by Lewis Rendell Anishinaabe freelance writer in Halifax, NS

Reached at her home in Pictou Landing First Nation, in the company of her energetic puppy as the rain fell on her medicine garden on a gloomy winter morning, Michelle Peters had a lot to say. Drawing on the wisdom and power of the past and energized by the promise of the future, she’s ready to continue breaking barriers.

Michelle is the first Mi’kmaq social worker to be registered with the Nova Scotia College of Scotia Workers in private practice.

Asked about her groundbreaking achievement, she answers with her signature humility, “I was proud of myself. I didn’t feel any reason to boast about it, but I was certainly feeling great breaking glass ceilings. But the more that I reflected on it, I thought, ‘Why am I in 2022 the first Mi’kmaw woman to be registered in private practice. What is going on, where is the gap?’ I think it was an epiphany moment for a lot of people.

This is great, but we’re missing something here. We have lots of social workers, so why are there not more Mi’kmaw people in clinical practice at this level? I don’t have all the answers to that, that’s a question we’re trying to address.”

To Peters, it’s not about her, but rather about who comes up next. She’s encouraged by the number of Indigenous students she sees entering the social work sphere. “All the narratives that have been said about us as Indigenous people from the colonial perspective has really impacted us in a very large way. Th ...

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