For Gina Brooks, a piece of land on Wolastoqey territory has become a place of healing, cultural reclamation and reconnection with traditions disrupted over generations.
But a proposed mine roughly 30 kilometres away has her questioning what the future holds for the land she’s built such a close relationship with.
About six years ago, Brooks purchased property in Stanley Parish, N.B., “to provide a place where I could feel safe, where I could harvest medicine and see myself through this land.”
Since then, she’s built an off-grid home on the property, a communal kitchen, gardens, learning centres and trails, with plans to develop cabins for visitors.
She calls the property Caribou Club, a gathering place where she and other Wabanaki knowledge-keepers host workshops and share on-the-land teachings.
Located north of her community of Sitansisk (St. Mary’s First Nation), the property is a reminder of a landscape Brooks has known since childhood.
Mi’kmaw knowledge keeper Starlit Simon hosts a porcupine quill workshop in the summer at Caribou Club. (UNB Media Services)
She remembers travelling to a nearby stand of ash trees with her father, who harvested the ash to make baskets. Brooks would then ride her bicycle into town, selling the baskets at the hardware store for $20 a piece.
Those experiences with her dad helped shape her understanding of the land.
“He taught me this is our land, not so much that we could exploit it,
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