'I've found my purpose': Mi'kmaw woman works to preserve the art of traditional basket weaving

A Mi’kmaw woman from Eskasoni First Nation in Nova Scotia is crediting the art of traditional basket weaving with helping to save her life.

After a 20-year break from the art, Lynn Battiste turned to basket weaving as a coping mechanism after receiving a cancer diagnosis of Stage Four non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and going through eight rounds of chemotherapy.

Battiste is a fourth-generation weaver who made her first basket when she was six years old.

"I saw my mother, she was making baskets, and I was like, 'Mom, can I have some strips?'" said Battiste.

"Each one I start, I have my ancestors with me.”

Many of the tools she uses belonged to her great-grandparents and some are more than 100 years old.

They're used to intricately cut and weave pieces of birch bark and sweet grass into works of art.

"I sit down and I just start weaving and it becomes what it wants to be,” said Battiste.

Over the years, Battiste has sold more than 1,000 baskets, with most selling for a few hundred dollars.

While she has only made a couple of baskets during the COVID-19 pandemic, Battiste says she's planning on ramping up production once again.

"It's brought me back from my cancer journey. Now I can live and move on and continue to teach the children, and my children, and anybody's children. If they want to learn, I'm here and I'll teach at no charge.”

Battiste feels it's up to her to help preserve what she says is a dying art.

"I have a purpose in life and I think I've found my purpose.”