September 3, 2025
Dear Editor,
When Anne and I returned to Cape Breton in 1980, we were welcomed with open arms by many, including the good people of the We’koqma’q community. Ben and Marie Sylliboy became friends, and Marie volunteered to be the bookkeeper, board member, and treasurer when we were starting L’Arche Cape Breton. Ben and Marie took the chance to hire me to build kitchen cabinets in their home and once I completed that job several other Mi’kmaw families hired me. Many of the We’koqma’q friends volunteered to create the new, emerging community. Ben became the Grand Chief, and he was very concerned about a federal policy that prevented small option homes, group homes, and vocational programs on reserves in Canada. As residential school survivors, he and his two sisters, Theresa and Magit didn’t want to see family members removed from their community and end up in institutions.
It is 25 years since the three residential school survivors asked me to help them start Mawita’mk (Being Together), for Mi’kmaw people with disabilities. We pulled together a group of Mi’kmaw volunteers, and we incorporated as a new charitable organization. We highlighted the federal policies and federal neglect as a human rights issue. Eventually, after a lot of struggles, we were able to start Ni’kinen in 2007, as the first group home in Canada on reserve.
Mawita’mk has grown and prospered. Rosie Sylliboy has been the executive director for many years and is doing a wonderful job with her staff and volunteers. Norma Gould is president. Mawita’mk is not funded by the band or the province but by Indigenous Services Canada. The feds are still neglectful, and their funding and support is much less than the provincial funding. Our members are aging in place, but their higher needs and their medical needs are not recognized by the funding model. Mawita’mk needs to renovate an existing building into a new accessible community home for three more people. We also need a new van to replace our old vehicle that is no longer safe. Neither project is eligible for federal funding.
I have been honoured to volunteer with and be welcomed by Mawita’mk over the past 25 years. It has been one of the great gifts of my life. As we reflect on reconciliation this month, and wear our orange shirts, I am asking you to think of supporting Mawita’mk as a gesture of peace and friendship. I know the finances of Mawita’mk, and I can assure you that this is a worthwhile cause that is in need. I continue to be pleased to donate my time and money. If you want to learn more about this work of reconciliation that residential school survivors started, you can log onto the website at www.mawitamk.org or you can log into www.canadahelps.org and search Mawita’mk. All donations are tax deductible.
Thanks,
Tom Gunn
Mulgrave
