Warrior for Indigenous women
ESKASONI — Karen Bernard believes she is exactly where she was destined to be.
The director of the Jane Paul Indigenous Women's Centre in Sydney has spent her career helping people heal from traumas and the mental illnesses that stem from trauma, like substance use disorder.
Starting her career as an addictions counsellor, Bernard has been a youth outreach worker, resolution support worker and sexualized violence prevention co-ordinator.
"Over the last 20 years, my work hasn't really changed much besides the area of focus," said the We'koqma'q First Nation woman who lives in Eskasoni.
"People I've worked with over the last 20 years, I'm working with some of their children today. And they're all dealing with trauma. Intergenerational empirical historical trauma caused by colonization."
Currently serving her second term as a council member for the Nova Scotia Council for the Status of Women, Bernard is a member of the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association and worked on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Bernard's motivation to help Indigenous women and girls was inspired by the stories she heard and personal experiences.
"It's so important that we live as we are as Indigenous women and we portray ourselves as having the worth that we have. We think we are worthless because that's how people perceived us," she said.
"Hearing the loss of sisters, mothers, family members, gave me more of a drive to continue to do the work that I do."
CULTURE AND HEALING
Through her work, Bernard helps Indigenous people with their healing journey by helping them reconnect to their culture. She's organized workshops for families of missing and murdered Indigenous people, residential school survivors and women who go to the Jane Paul centre in areas like beading, peak cap making, drum making and Weltes (woltestakun or altestakun) — an ancient Mi'kmaq game banned by for decades by the Indian Act.
"One person years ago told me, "Karen, I really think it's a waste of time doing these workshops. That person was non-Indigenous," she said.
"I told them unless you are in the room you will never understand how we are feeling, what we are saying. We gain pride in ourselves as Indigenous women and girls when we learn about our culture, when we learn how to do the things our ancestors did."
A graduate of Cape Breton University, Bernard has completed her courses for her bachelor of education degree but has struggled with finding the time to take eight weeks off work to do the practice teaching requirement.
However, for now, she feels life has put her where she needs to be and she has important work to do.
"What I'm creating is a legacy for us to someday be able to stop the problem of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, to stop the pain from the traumas colonization caused," she said.
"A future of healthy women, healthy daughters, healthy mothers, healthy grandmothers."