The Blog

Follow along as we work towards systems change and help create better outcomes for kids in our community.

Welcome!

August 20, 2014

Hello and welcome to the Winnipeg Boldness Project blog! We thank you for taking the time to visit our website and read about our project!

We’re very excited about our blog, as it’s here that we’ll be able to share real time updates from the project. There will be news and interesting goings-on, but most importantly, we’ll be sharing knowledge and discoveries that we collect throughout our community action research process.

Rather than a common research process where data is collected, assembled, and then made public after the whole process is complete, we want to make sure that we’re engaging the community throughout our process.  In a sense, we’ll be “checking in” to make sure that what we’re hearing and interpreting is correct and resonates within the North End. We want you, the reader (viewer/listener/contributor!), to be aware and engaged in what we’re doing so that you can experience our work developing before your eyes instead of behind a curtain.

We’ll be updating the blog on a regular basis to share interesting stories, ideas, pictures, videos, etc. Let us know what you think in the comments section and provide any suggestions or feedback!

Thanks very much for reading and we hope that you visit often to keep in touch with The Winnipeg Boldness Project!

Land Acknowledgement

The Winnipeg Boldness Project resides in and works on the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe), Anishinabewaki (Oji-Cree), Dené, Michif Piyii (Métis), Nêhiyawak (Cree), and Očhéthi Sakowin (Dakota). We recognize that we have benefited from and continue to benefit from colonization on the Treaty 1, Treaty 3, and Treaty 5 Territories.

It is important to also acknowledge how we benefit in this territory at the cost to Indigenous Peoples. Winnipeg has been drinking clean water for over a century via an aqueduct from Shoal Lake. In 1917, 3000 acres of Treaty 3 was declared property of the city of Winnipeg to build the aqueduct. This aqueduct was built over ancestral burial ground, to build these structures, the ancestors were disinterred and reburied. Construction of the aqueduct changed the waters significantly, causing the peninsula to become a man-made island. This now isolated Nation faced many challenges as a direct result from this aqueduct; Necessities like water, groceries, schools, and mail were only accessible via the dangerous trek to the mainland. Lives of adults and children were lost crossing to and from the mainland. Freedom Road, an all-weather road access finally opened summer 2019, over a century after displacement. This road, a testament to the success of Indigenous-led solutions, helps bring materials to build schools and a water treatment plant.

“I always think of it, even when I turn on the tap I’m like this comes from our community and this water probably contains our ancestors and the spirits of our ancestor. I think about the hardships of the people from Shoal Lake 40 who have gone through so many things for the benefit of Winnipeg’s drinking water,” says Angelina McLeod.1

Another benefit we reap in Winnipeg at a cost to Indigenous Peoples and land is the Hydro Electricity Development in Treaty 5. To optimize water movement for greatest power production the Province of Manitoba increased waterflow by creating the Churchill River Diversion in 1976. The modification of the waterflow caused flooding, shoreline erosion, and changes to water quality. This destruction of habitat has caused disruption to waterway travel, fishing, and hunting.

  1. https://www.aptnnews.ca/facetoface/spirits-of-our-ancestor-shoal-lake-40-is-rectifying-a-century-of-hardships/