'So much more than a grand chief': Leaders pay tribute to late AMC Grand Chief Cathy Merrick

First Nations leaders said they have lost a great leader, a warrior and a powerful voice, but vowed to continue the advocacy work of Cathy Merrick as they paid tribute to the late grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs on Saturday.

"She was so much more than a grand chief," Pimicikamak Chief David Monias said at a Saturday morning news conference, as leaders including Manitoba's premier gathered to mourn Merrick.

"The person you guys knew as a grand chief was first a fellow wife, a mother, a grandmother, a sister and a friend to everybody she knew."

Merrick, 63, was rushed to hospital and pronounced dead after she collapsed while speaking to reporters outside of Winnipeg's law courts on Friday afternoon, shortly after denouncing what she called "a gross miscarriage of justice" following the acquittal of a Manitoba corrections officer charged in the 2021 death of William Ahmo, a First Nations man who was an inmate at the Headingley Correctional Centre.

Tributes for Merrick poured in from across the country Friday, including from Manitoba Métis Federation President David Chartrand, Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Manitoba Lt.-Gov. Anita Neville, as well as several other MLAs, members of Parliament, the Winnipeg Police Service and RCMP. 

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers also held a moment of silence for Merrick before their game Saturday. 

"She was a trailblazer," Willie Moore, the Assembly of First Nations regional chief representing Manitoba, said at Saturday's news conference.

"She made history, and it resonated with a lot of people, and you can see that now [with the] condolences pouring in from coast to coast."

Even when conversations were difficult, Merrick would always leave with a handshake and a hug, said Moore.

Monias said Merrick "worked for the people her entire life."

"And that's how she went — by being the voice for the people who could not speak for themselves, who are not here, who are missing," he said. "She died doing what she does best, [and] for that I am grateful."

Merrick was a problem-solver who brought people together, even in death, said Monias.

"That's the reason why I nominated her [for the AMC role] — because she was the best person for the job," he said.

Merrick is survived by her husband, Todd, three children and eight grandchildren.

Her election as grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs in October 2022 was historic, as she became the first woman to lead the advocacy group in its nearly 35-year history. She was re-elected to the post in July 2024.

Merrick spent over a decade as a band councillor at Pimicikamak Cree Nation (also known as Cross Lake) in northern Manitoba and became the First Nation's chief in 2013 — only the second woman to do so.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, who attended Saturday's news conference, said Merrick's family and community have given permission for her to lie in state at the Manitoba Legislature, since not everyone will be able to attend her funeral in Pimicikamak.

"We have lost our grand chief," he said at the conference.

"Cathy was chosen by the chiefs, but she served all of us as Manitobans."

'We have to continue that fight'

Kinew called Merrick a leading voice in the push for a search of the Prairie Green landfill, north of Winnipeg, for the remains of two First Nations women — Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran — who were slain by a serial killer in 2022.

It's believed their remains were taken to Prairie Green. A search is expected to begin next month.

"At the end of the day, moving ahead with searching Prairie Green is a question of who we are as Manitobans," said Kinew. 

"And now, because of the work of the late Cathy Merrick, we can say that we are a province where [if] somebody goes missing, we go looking."

Grand Chief Garrison Settee of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, the northern Manitoba First Nations advocacy organization that hosted the news conference, said there is "a big void" after the loss of Merrick.

Settee, who is also from Pimicikamak, said people from that First Nation and the 62 others Merrick represented as AMC's grand chief are "at a loss for words."

"Our nation mourns today, as we have lost one of the greatest warriors we've ever had," he said at the conference.

Merrick was a strong advocate for Indigenous and treaty rights, missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and for the protection of land and water, he said.

The late grand chief "never stopped addressing the issues that plagued our people, and she did it till her very last breath, and that's what you call a warrior," he said.

Brokenhead First Nation Chief Gordon Bluesky called Merrick "a very brave soul," who gave "unwavering" support to vulnerable people.

"She was a matriarch to our communities, an ogichidaa ikwe [warrior woman], and she was my friend," Bluesky said with a shaky voice.

Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said Merrick was committed to First Nations people and fighting against systemic issues.

"She died fighting," she said. "We have to continue that fight — it hasn't ended."