AUGUST 2015 • PAGE 5
ProudlyStanding
withFirstNations,
Inuit&MétisFamilies
Deanne
Crothers
MLAforSt.James
204-415-0883
DeanneCrothers.ca
Greg
Selinger
MLAforSt.Boniface
PremierofManitoba
204-237-9247
GregSelinger.ca
Nancy
Allan
MLAforSt.Vital
204-237-8771
NancyAllan.ca
Tom
Nevakshonoff
MLAforInterlake
204-664-2000
TomNevakshonoff.ca
Ron
Lemieux
MLAforDawsonTrail
204-878-4644
Ron-Lemieux.ca
Ron
Kostyshyn
MLAforSwanRiver
204-734-4900
RonKostyshyn.ca
Clarence
Pettersen
MLAforFlinFlon
204-687-3367
ClarencePettersen.ca
Kerri
Irvin-Ross
MLAforFortRichmond
204-475-9433
KerriIrvinRoss.ca
Sharon
Blady
MLAforKirkfieldPark
204-832-2318
SharonBlady.ca
Melanie
Wight
MLAforBurrows
204-421-9414
MelanieWight.ca
James
Allum
MLAforFort
Garry-Riverview
204-475-2270
JamesAllum.ca
Flor
Marcelino
MLAforLogan
204-788-0800
FlorMarcelino.ca
Amanda
Lathlin
MLAforThePas
204-623-2034
AmandaLathlin.ca
Gord
Mackintosh
MLAforSt.Johns
204-582-1550
GordMackintosh.ca
CELEbrATINg TrEATy DAyS
Continued from page 3 >>
Nation in less than three hours, I go back there
to reconnect with family and the community at large.
Twelve years ago, I made the trek out there to cover the Manitoba Indigenous
Summer Games (MISG).
Mike Sutherland, the MISG director, picked me up on the highway, since I
made my way out there on a Greyhound bus.
He said we were long lost family and that his grandmother was my
grandmother's sister.
At the Sutherland family food booth, a long time tradition in Peguis, I met
Bertha Sutherland, now since passed on.
I told her that in research for a book I was working on about my grandmother
that I had not come across the name Bertha as a sister.
Well, in fact they were first cousins but called each other sister
because her father had adopted my grandmother after the passing of my
great grandfather.
After that, I always looked forward to meeting Bertha. She knew the stories
that I had been searching for and cleared up so many questions I had about
my family.
Since that day, though I have never actually lived within the community, I
never felt more connected to the community, the people and, yes, even Treaty
#1 signed in 1871.
For example, I could pick up my six dollars a year through the treaty
maintaining an unbroken connection between myself and the Crown.
And if you're reading this, Peguis Treaty Days have already come and gone
for this year but keep it in mind for next year because there's so much going
on in a week and a half.
Baseball tournaments, parade, treaty payout, Traditional pow wow, a
midway, family food booths with confections and treats of all kinds, nightly
concerts, sporting events and featured entertainers like this year's highlight A
Tribe Called Red.
There are plenty of other First Nations across this province celebrating their
treaty days this summer including, and this is by no means a definitive list,
Long Plains First Nation or Sandy Bay Ojibway Nation.
