‘AN INSPIRATION TO MANY’
On Wednesday, human rights activist Muriel Stanley Venne became the first Indigenous woman in Alberta to have a provincial government building — located on 142 Street — named for her.
Human rights activist Muriel Stanley Venne can add to her towering stack of awards an Alberta first.
On Wednesday, she became the first Aboriginal woman to have a provincial government building named for her.
For now, the building is in the midst of renovations; many of its windows are covered in plywood and signs around the property warn of a construction zone.
When completed next spring, the large, squat building at the corner of 142 Street and 123 Avenue will become a multipurpose government centre, bearing the name of a woman who has fought for the rights of Aboriginal women for decades.
Generations down to Venne’s great-grandchildren braved a soggy, cold Wednesday to help her and Premier Rachel Notley unveil the building’s new name.
For Venne, the honour is more than just a name on a building — it sends a message, she said, to her Indigenous sisters in the city, province, and across Canada.
“I hope the naming of this building proves to be an inspiration to many — those who need to be inspired and those who need to know their work is important, to those who need to believe their efforts are not for nothing,” she said.
A LIFE DEDICATED TO HUMAN RIGHTS
A proud Métis woman, Venne recounted Wednesday the early morning phone call she received in 1973 from then-premier Peter Lougheed, asking her to sit on the newly established Alberta Human Rights Commission.
Her work there helped her focus on all Albertans, she said, and the tremendous amount of work that needed to be done to give Indigenous people a real voice.
Speaking at Wednesday’s event, Notley called Venne “an amazing, incredible woman.”
By standing up for women, girls and those who need help, Notley said Venne worked tirelessly to ensure basic human rights for everybody.
“(Venne) is a woman who has fought her whole life to make life fairer and make life more just,” Notley said.
Venne was presented with the Alberta Human Rights Award on the commission’s 25th anniversary, one of many distinctions she has earned. She has also been honoured with the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, the Order of Canada, a national Aboriginal achievement award and a lifetime achievement award from the YWCA.
She also founded the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women, and a booklet she penned, called The Rights Path, was endorsed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Venne isn’t the first in her family be recognized with something named in their honour. Two hamlets in central Alberta — Whitford and Andrew — are named for her great-uncle.