Manitoba Indigenous affairs minister resigns

Manitoba’s Indigenous affairs minister has stepped down from Premier Brian Pallister’s cabinet following controversial comments Pallister made about colonial settlers – comments he says he stands by.

CTV News Winnipeg confirmed on Wednesday that Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Eileen Clarke, the PC MLA for Agassiz, has left the position.

The move comes a week after the premier made comments about colonial settlers in the wake of the toppling of statues by Indigenous protestors.

“The people who came here to this country before it was a country and since, didn’t come here to destroy anything – they came here to build, they came to build better,” Pallister said following the toppling.

“What these people have done – our ancestors – is they have given us a heritage.”

On Wednesday, Pallister said he stands by the comments he made, and said his government is focused on working with Indigenous groups.

The premier added he has ‘tremendous respect’ for Clarke’s work, but would not say what reasons Clarke gave regarding her resignation.

“Cabinet ministers, like all of us, have the opportunity to decide on their own future,” Pallister said. “I respect Eileen’s decision.”

On Wednesday, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) Interim Grand Chief Leroy Constant – who called Pallister’s comment ‘abhorrent and offensive’ – said the AMC was disappointed to hear of Clarke’s resignation, but commends her decision.

“Ms. Clarke has had a difficult job over the last several years, a job that is difficult at the best of times,” Constant said in a statement.

“However, the difficulty has been exacerbated recently by a tense First Nations’ relationship with the Premier, a global pandemic and the province’s difficult journey of truth and reconciliation with First Nations peoples in this province.”

A statement from her constituency office says Clarke will not be responding to media requests at this time out of respect for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs election Wednesday.

A notice from the province Wednesday afternoon says the premier will be announcing new cabinet ministers on Thursday morning.

Source: CTV News