Manitobans will be able to pay their respects to the late Cathy Merrick, the first woman elected to lead the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, on the legislature grounds before a formal funeral takes place in her home community of Pimicikamak Cree Nation.
The morning after her sudden death, Premier Wab Kinew announced the AMC grand chief would lie in state with the blessing of her family.
“There are so many lives that she touched,” Kinew said at a news conference organized at Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak’s Winnipeg headquarters on Saturday.
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Cathy Merrick collapsed while speaking with reporters Friday afternoon outside the Winnipeg law courts.
“Not everybody is going to have a chance to come to Pimicikamak to mourn her so we want to have a forum for you to express your grief and an opportunity for you to pay her tribute.” Pimicikamak, also known as Cross Lake, is about 500 km north of Winnipeg.
Merrick collapsed outside the Winnipeg law courts on Friday afternoon while speaking with reporters about corrections officer Robert Jeffrey Morden’s acquittal in the 2021 death of Headingley jail inmate William Ahmo.
The grandmother and outspoken advocate for Indigenous rights was pronounced dead in hospital. She was 62.
Numerous political leaders from across the country have shared their condolences over the last 24 hours.
Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter
Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., Maggie was an intern at the Free Press twice while earning her degree at Ryerson’s School of Journalism (now Toronto Metropolitan University) before joining the newsroom as a reporter in 2019. Read more about Maggie.
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