Portage la Prairie MLA Jeff Bereza presented the King's Medal last week to Angela Roulette, executive director of the Women of Mother Earth Network. It's a support group that focuses on women's wellness and raising awareness for related issues.
"When the MLAs were asked about the commemorative King Charles medals, I could think of no person that was more deserving in our community than Angela, for all the work that she does, not only in front of the scenes but behind the scenes, too. She's working with the youth in Portage here and also with her ladies' group and the Christmas dinner that I was able to be part of."
He explains Roulette is the kind of person who is always giving back and doesn't look for anything in return. Bereza says when she arranges to meet with you, it's best that you be there on time, seeing as she knows best, having done a tremendous amount of work for our community.
"I'm so proud and honoured to call Angela my friend, and I'm honoured to be able to present this medal to her."
Roulette reflects on her honour of receiving the King Charles Medal with humility and a deep focus on collective purpose. She explains there are several themes around which her focus is directed in activism and personal philosophy.
Honour and Representation
She says the medal is in recognition not just of her individual efforts, but of her Indigenous community as a whole. Roulette emphasizes pride in being an Indigenous woman honoured for her work, underscoring the importance of visibility for marginalized groups historically excluded from such recognition.
"It's for our people, too, that I'm honoured that I, as an Indigenous woman, received this." She adds, "I thank Jeff [Bereza] for thinking of me," but quickly pivots to collective efforts: "I know that we had a lot of fun at our Christmas dinners. So I thought, okay, he saw that we do, we do do good in the community."
Roulette’s work is deeply rooted in reconciliation efforts and stresses accountability to future generations:
"I don’t ever want my grandchildren to say, ‘Grandma, why didn’t she do something?’"
Her activism includes organizing Christmas dinners, advocating for missing and murdered Indigenous women ("our March for the missing and murdered"), and mentoring youth: "I go to the schools a couple times a week and [am] sharing that message." She also hints at expanding her work: "Man, that just left told us about the human rights thing—maybe it's time we got involved in that too."
She says language is involved, too.
"We’re talking about doing something for the language, reviving the language because that also is a big part. That’s the biggest part of who we are as people." She compares this to immigrant communities in Portage who maintain their heritage languages, advocating for similar resilience: "Just like other cultures… they don’t even have the English language, some of them, but they do learn it, but they also have their language."
Roulette says that she's received more than on similar medal, and they stand as representative of her life’s work.
"I’ve told my children… ‘One day when I’m not here anymore, you guys just take care of those and tell the story of what Grandma used to do.’" Her commitment to justice is driven by a desire to leave a meaningful imprint: "This is what I feel I’m doing… working in the community."