The elected leaders of the Collaborative Leadership Initiative (CLI) made history in March 2019 by coming together to sign a history memorandum of understanding.

On that day these chiefs, mayors, and reeves from the Southern Chiefs’ Organization and Winnipeg Metropolitan Region and formally acknowledged that we need a better way to work together. They decided that the status quo is not enough and committed to collaborating for a better future. 

Unfortunately, in 2020, travel restrictions, meeting size limits, and the safety of communities across Manitoba made it impossible for CLI to continue their meetings in-person.

Despite these challenges, the Collaborative Leadership Initiative was able to meet in October by moving their meeting online.
Thanks to the power of the digital age, the leaders were able to discuss the next steps in pursuing the complex issues of protecting our land, water, and air in Manitoba, despite being scattered across Manitoba.

CLI is all about what we can accomplish when we put aside our differences. When these leaders, who had never all been in a room together, really took the time to get to know each other on a person-to-person level is when they became an amazing task force for nature. Now even when they are not physically in the same room, they can still work together to protect our home.

The Collaborative Leadership Initiative is an ongoing process that is possible thanks to a partnership with the Centre of Indigenous Environmental Resources, the Southern Chiefs’ Organization, and the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region.