Premier Wab Kinew presented the heroes from the first response team for their work at the Carberry Tragedy last year with the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt.
With Kinew, was Honourable Lisa Naylor, the Minister for Transportation and Infrastructure, Honourable Ron Kostyshyn, Minister for Agriculture, Mr. David Pankratz, the Special Envoy for Military Affairs, and MLA Jodie Byram, the member for Agassiz and the Carberry area.
Representatives of first responder teams were presented with Manitoba's Order of the Buffalo Hunt, established in 1957 and originally conferred on people who, though not necessarily residing in Manitoba, were known to be kindly disposed toward Manitoba. The award is accompanied by a certificate of membership signed by the premier and sealed with the Great Seal of Manitoba.
The first recipient of the award was Queen Elizabeth II, and subsequent members include Mother Teresa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Burton Cummings, Randy Bachman, and many other accomplished individuals and organizations.
After the Order of Manitoba Act was given Royal assent in 1999, the Order of the Buffalo Hunt was reconfigured to honour organizations, sporting teams and community groups, with the most recent recipients being the RCMP D Division on their 150th anniversary and the Grey Cup winning Winnipeg Blue Bombers. On Monday, October 28, the Carberry tragedy first response team joined this very select group who have demonstrated outstanding skills in the areas of leadership, service, and community commitment to the people of Manitoba.
First responders from the Carberry North Cypress-Langford Fire Department, Brandon Fire and Emergency Services, Neepawa Volunteer Fire Department, Shared Health Emergency Response Services, STARS air ambulance and Manitoba RCMP, as well as provincial call takers and dispatchers, were inducted. Pilots and medical staff who were on board two Saskatchewan government fixed-wing air ambulance (Lifeguard) flights that responded and transported patients from Brandon to Winnipeg were also inducted.
It was noted that the families of the victims of this tragedy continue to grieve the loss of their loved ones, and a moment of silence was made to honour the lives lost on June 15th, 2023.
Those who were given the Order of the Buffalo Hunt on behalf of the 134 first responders who were honoured include Keith Loney, fire chief of the Carberry North Cypress-Langford Fire and Rescue, Yves Guillas, fire chief of the Neepawa Volunteer Fire Department, Terry Parlow, chief, and Kevin Garrioch of Brandon Fire and Emergency Services, and Ryan Schenk and Grant Winder from the Office of the Fire Commissioner. they received the framed certificate and statuette on behalf of all recipients.
These chiefs signed the official registry during the ceremony.
Historically, there's only been one certificate and one statuette for every Order of the Buffalo Hunt, these pieces of history will be stored in Carberry, and the copy of that certificate, and the names of all recipients there were inscribed in the official registry and each were given a copy to display to honour their heroism.
The Premier addressed the crowd, noting he was honoured to be in a room filled with heroes.
"That's why the province of Manitoba and the citizens of Manitoba want to say thank you. When I think of heroes, I think of people who run toward the danger, while the rest of us are running away. On that fateful day, that's what you folks did. And part of the reason why we wanted to gather and pay tribute is that I know not only did you go above and beyond, not only did you save lives, not only did you have each other's backs, I can only imagine that you took some stuff home with you that day, as well. wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the families who lost loved ones, the survivors, and everyone really affected directly and through family and friend connections of this terrible tragedy."
He added they had the opportunity to gather in Dauphin and many present were there to pay tribute to them at that time, as well as in Carberry.
"I want to thank the municipal and community people who came together to make those amazing monuments and memorials so that we never forget the people that were lost and the impacts on our fellow Manitobans. But I thought it was important for us to also take a moment to acknowledge you, express our gratitude, and express our support on an ongoing basis for each of you. I first started thinking about this more than a year ago when we visited Dauphin for the memorial. That happened in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. There were a number of faith leaders who prayed on that day. While respecting the privacy of the person that I had a very memorable interaction with, I can tell you that while we were visiting there, I shook hands with a group of firefighters and first responders from Carberry. And for whatever reason, while I was shaking one gentleman's hand, we just kind of locked eyes. And without going into too much detail, we had a bit of a moment there. And that's what reminded me of the work that you put in each and every day. All of us are human. You can't help but be affected by that."
Kinew promised support from the province with mental health and all the resources necessary and what these heroes require to continue doing their jobs.
"The province of Manitoba, the province of Manitoba, owes you a tremendous debt of gratitude and we had to do something public to acknowledge the significance of what you did. And so I hope that as you're on your own journeys to process, heal, and to reflect on what you have done to serve your fellow Manitobans, may this be some measure of encouragement and reassurance for you, that your good deeds do not go unnoticed. In fact, we valourise them, we uplift them, and on behalf of the people of Manitoba, what you did that day represents the best of this province; stepping into action without second thought, running into a situation where you didn't necessarily know all the parameters of what you were dealing with, and putting the collective good ahead of your own personal considerations. To me, that represents the best of what Manitoba, and indeed Canada, are all about."
The Premier shared that it's his first time awarding the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, and added he couldn't think of a better group of people to acknowledge than these people. Kinew said firefighters and First Responders from Carberry and Neepawa -- some of the first conversations he had about the situation -- he wanted to share how their immediate response should be honoured and the province wanted to do something to acknowledge it.
"They said, 'Okay, but you have to include the RCMP, you have to include STARS, you have to include the paramedics, you have to include the people who work for Prairie Mountain, and the people who work for Shared Health, because we didn't do this alone. This was a team effort.' So, even when it was time to say thanks, there is that same attitude of humility and wanting to make sure that everyone on the team got their due. When I said at the start this is a room full of heroes, I mean that with the utmost of sincerity. I and the rest of the people of this province stand in awe of what you do on a given day. And this is our turn to say thank you. Thank you so much for your service. Thank you for indulging us today and helping to honour you in this auspicious occasion and most of all, on behalf of everyone with beating heart, we really appreciate the sacrifice and the tool that you're willing to put in and to serve the idea of something greater than yourselves; so much mercy. Thank you very much."
In closing, the master of ceremonies added that in addition to those being honoured Monday, he'd also like to recognize other first responders who indirectly assisted in the response. For example, while the frontline members of the Medical Transportation Coordination Centre were there, other members of that team coordinated the movement of other patients to the most appropriate facilities to accommodate for this first response all across the province.
"These staff, too, exemplify dedication and resilience, making a profound impact on the safety and well-being of all Manitobans and the absolute same can be said for other departments such as the Virtual Emergency Care and Transfer Resource Service. Stars are a medical response and, of course, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Thank you."