‘It’s up to us’: A Mi’kmaq mother’s killing drives Cape Breton community to action – The Globe and Mail

When Cassidy Bernard was killed in her home last fall, she left behind twin baby girls – and a family and community that rallied to care for them. The people of We’koqma’q are pressing for answers and reforms to the systemic problems behind violence against Indigenous women and girls

The familiar voice fills the living room overlooking Bras d’Or Lake as if from another dimension. It’s a low chant sung in Mi’kmaq, crisp with consonants, rising and falling to the tempo of Itsy Bitsy Spider, then tapering to a near whisper.

The recording plays while 16-month-old twins Paisley and Mya toddle into the arms of a circle of aunts and cousins, digging into their purses and flashing toothy grins. They are everyone’s babies now.

“It’s the way we were raised,” says grandmother Mona Bernard. “In my culture, there’s no such thing as an orphan. There’s no such word in our language, only the Mi’kmaq word sitnaqn. It means that the child is growing up without the mom but with love.”

Read More: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-its-up-to-us-a-mikmaq-mothers-killing-drives-cape-breton/