Strong Women Stories (Intro & Ch 1)

This reading tells a story about Gertie Mai Muise of the Mi’kmaq women who travels back home to Newfoundland for a visit. Home for Gertie Mai is a non-status Mi’kmaq community. She had been forced to live away because of the precarious economic situation. This trip home will give her the opportunity to network with the women and help them to deal with the problems they face. Coming home means having a sense of status of your Native heritage; it is something that native people need to do to re-embrace the traditions that return them to their Native community. Coming home can be reconnecting to their communities both physically and emotionally to make them feel at home. Some major problems the Mi’kmaq people are faced with are assimilation and intermarriage are problems the Mi’kmaq people face because the genocide experienced for years has forced those people to attempt to blend in with the dominant culture. Outsiders and academics have established their authority over the Mi’kmaq existence and history. The federal government has encouraged for the Mi’kmaq chiefs to call themselves “Mi’kmaq Descendants”. The Mi’kmaq people are disappearing as a race and women and children are being abused and sexually assaulted. Suicides are taking place because of people wanting to pass on to the spirit world. When Gertie Mai arrived in her hometown she wanted to bring a sense of hope to the community. The gathering took place at a female relative’s home and women and children were in and out throughout the day. She talked about her understanding of traditional concepts of self-determination, attitudes, elders, and about traditional forms of governance and techniques for listening, talking, and justice. By night time the men have rejoined the women and children and there is a new energy that filled every person. A safe environment has been created and much healing work is being done.