Indigenous people living off-reserve are forging community and connections in P.E.I.

Indigenous people living away from their home territories in Prince Edward Island are finding a sense of community they may be missing with a little help from some friends.

The Native Council of P.E.I. hosts workshops that teach skills like blanket making through its Strengthening Aboriginal Families Effectively (SAFE) program. The goal is to provide cultural support for Indigenous people who don't live on a First Nation reserve. 

Lynn Bradley, a longtime attendee, said the programming has been like medicine for her. 

“Being around my community has filled a void for me and has helped me along my journey immensely,” she said. 

While everyone in the program comes from different First Nations, Bradley said they have formed their own community through their shared experiences and support for one another. 

She's from Six Nations of the Grand River, a Mohawk community west of Toronto. She said being away from her community has made it difficult to connect to her cultural ways at times. 

“We're displaced from our communities, we're displaced from our families, we're displaced from our teachings, our elders, our language," she said.

"Being able to come together with other people who are also experiencing that loss of connection, you form your own connection out of that." 

The SAFE programming has grown over the years and is offered in different communities across the province. 

The people who attend the blanket-making program Bradley is in come from several different Indigenous nations, including Mi’kmaq, Mohawk, Inuit and Cree. 

Bradley said that is what makes their community so unique — they're able to support each other's cultural teachings. 

“It's really neat because I can learn a certain word in Mi’kmaw and then I can talk to one of my friends and learn that same word in Cree,” she said.

What stands out most to Bradley is how close she feels to the people in the program who she now calls her community. 

She has watched several of them grow up, and some now bring their own children to the workshops.