The Morden and Winkler area is home to a new representative on an important national committee. The Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Canadian Region Steering Committee has selected Morden-Winkler MLA Carrie Hiebert to represent Manitoba in its network.
CWP-Canadian Region, which was established in 2005, consists of elected women from each provincial and territorial legislature and the federal parliament. The committee strives to establish women as equal partners in Canada’s legislatures and to nurture women politicians of future generations.
“We meet together as a group, and we just further the ideas and the things that we think would be great to help support other women and get girls involved in politics and in public service in our country [and] in our province,” says MLA Hiebert, who is the first woman MLA elected for the Morden-Winkler riding.
MLA Hiebert is now a component of a wide-reaching network across the Commonwealth. All the committees of CWP represent over 3,000 women parliamentarians from 180 Commonwealth national and sub-national Parliaments across nine regions of its parent association, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
The appointment came as a surprise to MLA Hiebert.
“I didn't express any interest,” she says. “Honestly, being a newly elected parliamentarian and woman in my province, I never even thought twice about . . . being able to do this. I was approached and just told that there had been a decision made that I was chosen to represent.”
MLA Hiebert was asked if she would be willing to accept the responsibility. Her response — without hesitation — was yes.
"They thought that I would be a great fit for it, and that I was the right person . . . to represent women [and girls] in our province,” she says. “I was very honoured, and it was very exciting for me to take part in that. They did say, ‘have a little bit of time to think about it,’ but, whenever I have an opportunity to represent my community, my province, the women and girls in our area . . . it [doesn’t] take much for me to say yes.”
In 2023, Manitoba’s 47-seat legislature had 18 women MLAs, a number that is on a rising trend, but still indicates that there is space for more women to be involved. The committee exists precisely to address this gap in representation.
“I'm excited to work together with strong women across the country . . . who are working towards making public service and being an elected official more attractive to other women and [asking] how we can overcome things that are stopping [them] from getting involved,” she says. “It’s not an easy decision to get involved in politics for women. We've got a lot of responsibility in life in general, and so just to kind of encourage other women to step out and try something new and to say that you can do it, those are things that I really get excited about because I did it, and it was hard, but it was worth it. I really love what I do.”
For MLA Hiebert, women in politics offer balance to the governance structure, but there are unfortunately barriers that they face, including poor online treatment that tends to be harsher for women, and financial barriers, to name a few.
“I think there's a fear. There are a lot of people out there that aren't very nice towards politicians in general, but I think women, we definitely have more to overcome in some situations,” she says.
While the barriers can be formidable, for MLA Hiebert, effective government includes women — their lived experiences are an asset to an area’s betterment.
“There are a lot of things happening that I think women have a different perspective on when it comes to governance and how [we can] solve some of these problems,” she says. "Women are such a valuable part of our society and of life.”
The support in the Morden-Winkler area from both women and men is instrumental in reducing the intensity of the barriers that women politicians face, according to MLA Hiebert.
“I've had a lot of great community members who have come alongside me and said, ‘wow, way to go,’ and have just encouraged me along with other women as well,” she says. “I saw different business leaders in the community and women mentors that I had. Those are such important parts of encouraging people and women to get involved in politics, and that was probably what made it for me. The decision to run and become an elected official is because people around me came alongside me and encouraged me, so that's what I want to do. That's my goal — to just encourage and support those around me, [and] mentor younger women who have so many gifts and talents.”
For MLA Hiebert, while everyone, regardless of gender, must do the hard work needed to earn political offices, once that position is achieved, it’s important to encourage and support others on the journey.
As a part of the appointment, MLA Hiebert will attend virtual meetings and an annual conference with CWP’s Canadian Region Steering Committee.
“We meet for two full days discussing different aspects, different projects, things that we can bring forward to help get other women involved,” says MLA Hiebert, who had her first conference with the committee in July. “Just to sit in the same room with each other . . . was really exhilarating. We're all so different but similar.”
July’s meeting generated a new program that MLA Hiebert will begin to implement in Manitoba next year. She plans to invite women from different areas of the province to spend a few days learning about and participating in legislature proceedings.
“[Participants can] see if it's something that they want to do,” she says. “It’s kind of a neat way for a woman or a young woman to get a taste of it — to see what they think of it.”
Ultimately, MLA Hiebert’s appointment to the CWP Canadian Region Steering Committee is a chance to impact the province. She is enthusiastic about the opportunity.
“It's exciting to see women step up into roles that are typically not something that they would be in,” she says.
For more information about the CWA and what it does across the Commonwealth, see its website here.
~With files from Candace Derksen~