Manitoba Grand Chief Cathy Merrick lies in state in provincial legislature

The long day of wakes began much like the previous night had ended: with prayers and songs lifting up the spirit of the late Grand Chief Cathy Merrick, the leader of 63 First Nations across Manitoba, who died suddenly last week.As the sun rose Wednesday, hundreds of people enclosed the Oodena Circle, a natural shallow on the shoreline facing the confluence of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers in Winnipeg that has been a sacred meeting site for Indigenous peoples for more than 6,000 years.