Aboriginal healing group formed in P.E.I.

Prince Edward Island Mi'kmaq who attended the Shubenacadie Residential School in Nova Scotia are starting a healing group in Charlottetown.

About 50 Island Mi'kmaq were sent to the school between 1930 and 1967.

The Shubenacadie Residential School was set up by the federal government and operated by the Catholic Church. Native children were forbidden to speak their language or practice their culture. There was also physical and sexual abuse.

About 200 former residents and their descendants will take part in the healing group.

Kathy Archer, who was sent to the Shubenacadie Residential School when she was 11 years old and suffered abuse there, said the group will offer counselling and provide a chance to renew cultural traditions.

"Hopefully we will be able to have our elders or someone who teaches our language to teach our younger generation to bring back the culture and heal those who really need healing," she said.

The group will be known as the Aboriginal Survivors for Healing Group. It has received a grant of nearly $200,000 from the National Aboriginal Healing Foundation.

Spokesperson Allan Gabriel said the foundation has funded 257 healing groups across the country.

"A lot of them have told us it was difficult in the beginning. The progress they've made is quite encouraging, and we're hearing that kind of story from across the country," he said.