"Winnipeg came together in one, unified strong voice to say, 'Yes, we do have a problem here," Mayor Brian Bowman at the start of a press conference announcing a national summit to deal with race relations. "Cities across our nation have the same problem-intolerance, ignorance, racism."
WINNIPEG, MB-Winnipeg will host a summit on combating racism on September 17-18, hosted by Winnipeg's Mayor Brian Bowman, Metis, and will be held at the Canadian Museum for Civil Rights.
"Winnipeg came together in one, unified strong voice to say, 'Yes, we do have a problem here," Bowman said referring to an article that appeared in the January 22 Maclean's magazine which labeled Winnipeg as "Canada's most racist city."
"Cities across our nation have the same problem-intolerance, ignorance, racism," the mayor states at a press conference at the museum to announce the summit. "We have a problem. It's not Winnipeg's alone but together we, Winnipeg, are ready to lead the nation in the battle to take on racism together."
A lineup of well-known people including award-winning First Nations author Joseph Boyden, winner of the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize, American civil rights leader Dr. Gerald Durley; Rev. Stan McKay, the former moderator of the United Church of Canada and the first Indigenous leader of a Canadian protestant church; and Manitoba treaty commissioner James Wilson.
Joseph Boyden, author of The Orenda and Three Day Walk, will give the keynote address on September 17, followed by a panel discussion.
On September 18, there will be a series of workshops that will discuss topics such as recognizing racism, promoting healthy race relations, and moving towards inclusion and reconciliation.
The first day's event is free but registration filled up the first week after the announcement was made. There is a waiting list and organizers have said they would do their best to accommodate as many on the waiting list as possible.
Details of who is covering the costs for the summit were not issued at press time, however, it was announced that partners included the Government of Manitoba, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.
The mayor was joined at the news conference by James Allum, provincial minister of education, and John Young, the new president and CEO of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Bowman said he believes the summit is "an important first step towards encouraging change in Canadian attitudes. We need to engage Canadians of every background, of every generation, in actively seeking solutions."
There are some that don't feel the summit will be inclusive enough because some of our local First Nations leaders were not invited to participate as speakers or panelists.
The mayor told reporters after the news conference that Winnipeggers want to play a part in combating racism, adding that he expects to see concrete initiatives evolve from the summit.
"No single idea, no single person, no single level of government is going to end racism," Bowman stated, "Sadly, I don't believe we are ever going to end it but we are going to try...We want to recognize things that are going on right now that we can better support and look for sharable ideas that we can implement. This discussion is important but we want to see come out of this more tangible actions that we can support and start, if necessary."
