KENORA – The Indigenous relations office on the main floor of Kenora city hall officially opened on Monday.
The office reflects the municipality’s resolve “to develop relations with First Nations” in the area, said Ed Mandamin, the City of Kenora’s Indigenous relations adviser since last June.
“It’s groundbreaking, for sure, because of the fact that this is a brand new division of Kenora, the Indigenous relations department,” he said.
“And we do have a quite a large population of First Nations around Kenora, so it makes sense for them to have an office here, to create the open-door policy for First Nations.”
And it truly is an open-door policy, he said.
“Anybody’s welcome. Anybody that calls Kenora home, anybody that wants to visit Kenora, they can come here and find out what we’re about, what we’re doing and what we plan to do in the future.”
There is great cultural diversity in the Lake of the Woods city, he said, and “we want to celebrate all those cultures, not just the one culture, (because) we all live here together.
“So let’s all celebrate together and let’s make this place one heck of a place to grow up and call home.”
Mandamin, from Iskatewizaagegan (Shoal Lake) #39 Independent First Nation, southwest of the city, is supported at the new office by an executive assistant.
Also, he has contracted Terry Greene, an elder and former band councillor from nearby Niisaachewan Anishinaabe Nation, to perform ceremonial duties such as blessings at groundbreakings for new developments.
Kenora has an imperfect history in Indigenous relations, Mandamin said, “but that’s the reason why the rearview mirror is smaller than the windshield in front, because there’s more to see in the front there is in the back.”
He said he wants to see Kenora develop into a place “to live and to love and to prosper.”
