Cercle sacré Anishinabe sacred circle

My name is Lili Miller. I am Wolastoquey from Negotqot of Tobique First Nation. I am the mother of a son and daughter. I am an entrepreneur and an artist. I have a background in the education system working with and advocating for children with disabilities. I have had a calling to help those in need since my teenage years and have volunteered for various organizations over the years.

I have been actively connecting with my culture for the last 5 years and understand the barriers, self-imposed and otherwise, to accessing culture, traditions and kinship connections. I understand how the impact of colonization and assimilation has splintered and scattered my brothers and sisters and has made it difficult and unsafe for them to self-identify.

My passion is to use art and traditional practices to help connect people to their stolen culture. I give people the opportunity and the space to learn a traditional artforms so that they can gently begin to learn some of the teachings of our ancestors thus giving them some healing to the intergenerational traumas that so many of us carry.

When the emotional part of the brain is overactive, it overpowers our cognitive, reasoning left brain. By practicing art, we use our right brain which gives our emotional brain time to regulate itself. I believe in art for everyone. People need only to discover which art that works best for them.

I am compelled to bring people together. Our people have a history of being together but society is becoming more and more isolated. I feel it is important to provide Indigenous people the space, opportunity and reason to come together so that they can form connections and heal.