I always believe in working together with other groups, because the way I see it, in numbers there is more progress.
At one point in time, because I have a background in working on family violence prevention, I had the opportunity to work with the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research. One of the ways I got involved in working with them was in attending a session that they were holding, a workshop. They were talking about the research they were doing on women living with violence in rural and isolated areas. They were doing research and I commented about aboriginal women and their approach, because they were looking at it from the perspective of a prism. It was a prism model they were going to use, different lenses of violence. You may be able to refer to it on their website.
One of the things I referred to was that aboriginal women have evolved from a culture of their own, from a society they knew so well. Through the evolution of colonization, things changed for the women and they were able to adapt easily, based on just their nature of accepting another society. So I talked a little bit about the perspective of aboriginal women, where they're coming from and how that has evolved, from that lens, which is living close to the land and living in sync with the seasons. Today, that is still within them and how they see.
Today's life and today's reality is in upheaval. Those things that used to come so nicely for them, their living in harmony, are not harmonious any more, because they've moved from a matriarchal society to a patriarchal society and they have to live with what we now have.
Well, they don't necessarily have to. They have a choice to embrace who they are as aboriginal women. They can embrace the identity they have. There are still some teachings happening today that allow that, and I think those kinds of cultural teachings still need to continue so they can seek that balance.
The balance is not just with their culture, it's about adapting. We've adapted to what we have today. That adaptation is about the things we can live with, those great things that are being offered to our communities, and based on the hard work that organizations are doing.
I was involved with that research and I was able to bring a perspective and speak to how we can evaluate from an aboriginal perspective the programs being offered within the community. If you look at the program being offered, is it meeting our needs? Is it meeting the needs of the aboriginal population? Whenever they're designed or whoever designs them, is it looking at it through that lens of the aboriginal community?
We're looking at many different aspects of safety for women and at the makeup of our communities. The makeup of our communities was your culture, your community, your school, all of your environments that make up a community. It was a really good project that I was involved with.
In terms of other Atlantic approaches, in terms of health, we take a look at all areas. I'm involved with the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet Atlantic Health Board, and that health board looks at all areas relating to health. Mental health is one of the priority areas. In terms of taking a look at that, we've done our environmental scans and they're Atlantic. A number of initiatives are Atlantic. But there are some challenges as well in terms of trying to reach everyone, because Newfoundland and Labrador sometimes get left out. I can also speak of P.E.I. as well in terms of how things that get developed on a national level don't always get the perspective of P.E.I. or Newfoundland. I think that needs to be looked at.
One of our health technicians--and this is an example--goes to the AFN, or other groups that talk about national frameworks, and they go representing P.E.I. But my concern is, does this person really know what's going on in P.E.I.? And who better yet to speak on behalf of P.E.I. than P.E.I.? I think that in itself should be looked at, because they're closer to the concerns and issues that are going on within the province.
So in respect to the Aboriginal Women's Association, we have it covered because we have the Aboriginal Women's Association of P.E.I., but then we're taking a look at other aspects relating to wellness. Health is a big piece of it. So health always gets talked about. Health is part of your balance. Health means a lot.
When I do my work, I always look at things in a holistic fashion, and I am a big advocate of the medicine wheel. The medicine wheel is about that, your well-being. You have your individual self's balance, you have your family's balance, you have your community's balance, and then you have your broader society, and how those communicate with each other is determined by how we work well together.
I think working well jointly is something that we really need to encourage within the provinces. I think it's great.
