Indigenous leaders say they have lost a great leader, warrior and powerful voice, but vowed to continue Cathy Merrick’s advocacy work as they paid tribute to the late Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs on Saturday.
“She was more than a great chief,” Pimicikamaq Nation Chief David Monias said at a news conference Saturday morning where leaders, including the Manitoba premier, gathered to mourn Merrick.
“The person you all knew as a great chief was first and foremost a wife to her colleagues, a mother, a grandmother, a sister and a friend to all she knew.”
Merrick, 62, collapsed while speaking to reporters outside a Winnipeg courtroom on Friday afternoon, moments after denouncing the “gross miscarriage of justice” following the acquittal of Manitoba correctional officers charged with involvement in the 2021 death of Indigenous man William Amo, who was an inmate at Headingley Correctional Centre, and was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Tributes to Merrick poured in from across the country on Friday, including from Manitoba Metis Federation president David Chartrand, Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Manitoba Lieutenant Premier Anita Neville, several other provincial MPs, members of Parliament, Winnipeg police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers also held a moment of silence for Merrick before their game on Saturday.
“She was a pioneer,” Willie Moore, regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations, which represents Manitoba, said at a news conference Saturday.
“She made history and touched the hearts of so many. [with the] Condolences have poured in from all over the United States.”
Even when the conversation was difficult, Merrick always left with a handshake and a hug, Moore said.
Monias said Merrick had “worked for people his whole life.”
“She died speaking up for those who can’t speak for themselves, for those who aren’t here, for those who are missing,” he said. “She died doing what she did best. [and] I am thankful for that.”
Merrick was a problem solver who brought people together, even after his death, Monias said.
“That’s why I nominated her. [for the AMC role] “Because she was the best person for the job,” he said.
Merrick is survived by her husband, Todd, three children and eight grandchildren.
Her election as chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs in October 2022 was historic, as she will be the first woman to lead a chief position in the advocacy group’s nearly 35-year history. She will be up for re-election in July 2024.
Merrick served as tribal councillor for the Pimicikamaq Cree Nation (also known as Cross Lake) in northern Manitoba for more than a decade, and was installed as the tribe’s chief in 2013, becoming only the second woman to hold the position.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said Merrick’s family and community members had given permission for her to be given a state funeral at the Manitoba Legislature because not everyone could attend Merrick’s funeral in Pimicikamak.
“We have lost a great chief,” he told the meeting.
“Kathy was selected by the chiefs, but she served all of us as Manitobans.”
“We have to keep fighting.”
Kinew identified Merrick as the man leading a search of the Prairie Green Landfill north of Winnipeg for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Mylan, two Indigenous women murdered by a serial killer in 2022.
The body is believed to have been taken to Prairie Green and the search is due to begin next month.
“At the end of the day, moving forward with the search for Prairie Green is about who we are as Manitobans,” Kinew said.
“And now, thanks to the work of the late Kathy Merrick, we can say we are a state that goes out and searches when someone goes missing.”
Grand Chief Garrison Settee of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, a northern Manitoba Indigenous advocacy group that hosted the news conference, said Merrick’s death leaves a “huge hole.”
Settee, a Pimicikamaq native, said his First Nation and the 62 other tribes that Merrick represented as paramount chief of the AMC were “left speechless.”
“Today our nation mourns the loss of one of the greatest warriors it has ever known,” he told the conference.
Merrick was a strong advocate for Indigenous and treaty rights, missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and land and water protection, he said.
He said the late chief “never stopped working on issues that plagued his people and he continued to do so till his last breath. That is what you call a warrior.”
Broken Head First Nation Chief Gordon Bruskey called Merrick an “extremely brave soul” who provided “unwavering” support to vulnerable people.
“She is the matriarch of our community; Ogichidaa Ikwe [warrior woman]”She was my friend,” Blue Sky said in a trembling voice.
Assembly of First Nations Chief Cindy Woodhouse-Nepinak said Merrick was committed to serving First Nations people and fighting systemic problems.
“She died fighting,” she said. “We have to continue that fight. It’s not over yet.”
