'Why a bike trip?' Peguis member questions Manitoba premier's commemorative ride
Tim Stevenson says a bike trip won't improve Brian Pallister's relationship with Indigenous Manitobans
Next week, Manitoba's premier will be strapping on a bike helmet and riding out to the Peguis First Nation.
Brian Pallister's three-day journey from Selkirk to the First Nation begins June 16, and is intended to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Selkirk Treaty.
But Peguis band member Tim Stevenson worries Pallister's trip is strictly a symbolic gesture.
"Why the bike ride?" asked Stevenson. "There is so much more he could do as a provincial leader."
In March, Pallister announced his plan and called on Manitobans to write thank-you letters to their Indigenous neighbours. He plans on delivering those letters to the people of Peguis as part of the bike ride.
The ride commemorates an 1817 treaty between Chief Peguis and Lord Selkirk.
It was signed after Selkirk settlers arrived in Manitoba from Scotland and Ireland between 1812 and 1815. Chief Peguis helped provide food and shelter for the settlers.
Ahead of the commemorative bike ride, Stevenson wrote his own letter to the premier, but it was focused on education rather than thanks.
"It feels more like taunting towards Indigenous people in the province," Stevenson wrote in his letter.
His letter accompanies another penned by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
CCPA Manitoba director Molly McCracken called on the premier to reframe his bike tour "as an opportunity to start to advance Truth and Reconciliation."
In her letter, McCracken provided links to research the CCPA has done in partnership with the Indigenous community, including the 2016 State of the Inner City Report, which focused on reconciliation.
"The intent of your bike tour is to recognize the role of Indigenous peoples in the settlement of Manitoba and in the future," she wrote.
"This is a good start but it will fall short unless you look deeper at history and our obligations as Treaty People."
Stevenson hopes that Pallister will use his bike trip as a learning opportunity and look deeper into treaty rights, and commit to improving relationships with Indigenous Manitobans.
"With respect to the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, we have to support some of those actions to honour those people," he said.
"Call on everyday Manitobans to call on our leadership, to call on governments to step up and do a little bit more."
Both Stevenson and McCracken called on the Pallister government to begin implementing the TRC's calls to action.
In addition, Stevenson said he would like to see more of a commitment to improving health care for First Nations people.
"I also have family up north who are ridden with chronic disease, chronic illnesses — they have to come into the city for medical," he said.
"For a lot of them there are language barriers, mobility barriers, and for [Pallister] to cut escort services to some of these people who are attending down south for medical … that's not an appropriate way to do it."
The premier's press secretary declined comment, citing the communication blackout during the lead-up to the June 13 Point Douglas byelection, but added his office would be happy to speak about the ride next week.
"I hope that he learns humility, I hope that he hears stories of how to reconcile with more actions versus symbolic," said Stevenson. "I hope he finds his heart within this trail that he's travelling upon."
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