Sudanese, hold them accountable,” he said. At the South Sudanese Community Centre, gatherers prayed for the victims of the vio- lence, many of them women and children. Some carried the South Sudan flag, others signage in English and Arabic calling on the perpetrators to be held accountable. Manyang said she gets the strength to keep hope through her faith in God — she uses the Arabic word “Inshallah” to describe the trust she has that her home country will one day know peace. “It means God’s will, whatever happens, that’s what we rely on.” — with files from The Canadian Press malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca MALAK ABAS MALAK ABAS / FREE PRESS South Sudanese community members hold the South Sudan flag on Saturday. Manitoba anti-scab law criticized as unconstitutional A Manitoba law that prevents employees from crossing a picket line during a strike could be unconstitutional. Brandon Trask, an assistant professor at the Univer- sity of Manitoba’s faculty of law, said the addition to the Labour Relations Act, which passed in an omnibus budget bill in November, doesn’t just make it an unfair labour practice for a company to employ replacement workers. It goes a step further by banning employees from working during a strike. “(This law) in practice removes the right of any work- er to choose whether to join a strike or cross a picket line,” he said. Trask said while he favours a ban on companies hir- ing replacement workers, it is another matter for the government to take away the right of employees to de- cide to cross the picket line. There was no public consultation on the matter be- cause it was included in a massive omnibus budget bill. “From my perspective, the government did not do its due diligence in relation to this addition, failing to prop- erly consider all implications and constitutional issues. He believes it doesn’t comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Loren Remillard, president and CEO of the Winni- peg Chamber of Commerce, said he believes the law is wrongheaded because it gives an advantage to unions and replaces legislation that had been balanced. “Manitoba has had one of the lowest levels of days lost due to work stoppages across the country,” said Re- millard. “That’s why there is no evidence to support a ban on replacement workers… this offers a solution for a problem which doesn’t exist.” He said neither side wins in a protracted labour dis- ruption. On the other side, Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour, said the law is neces- sary. “Having people able to cross the picket line only stretches a strike longer and that’s not good at all,” said Rebeck. “We don’t want strikes to go on longer than they need be. Having a law which doesn’t allow for replacement workers, that’s what we all want.” He said he hopes it results in shorter strikes and fair collective bargaining. Tory labour critic Konrad Narth said his party op- posed the change and the way it was included in an omnibus budget bill instead of standing on its own so it could be subject to scrutiny. “Manitobans realize this was something that was rammed through,” said Narth. “As a result, Manitobans weren’t consulted the same way as other legislation. “The NDP obviously didn’t want to hear from Mani- tobans and were concerned there would be some push- back.” Narth called the law an example of the NDP “tramp- ling on a person’s right to work.” “This no longer gives them the right to make that de- cision on whether or not they feel that they should still be working for the company which they feel possibly treated them well and they don’t want to position them- selves in the same direction that the union has gone.” A government spokesman noted the federal govern- ment passed replacement worker legislation unani- mously with the support of Liberal, Conservative and NDP MPs and that similar legislation exists in British Columbia and Quebec. “This legislation encourages employers and unions to resolve negotiations quickly and fairly, while protecting the fundamental rights of Manitobans,” said the spokes- man. “Our labour legislation ensures employers in Mani- toba cannot use replacement workers once a strike vote or lockout has begun. “It also makes sure that employers and unions will jointly identify exceptions for essential service work- ers where there are threats to the health and safety of Manitobans.” kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca KEVIN ROLLASON ;