On the Radar

MAXINE PEIGAN KNOWS FIRST-HAND what it’s like to run out of options. She’s determined not to let that happen to the children and young women she guides and supports through the Auntie Program. She developed and facilitates the program for Indigenous children at schools in and around Regina. Over eight weeks, Peigan introduces the kids to historical practices, ceremonies, Indigenous medicines and self-care routines, all while facilitating discussions about social pressures, addiction, grief and loss.

The program is inspired by her six nieces, aged five to 16. It’s all about nurturing the love and kinship that Peigan received from a special auntie who helped to guide her as a girl. When she left her home on the Pasqua First Nation treaty territory, she was just 16, and she fell into a life of drugs and alcohol. But her auntie always stayed close, bringing her clothes and looking in on her. “She was that auntie in my life — and ’til this day, she’s still like that with me. She still calls, checks in and visits.”

That loving support inspired her at 17 to return to her community and school. She later completed training as a registered mental health therapist. The girls she works with today, Peigan says, face a variety of traumas, from the legacy of residential schools and intergenerational trauma to struggles with addictions and the pressures of social media and life online. “We’re dealing with a lot of triggers and trauma,” says Peigan, who aims to instill optimism about the future. “I want this program to show youth that there is hope to heal. It is our responsibility to heal no matter what has been done, because we’re not defined by trauma, right?” And that’s where an auntie’s love can make all the difference.