How Buddhist nuns are building bridges in wake of monastery controversy

The monastery for Buddhist nuns in eastern P.E.I. has been closed to the public since the onset of the pandemic, but that hasn't lessened the curiosity about the women who live there.

"One question is what we do in the monastery and what the day is like in the monastery," said nun Venerable Joanna. "That's probably one that we get asked most often."

"And, 'Why did you come to P.E.I?'" added nun Venerable Sabrina.

Sabrina — originally from southern California, although she's been on the Island for seven years — understands that natural curiosity. 

"If I was an Islander ... I'd probably have the same question too, because you wouldn't expect Buddhist nuns to be living in Atlantic Canada," she said.

Sabrina and Joanna are a few of the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute nuns who take on public-facing duties, an effort in part to build bridges between the Buddhist and non-Buddhist communities.

While the nuns have been living in Uigg, a small community near Orwell, for about a decade, that need to build bridges has become apparent in recent years as the Buddhists' efforts to expand have come under scrutiny.

Community questions 

In 2018, with about 500 nuns on the Island, the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute announced plans to build a vast monastery complex on its property in Brudenell. The proposal sketched out space for 1,400 nuns on a sprawling 121-hectare campus.

That plan passed through the provincial government, but hit a snag in September 2020. At a public meeting in Three Rivers, the community in charge of issuing the complex's building permit, the proposal became a lightning rod for community tensions.

"You could cut the air with a dull knife," said David Weale, an Island historian and retired UPEI professor who attended the meeting. "Because people were up in arms. It was a very large meeting."

The mayor of Three Rivers at the time, Edward MacAulay, said there was negativity in the air and the motion to issue the permit was defeated.

"The one concern that seemed to be prevalent was land," said MacAulay.

Weale said he had been raising questions around land being bought by the Buddhists — there is also an associated community of monks, along with the nuns, in the area —  but that he had "encountered nothing but an atmosphere of secrecy."

Venerable Sabrina remembered being surprised at the proposal's reception at the meeting.

"I thought we had done things for the local community in terms of like, doing presentations and visiting different people in the community, and answering questions," she said.

Building bridges

About a month after the 2020 meeting, the nuns appeared before a provincial government committee to answer questions about their activities on P.E.I.

During that investigation, the nuns said they had, at times, been ignorant of local knowledge. They also did not appeal the Three Rivers' permit decision, instead focusing on community outreach.

In 2021, the Brudenell monastery proposal got the green light, and is now under construction. The nuns' community outreach has also grown: they lead mindfulness sessions around P.E.I. and take part in traditions like trick-or-treating.

"I think people are starting to know our intentions a little better it seems. And I think we've learned a lot about what community means within P.E.I.," said Venerable Joanna.