Comment: Winnipeg is the most important laboratory for reconciliation in Canada, both in gravity and hope.

Niigaan Sinclair is a columnist and author for the Winnipeg Free Press Winnipeg: Perspectives from Canada's Indigenous Centre.

Over a week in mid-May, Winnipeg hosts an international gathering on Indigenous literature, a city-wide trade show for Indigenous youth, a national Indigenous summit, a provincial conference to discuss Indigenous education, and the Manito Ahbi, one of the largest indoor powwows in North America. .

In addition, the city has officially renamed several main streets to honor the history and languages ​​of the indigenous peoples; the federal government announced a new “Red Shirt” alert system called for by Winnipeg Centre's NDP MP Leah Gazan; The Royal Winnipeg Ballet presented the world premiere of Tlaamin First Nations artist Cameron Fraser-Monroe. T'əl: Wild Man of the Forest.

Did I mention the $100,000 bingo fundraiser sold to support the Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Education Center on Winnipeg's North Side?

But then, of course, there's the trial of Jeremy Skibicki and the other side of the city. Mr. Skibicki admitted to killing four First Nations women: Morgan Harris, Marcedes Mairan, Rebecca Contois and a woman known as Mashkode Bijikiikwe. Police believe the remains of Ms Myran and Ms Harris are in a nearby landfill. But Winnipeg, known for spreading white supremacist rhetoric on social media, says the man will not be criminally charged for mental illness.

Winnipeg is also at the center of legal action brought by several First Nations. The Peguis First Nation, 200 kilometers north of the city, has a $1 billion lawsuit against the federal and provincial governments for damages caused by repeated flooding on Lake Winnipeg. Eight First Nations are also facing a nearly $5 billion lawsuit against all three levels of government over the chronic discharge of untreated sewage into Manitoba's river system, most notably the massive spill into the Red River in February.

This locals-focused week is no exception. It's another turbulent and complicated period, ground zero for the country's most horrific legacies and, with that, its most pressing issue: reconciliation.

In Winnipeg, the outcome of more than 150 brutal but inspiring years of Indigenous-Canadian relations is constantly playing out. You can't pick one moment and call it Canada's most violent or racist city, because Winnipeg is also one of its most cool, inclusive and innovative places.

Winnipeg is not an unspoiled dusty statue on the mantle of Canadian history. It is an ever-evolving project – a city that is making the necessary changes for its future.

It's here that events in support of Indigenous rights and land claims — two uncomfortable topics Canadians often try to avoid — are a regular occurrence.

Here, you can see incredible courage and activism through volunteer community patrols, local residents at NHL and CFL games clapping as territorial affirmations are read, or editing memorials to include previously ignored communities.

A provincial cabinet minister can be held accountable here for spreading false information about residential schools, where the premier could resign because of his divisive attitude towards indigenous peoples, and an intense anti-indigenous election campaign could produce the first premier of a First Nations province.

Here, red shirts float in neighborhood windows, orange shirts hang in businesses and thousands attend an annual ceremony to honor the life of Tina Fontaine, a young First Nations woman lost in tragedy.

One in five people here are Indigenous, and almost all other Winnipeggers work with, live with, or marry Indigenous people.

Canada's future will depend on how meaningfully it engages with Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples have the legal and constitutional rights to determine every land or resource project, but they now have political and social capital on the agenda.

While much of the country is politically choosing the hard right — look at today's premiers — Winnipeg and Manitoba generally offer a roadmap for how to meaningfully engage, consult and work with local communities.

In the five years I've spent as a columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press, I've documented how Canada's racist policies and practices have shaped the city, and how every citizen is involved in the cause of reconciliation — not just because it's a good shirt. wears at the end of September, but because it has become a way of life.

It is by no means perfect. But Winnipeg tells us a lot about where this country has been and where it's going — if Canadians allow themselves to be comfortable with the contradictions.