Neville installed as lieutenant-governor of Manitoba

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This article was published 23/10/2022 (793 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a ceremony complete with fanfare, opera and the sounding of a shofar, Manitoba’s 26th lieutenant-governor was sworn in Monday at the legislature in a first-of-its kind ceremony.

Former Winnipeg South Centre MP Anita Neville became Manitoba’s first Jewish lieutenant-governor, succeeding Janice Filmon, who held the office since June 19, 2015.

The vice-regal ceremony kicked off with traditional trumpet fanfare, the singing of O Canada and a blessing and drum song by Anishinaabe elder Myra Laramee. Canada’s premiere opera soprano Tracy Dahl then raised the domed roof with a performance — something Neville said she hopes becomes a new tradition.

The invocation for Manitoba’s first Jewish lieutenant-governor was delivered by Rabbi Anibal Mass, of Congregation Shaarey Zedek, who followed it by sounding the shofar (ram’s horn).

“It’s a sound that reminds us there’s so much to do to improve this world,” the rabbi told the chamber, before inviting attendees to join him in wishing Neville “Mazel tov.”

Neville, whose family, including her three daughters, grandchildren and brother, joined her in the chamber, talked about her immigrant roots, with grandparents who fled homicidal antisemitism in Eastern Europe, the waves of newcomers who followed and the First Nations who were stripped of their land, their language and family by colonization and residential schools.

Manitoba is made of stories of hope and heartbreak and resilience, said Neville, who has volunteered with the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, Rossbrook House, Manitoba Public Utilities Board, Institute for International Women’s Rights, and Operation Ezra.

For there to be reconciliation, healing and growth, lifelong learning will be key, said Neville.

“I intend to focus on education as a central theme of my tenure. Education is key to reconciliation,” said the former chairwoman of the Winnipeg School Division, quoting former senator and Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada chairman Murray Sinclair.

“‘Education got us into this mess and education will get us out of it.’”

Filmon and her husband, former premier Gary Filmon, attended the ceremony in the chamber packed with MLAs and dignitaries including former premier Greg Selinger, Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman and three former Manitoba lieutenant-governors: Philip Lee, Yvon Dumont and Pearl McGonigal.

Representatives of the judiciary and Canadian Armed Forces and a visitor’s gallery full of Neville’s invited guests also attended.

The oath of office was administered by Manitoba Court of Appeal Chief Justice Richard Chartier, while Premier Heather Stefanson welcomed Neville, and Liberal MP Dan Vandal (St. Boniface—St. Vital) applauded her appointment.

“You get a sense of the energy and commitment she brings to everything she does,” said Vandal, who delivered an address on behalf of the federal government.

While the lieutenant-governor’s non-partisan role is largely ceremonial — granting Royal Assent to bills so they become law and ensuring there is a premier and government in place who can command a majority in the legislature — it also provides a kind of constitutional backstop, said University of Manitoba political studies professor emeritus Paul Thomas.

If a premier or government as a whole is breaching the constitutional order (which happens rarely) the lieutenant-governor may act, Thomas said Monday.

“The (lieutenant-governor) in Alberta recently declared publicly that she might reserve the sovereignty bill that the premier was proposing to pass to block federal intrusions into provincial constitutional territory,” he said. “There is an ancient constitutional rule that a lieutenant-governor can reserve a dangerous provincial bill for approval by the (Governor General) in Ottawa.

“Most constitutional scholars believe that provision in the Constitution Act of 1867 is now a dead letter,” said Thomas, adding he doesn’t think it’s been used for nearly a century.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca