The poet and the politician: Sisters at heart of Indigenous life on P.E.I.

They both agree that Darlene Bernard, the older of the two, has always been the more outspoken one.

Whether it's upholding treaty rights with the government of the day or challenging leaders within her own Mi'kmaw community, if it needs to be said, she won't hesitate to say it.

So it's no wonder Darlene, sitting alone in the car with young Julie at a gas station while the adult with them went inside to pay, was the one to come clean: She wasn't really Julie's aunt.

"She casually looked over and she said, 'You know I'm your sister, right?'" Julie Pellissier-Lushrecalled in a recent interview. "I said, 'No, you're not.' And she went, 'Yeah, I am.'"

Julie's dad had some explaining to do when he returned to the car. It was true, he said when confronted by the two strong-willed girls. Theyand their brother Philip have the same mother. She died of cancer when Julie was four.

"I spent the whole way home reevaluating it all and going, 'Well, I have a sister. You know, this is amazing,'" Julie said.

"But at the same time, I didn't know exactly what it meant."

'The poet and the politician'

Eventually, she would know. While their childhoods would end up going in vastly different directions from that time on, their bond and shared values have helped shape them into two of the most powerful Mi'kmaw leaders on P.E.I.

Darlene Bernardis the chief of Lennox Island First Nation. Julie Pellissier-Lushis P.E.I.'s poet laureate.

"We're the poet and the politician," Bernard says proudly.

Their resemblance is obvious, and people sometimes mistake one for the other. Islanders don't have to look far to see images of them.

Pellissier-Lush's smiling face is on a sign welcoming people to P.E.I. National Park. If there is a significant community event on P.E.I., she will likely be there. She even sang a Mi'kmaw song during an invitation-only ceremony in Charlottetown marking the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Bernard often appears in the news, offering insight and opinions on events such as Pope Francis's apology to residential school survivors, the Mi'kmaw lobster fishery and the ongoing development of Lennox Island.

Both are involved with Truth and Reconciliation Day on P.E.I.

"We're both leaders in our own right," Bernard said. "She's leading the cultural part that's so vital to the work that I want to do and see happen My role is to lead. So I need these people to support me and my vision, and I think that that's my strength, is I can build relationships."

Diverging paths

To each other, they are not only sisters, but confidantes.

"When the word starts crashing, she's the first one I lean to," said Pellissier-Lush.

It was Bernard, in fact, who convinced her sister to move back to Prince Edward Island.

While Bernard was raised by her grandmotherDorothyon Lennox Island, married an Acadian truck driverfrom Evangeline who conveniently had the same last name, and raised her own family on P.E.I., Pellissier-Lush moved away with their father, who was trying to find work as a church minister.

They lived in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba. Pellissier-Lush hung on to that conversation she had with her sister in the car at the gas station.

"It was lonely, so feeling like I had some connection with somebody else out there in the world made me happy."

Living in Manitoba was her most difficult time, she said. Unlike Ontario, where she says she was seen as sort of an "Indian princess," the racism she felt in Winnipeg was often too much to bear.

One of her high school classmates even went on to become a member of Ku Klux Klan.

I was trying to be somebody who I wasn't, and I wasn't up for that or trying to defend who I am all the time.Julie Pellissier-Lush

"He had so much hate for me just because of who I was," she said. "And that's why I ended up actually leaving school."

"I didn't want to finish Grade 11. I was done. I was emotionally spent. I was trying to be somebody who I wasn't, and I wasn't up for that or trying to defend who I am all the time."

Even people she thought were her friends would let her down. If something got stolen, she said, they would accuse one of her people.

"At the same time, they'd also say things like, 'Oh, you know, the native people get this and they do that and they do this, but not you. Not you. You're a good one.' And it would almost, like, twist it even worse. Like, you feel that in your heart."

Pellissier-Lush was 17, living on her own and working at Robin's Donuts in Winnipeg, when she met her future husband, "a young Newfoundlander with these crystal-clear blue eyes" who would keep coming in and ordering a double-double.

She ended up finishing high school and then graduating from the University of Winnipeg.

Persuaded to come back

Meanwhile, the sisters did their best to stay in touch, and visit when they could.

When Pellissier-Lush was 32 and on maternity leave with herlast child, Bernard made a trip to Winnipeg and convinced her sister to pack up the family and come home to P.E.I.

It wasn't long before she realized she had made the right decision.

That moment came after she decided to take in two boysfrom foster care.

"The first night that I was tucking in the older one, he looked at me and went, 'You have the same eyes as me.'

"He had been in 14 different foster care homes since he was four years old, and in all of those homes he didn't find any sameness. He didn't find anybody who he could see a mirror of himself with."

A common goal

Pellissier-Lush and Bernard cherish that sense of togetherness and community. They have both found their purpose on P.E.I. the poet on stage inspiring her audience, the politician at the boardroom table negotiating deals.

It's all working toward a common goal making P.E.I. a better place to live for future generations. It's already happening, they say, with more young Mi'kmaqbecoming educated about their heritageand taking pride in who they are.

"We're at a time right now where there's a lot of change happening and there's a lot of things coming to light and there's a lot of doors that are opening," Bernard said.

"People want to learn, they want to understand better the treaty relationship. And I think that me being born into the Mi'kmaq nation as a part of my destiny is to help to tell the story, right?

"It's to help to show people and help people to understand what happened and what we've contributed to, you know, to society in general and what we can do together as we move forward as Islanders."