By Sarah Klein
Wab Kinew (HANDOUT)
Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman has created an Indigenous Advisory Circle to build awareness and connections with the aboriginal and non-aboriginal community.
The circle will be chaired by Wab Kinew, a former CBC broadcaster and current associate vice-president for Indigenous Relations at the University of Winnipeg.
“”I’m looking forward to working with the mayor to advance the project of reconciliation,” Kinew said. “I look forward to ushering in an era when First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures are celebrated by all Winnipeggers.”
Bowman says the circle is a way to create unity and equality, while working to build a stronger Winnipeg.
The circle will hold meetings quarterly, with the first scheduled for Thursday, September 17. This date will be day one of two for the anti-racism summit hosted at, and in partnership with, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Indigenous Advisory Circle members:
- Brian Bowman, Mayor (Ex Officio)
- Wab Kinew, Chair, Associate Vice-President for Indigenous Relations at the University of Winnipeg
- Councillor Cindy Gilroy, Chair, Citizens Equity Committee
- Harry Bone, Elder
- Mae Louise Campbell, Elder
- Esther Ducharme, Elder
- Dr. Marcia Anderson-Decoteau
- Jessica Dumas, Owner and Founder of Prime Image Life Coaching
- EJ Fontaine, President/CEO and founding partners of Anishinabek Consultants Inc.
- Damon Johnston, President, Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg
- Kimberley Puhach, Consultant, Leaders and Co
- Dee Thomas-Hart, university student, youth representative, Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce
- Manley A. Begay Jr. co-director of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
- Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada and Associate Professor, University of Alberta.
- Alan Greyeyes, Aboriginal Music Development Manager for Manitoba Music, Chair, Aboriginal Music Manitoba
- Chief Robert Louie, Chief, Westbank First Nation
- Sean McCormick, CEO and Founder, Manitobah Mukluks
- Justice Murray Sinclair, Commissioner, Truth and Reconciliation Commission
- Kerri Tattuinee, university student
- Jamie Wilson, Commissioner, Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba
