MWF staff recently met with Stephanie Thorassie, Executive Director of the Seal River Watershed Alliance – an alliance of 4 First Nations dedicated to the proposed Indigenous Protection Conserved Area (IPCA), that inhabits 8% of northern Manitoba. We appreciated this time with Stephanie, to listen, and learn firsthand the Alliance’s perspective and objectives for this IPCA, its origins, evolution to date, and how it aligns with the United Nations/Federal Government’s 30/30 initiative. Stephanie, along with her assistant Justice, also respectfully listened to MWF’s sentiments that Manitoba’s public land must remain public and assessable for all of us now, and for future generations to enjoy. As well, that we are concerned and will continue to hold our elected officials accountable on how they manage legal changes, land designations or management of our natural resources, and these decisions must be led by our democratically elected provincial government, not Parks Canada or unelected officials.
We also relayed that there has been a lack of communication and consultation on this project to date, and we were disappointed that our organization’s concerns were not considered before the feasibility study was submitted to the government for signature.
We feel there was mutual consent from both parties (MWF and SRWA) to keep an open dialogue and improve communications going forward. We will keep our members appraised of all future correspondence on this initiative.
