WINNIPEG – “The drums, the prayers, the songs and the marches of our people woke the sleeping giant a few years back,” states Derek Nepinak, the Assembly of Manitoba Chief Grand Chief. “The giant’s arrows will fly straight and true to the heart of the target each and every time because its vision and heart is clear of the debris of the human experiences and traumas we carry,” added the Grand Chief.
“It will use every available tool of power in order that it will be heard and to ensure its great power is respected”.
The Manitoba Chief says that the voting numbers from First Nations voters helped in a number of ridings to defeat Conservatives and to elect new Members of Parliament.
While some First Nation leaders have worried about the implications of voting the Manitoba Grand Chief does not see that as an issue.
“The sovereignty of the Giant can’t be compromised by detached human processes like voting from prescribed laws in a manmade constitution. The giant knows that the sovereignty of our nations comes from the land; a sovereignty that lives in the air that we breath, the water that we drink, the fire from the sun that burns in our hearts and in the love of our mothers and grandmothers for our young ones…The giant will give the new government an opportunity to help rebuild respectful relationships with indigenous nations”.
“If this government fails to observe the protocols of respect and honour, or perpetuates politically entrenched generations of willful blindness to the existence of indigenous peoples, the giant will swing a great war club again and the reverberations will be felt in the hearts of every person alive around the planet..If you don’t believe me, look to the women leaders who showed us this could happen in 2012!”
