On October 18 2023, the first ever Indigenous premier of a Canadian province was sworn in as the Premier of Manitoba. His swearing in ceremony took place at the new conservatory in Assiniboine Park, The Leaf, to accommodate the large gathering. This location, and many other elements of the ceremony can be seen to signal a new and inclusive approach to governing.

The ceremony was rich with symbols, protocols and languages of the various Indigenous people who live in Manitoba. It began with lighting a qulliq, a traditional Inuit oil lamp. Later, the Norman Chief Memorial Dancers, a Métis music and dance group performed a Red River Jig. Traditional Dakota drumming and singing were shared by the Sioux Valley Hotain Singers.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Wab Kinew lifts a pipe during a chief song at his swearing-in ceremony at The Leaf on Wednesday.

Manitoba’s Lieutenant-Governor, Anita Neville, the representative of the Crown, administered the oath of office to the new Premier. Wab Kinew, an Anishinaabe man, wore a ceremonial headdress and held his pipe as he took his oath, rather than swearing on a Bible. Pipes have a great spiritual significance in Anishinaabe and other Indigenous cultures. They are ceremonial objects, and are understood to be persons, other-than-human persons. In the Anishinaabe language (anishinaabemowin) and in other indigenous languages of the region, according to Matthews, Roulette and Wilson, “pipes are spoken of as if they were a dignified and powerful Elder with work to do. The verbs used to speak of their actions are identical to those used for a human person”. Pipes, which are made of two parts, a stem and a bowl, become “animate” when they are used in ceremony and take on the role of other than human persons, a role in which they can act as teachers, diplomats and communicators.

Pipes played these important ceremonial roles in the negotiations of the numbered treaties that the Crown and First Nations entered across the prairies. They played this role through their ability to communicate with “spirit entities” which exist in the same geographical space as humans living their lives, but they can only be visited in dreams. As Matthews, Roulette and Wilson explain, “clouds or the morning mist would be said to indicate the proximity of unseen spirits. This is the type of experience referred to by the Anishinaabe word “manidoobaa, where the spirit exists”. An anglicized version—Manitoba—is the name of our province. When the smoke of a peace pipe dissipates, it is said to be “going there”. It is understood to be crossing that intangible border between this world and the spirit world.”

Communicating beyond Words

In swearing his oath of office while holding his pipe, Premier Kinew conveyed all the spiritual importance and power of pipes inside a tradition and ceremony that is steeped in the colonial origins of our British parliamentary system that has historically excluded Indigenous people and their concerns. He conveyed, beyond mere words, that new approaches would be brought to “serving [Manitobans] and the future generations that will someday walk these lands.”

Kinew’s implicit and explicit messages of strength for Indigenous peoples was echoed by many of the speakers including the Chief of War Lake First Nation, Betsy Kennedy: “Together, we can forge a path that not only fulfills our dreams, but also sets an example for all of Canada… It tells the world that voices of our people matter.” She promised Premier Kinew that he “will inspire generations to come. You have inspired our youth today. And I’m sure that they will follow in your footsteps.”

Bridging Traditional Ways

Kinew campaigned on a commitment to unity and inclusion. Greetings were shared from all seven Indigenous groups within the province and Indigenous languages were heard throughout the ceremony. The opening and closing prayers were full of Christian references, as the Christian faith still plays an important role in the lives of many northern communities.  As Niigaan Sinclair wrote in the Winnipeg Free Press:

It was a perfect example of how Indigenous communities navigate a complicated relationship with Christianity, but find dynamic ways to bridge traditional ways with it.

Sinclair sees strong parallels between the “evangelical and fervent Christianity many in the North embody” with the “passion, love and devotion for Christianity” that can be found in the rural southwest of the province, the stronghold of the defeated Progressive Conservative Party, and the core of the rural-urban divide that often characterizes political battles in this province. As Sinclair noted, at the swearing in, “the opening and closing words were full of teachings of Jesus and calls to the Lord — words that might appeal as much to those who voted against [Kinew and his party] as for them.” In this insightful way, Premier Kinew exercised his religious literacy, recognizing the significance of spirituality (in its religious and non-religious forms) to his many constituents. Through religious literacy, he skillfully acknowledged everyone and found a way to bring people together.

The ceremony to swear in the first Indigenous premier of a Canadian Province offers a beautiful example of how we can create spaces for diverse religious communities to work together to build a more inclusive world.

Lorna A. Turnbull is an engaged community member, a mother of three, and a professor and former Dean in the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba.  Her teaching subjects include Income Tax Law and Policy, Children, Youth and the Law, Human Rights, Family Law, Legal Systems and Legal Methods and she teaches in French and English. Her research is focused on equality and inclusion. She is also a CCRL Board Member.

To read other ways to use religious literacy, check out other Thought Corner contributions here: https://ccrl-clrc.ca/religious-literacy-resources/thought-corner/