A Nakawe elder says her traditional medicines were "desecrated" during a routine security screening in February at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport.

Geri Musqua-Leblanc, a residential school survivor from Keeseekoose First Nation in Saskatchewan, said a Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) supervisor denied her request to have her golf ball-sized medicine pouch, worn around her neck and filled with plants considered to be sacred, put through an X-ray machine instead of being opened and handled.

"I was near tears," said Musqua-Leblanc.

"I was shocked that the security people at the airport in 2019 are still behaving like they are. She didn't give me any opportunity to explain anything at all."

Musqua-Leblanc is the co-ordinator of the Elders in Residence Program at Dalhousie University and regularly shares her knowledge about traditional medicines with students and the community in Halifax.