 My name is Rachel Michene and I am an executive assistant here at the elementary teachers Federation of Ontario working in First Nations Métis Inuit Education in the service area of equity and women services. I'm originally from Thunder Bay and had to relocate to Toronto and partake in a continuation of my education journey and learning and sharing with other educators in terms of indigenous education. I'm an executive assistant with the elementary teachers Federation of Ontario and also called ETFO. The elementary teachers Federation of Ontario is teachers, educators union, I gotta redo that. The elementary teachers Federation of Ontario is a union working for educators in Ontario in the elementary public school sectors. My role with the elementary teachers Federation is to create resources that are culturally appropriate, relevant and accessible for educators in Ontario working in public schools. The elementary teachers Federation of Ontario ETFO has 83,000 members who are public elementary school educators. These are teachers, DECEs, ESPs, PSPs, educators that are working in the public sector in the elementary levels. The elementary teachers Federation had an annual meeting for a few years, a motion brought forward from the members and the motion was to create a position at the provincial office providing a staff person that will create resources and learning opportunities for members in Ontario. So in 2014, I began this position at ETFO as an executive staff working specifically in First Nations Maintaining Education. That's my dream job and it's something that I think our Federation has that allows educators working in a union environment to be able to access resources and learning opportunities that are specifically geared to their professional learning and their instructional practice. So the nice thing with working at ETFO is that we get to create resources that are applicable to elementary school teachers, elementary educators working in classrooms, supporting indigenous learners and also Canadian students and learning about indigenous people and learning about current realities and learning about issues that impact all of us as Canadians and our relationship with Canada. So working for ETFO has been great and an honour in ways that I can connect with other First Nations Maintainewite organizations and people and members that self-identify as indigenous. So as an executive assistant working in First Nations Maintainewite Education at ETFO, I have the opportunity to create resources for our members. So our members are elementary public school educators. We have 83,000 in Ontario. So we're a very, very large teacher organization and Federation. So having the opportunity to create resources that are culturally relevant and authentic for members in their learning and also their unlearning is pretty important. So some of the resources that we've created here at ETFO include children's literature. One of the resources here is called First Nations Maintainewite Growth Chart and Literacy Prompts. This resource is actually a poster that you can find on our spirithorse.ca website and this highlights 27 children's books going from kindergarten all the way to grade eight and all reflective of First Nations Maintainewite perspectives and diversity and world view. So this resource is an accompaniment that goes with the poster and I have brought in members that are Indigenous and non-Indigenous, our allies, our friends, to creating Literacy Prompts that support the poster that we had designed. And the poster was also designed by a Métis artist, Natalie Burton. So it's really nice to incorporate as much Indigenous presence in the creation of the resources that we develop here at ETFO. So with this Literacy Prompt, educators have an opportunity to utilize a resource in their classroom that includes multiple perspectives of the diversity of Indigenous people here in Canada but making connection to the curriculum as well. Now with resources that we have that I create and with our members is we go with the grade rate but we're not going so specific to the actual curriculum itself, the expectations because that changes over time. But keeping in mind that the age group and the actual overall grade allows teachers to utilize this resource should they have students that are say at a grade three level but they're actually teaching a grade five classroom. So this is like a really good resource that brings in multiple perspectives. Another resource that we have for educators on our spirithorse.ca webpage is this resource called What Have You Heard, an Introduction to the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. And on this resource there are statements that myself and other Indigenous people have heard and the intent of this resource is to challenge some of those assumptions and to challenge some of those statements that have been said. For example, I don't have any Aboriginal kids in my class. That's an Aboriginal problem. Just get over it. And so in this resource that's available online, any educator, anyone, anyone who has access to the internet can access this resource, can go in and they will see the statement that's there and they'll also be hyperlinks to other web sources, other media forms like films, documentaries, newspapers, articles, whatever it may be. But the intent of this is to address the actual statement that's being said. So that resource is available on our spirithorse.ca website. And right now it's under revision just for some of the terminology and also including additional hyperlinks and making sure that the hyperlinks are also working. So we have a website called spirithorse.ca. And on our website, we include digital versions of many of our resources that we have. But we also highlight some of the resources that we have available in print. So any educator, anyone with access to the internet can go on to our spirithorse webpage and access any of these resources. And we include in there even two one hour webinars that focus specifically on truth and reconciliation. And during the course of the webinar, one of the things that I had worked on was making connections with outside community organizations. And so the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation, as well as the Legacy of Hope Foundation, I brought in through Skype to have them participate in these webinars and members participated in the webinar that was active as it was being filmed, as it was being recorded. But we've also saved it and put it on our webpage so that way, any educator who wants to learn about residential schools or reconciliation can go into that resource. Another resource that we developed is the First Nations Métis and Indian Education Resource, Engaging Learners Through Play. So the fun part about my job is that I get to actually work with many different people. I get to work with educators who are indigenous, who are non-indigenous. I get to work with community members that are indigenous, as well as organizations that are indigenous or non-indigenous. Right to Play Canada is an amazing organization. And they are focused on leadership. They're focused on empowering youth globally. And they're also focused on using play as a way to engage youth in learning and understanding and building self-confidence. So one of the things that we had created is this resource. And the resource focuses on force actions. It focuses on worldviews. It focuses on treaties. It focuses on truth and reconciliation, residential schools. And it focuses on leadership. So anyone who utilizes this resource will get an understanding of what those things are. But they'll also have an opportunity to engage their students in learning about those concepts while utilizing play activities. So there isn't a worksheet in this resource. It's all focused on play activities. And where students can interact and engage with their thinking and interact and engage with others. And so the resources that we develop are not necessarily for students. They're for our teachers and educators who are working in classrooms in the elementary level. And so this resource, one of the things that we also did is we decided to have a professional development opportunity for members to become introduced to the resource. So twice a year, F.O. members come into our provincial office here in Toronto. And we take them through the actual resource where they get to participate in the activities that they're going to be utilizing in their classrooms with students. And they also get an opportunity to ask questions about the resource that maybe might challenge some of the assumptions that they have or maybe just to further their own learning. So professional development and curriculum resource development is really essential in any educator being able to have an opportunity to challenge and to challenge what they've learned, to unlearn, to relearn, to look for strategies and resources and tools to utilize in their classroom and in their instructional practice. So our Federation is pretty big on social justice and equity. And we have multiple resources and ways that we share and provide information to our members. We also have this magazine called The Voice. Sorry. Each F.O. Voice Mag. Oh, sorry. F.O. has a magazine that is provided for F.O. members that is mailed out to our membership and it focuses on collective bargaining. It focuses on resources that are available out there. It focuses on social justice equity issues. So members are provided with information and resources that will help them in their role as an educator. The nice thing with F.O. Voice is that it also includes Aboriginal content, Indigenous content, equity content that might include the LGBT community, issues that may impact other members of designated groups. So this is also available online as well and anyone can access F.O. Voice magazines just by going on to our F.O. website. So when it comes to professional development, one of the things that I get to have fun with is I get to have fun connecting with Indigenous community members, Indigenous educators, and to look at ways that we can include more Indigenous content, Indigenous perspective, Indigenous resources, and all of those things. And having professional development opportunities for educators is important in their learning because it allows them an opportunity to ask questions. It allows them an opportunity to be reflective. It allows them an opportunity to be in a space and learning environment that is supporting them in their journey in reconciliation or their journey in being culturally relevant instructors. So one of the resources that we have or professional development that we have is an annual First Nations Métis Inuit Education Symposium for our members. So every year the topic changes. The one that I have here is Inuit 101. And we have two members or non-members come in and provide information and history and stories and experiences about Inuit people in this forum. So this year we're going to be focusing on treaties and we're gonna be focusing on relationship to land. So every year the annual Education Symposium changes the topic. Another professional learning opportunity that we have is the annual Leadership Symposium for First Nations Métis Inuit Women. When I first started working at ETFO I had to reflect on my own learning as well as to what got me involved. How did I become involved in not just education but how did I become involved in the act of education in the space of education. Not just for my students in their learning but also for other people in their learning about something that we weren't taught. And but also recognizing that there were also challenges in my journey in education. And I know that my experience is probably shared with many indigenous educators across Canada. Issues of maybe racism, issues of sexism, issues of so many things and not having our stories present in our own experience and journey in education. But also one of the things that I really like about this specific program is that it brings women members together. It brings indigenous women together. When I look at the first year that I ran this annual program we're now going into the fourth year for this symposium. When I first ran the program we had 26 indigenous women come from all over Ontario who are our members. And I brought in a few friends of mine in indigenous education but are also very active in the union as well. And I brought them in to sit on a panel to share their journey and what it was for them to recognize their own identity, their own experience and the work that it took and the strength that it took to getting to where they are today in whatever capacity that may be as an educator or as a union member or as an advocate in the community and activist. We are so many things. And so one of the things that I really enjoyed about that first year is that when these 26 women came together we had an opening and a closing circle. And I remember sharing that as a educator as an indigenous woman, as a First Nations woman and being a part of the union and part of indigenous education for the last 15 years has really opened my eyes to how important networking was. Prior to that day, that first session that we had where we brought the women in to come to our provincial office for two days is that I had never been in a space with more than five indigenous educators in my entire career. And the experience of that was so powerful that I know that I wasn't the only one that felt that. I know that my friends, my sisters who had come and had their own journey in education and being a part of that journey into the Federation and into indigenous education and working in that specific area has been immense. And it was just so amazing to be able to be in that space that first year with this program with 26 First Nations Métis women members. We're now going into our fourth year with this program. And this year we have 33 women that are gonna be attending. All of them have never been to this event. This will be their first time event. Every year prior to this we've had women probably half that would return and we would maybe have half that are new members or new to the specific program and participating in it. And so it's growing and it's really good to see names of members that I have never seen and I see them becoming involved and becoming active in the Federation. Cause part of this two days is to introduce them to the union. It's also a way for them to network and it's also a way to connect on issues that are important and relevant to us as indigenous women. And so the focus is always going to be on something that's going to help empower them as an indigenous women but also help empower them as someone who is working in education is part of a bigger community, the union and also looking at social justice and equity issues. So it's a really amazing program and I know that in terms of like success for this program having new members apply every year is one way to recognize and identify that the word is getting out. Women are hearing that there's a program that's specifically for them and that they're going to be in the company of other indigenous women who will have shared experience with them. And in an environment that is so safe and meant to build and empower and lift each other up. So this program is a really amazing program and the feedback that I've received on this has been so positive. And one way to measure success of this program, the leadership symposium for First Nations Métis Inuit Women is to see how involved they become in the Federation, how they are taking up and claiming leadership positions within their local Federation or with our provincial Federation or maybe in leadership capacities that might be at their school board, it might be in their schools, it might be in their community, whatever it may be. But the one thing that I see is that I've seen those 26 women at different events, at different programs that our Federation provides for our members because we provide so many professional learning opportunities for our members. So it's good to see them in capacities of leadership, but also participating in other learning opportunities that we provide, as well as creating resources. So it's also my network and my way to kind of tap the shoulders of other Indigenous members to become more involved in creating resources and to sharing their perspectives and their worldviews and to becoming workshop presenters where they can teach and where they can engage and interact with other educators who are our allies and friends who are on a journey of learning and unlearning. So the success of that is constantly growing. So to measure like some of the programs that we have, one way that we connect with members is to we get feedback from all of our events. So is to look at the feedback and look at what were they taking from that learning and what are they asking for? What will help support them in the future, resource development or future professional learning opportunity that focuses on that topic or whatever that learning is? So feedback is really essential in when we develop programs and when we develop resources. So that to me is something that we're constantly doing. And measuring success, again, is really looking at the involvement and how our members are becoming more interactive with the learning opportunities that we have or taking up leadership positions, whether it's presenter or whether it's sitting on a panel or whether it's maybe being a vice president for an at full local office or maybe it's being a school lead or an indigenous lead in the school that they work for. So that's what we're looking for. So that's what we're looking for. So with professional development and with resource development, the things that we create, I try to include as much indigenous presence as possible. Then that includes going outside of the education building. That includes going into the community. It includes going into other spaces where indigenous perspectives exist and indigenous presence exists. So it's interacting with First Nations, Métis, Inuit organizations. And work groups that can create resources with us or come to our professional development programs that we provide and share first hand, authentic, reflective experiences and stories. Learning from each other is really important for any educator to learn about themselves as well because when we realize that we're all coming from different lives and different experiences and different world views, we're all coming from someplace. And yeah, there's going to be a crossover or parallel with our stories, but our stories are very unique to us as well. And the diversity that we are as indigenous people is amazing within just Canada alone. And so one of the things when I work with educators or when I'm doing professional development sessions with predominantly non-indigenous members is that I get them to think about their way of life as it has been since they were children. I get them to think and reflect on their own cultural identities and how their language or their customs and their practices and continue to be celebrated in their learning and in their journey as they were from a child to who they are today and maybe to who they are today as a parent. So when you look at that journey and when you look at any type of journey, I encourage them to think about their experience of education, wherever that may be. From the time that they wake up in the morning, who's home? Who's waking you up? Who's putting food on the table? Is there food on the table? Are you waking up yourself or are you waking up your younger siblings? Is their clothes ready for you? Is there your school bag ready to go? Is there someone encouraging you to go to school? Who's encouraging you? And how are they saying it? Are they saying it in English or are they saying it in another language? Maybe your own language. And then when you leave the home and you get to school, you walk into that environment. What does that environment look like? Who is it reflective of? Does it reflect your culture, your identity, your language? Whose stories are being told in those books? Who's at the front of the classroom and how many stories are they including and how many perspectives are they including that reflects everyone in your classroom? So our experience in education includes those things but it also excluded other things. It excluded perspectives. It excluded relationships and relationships of our history and relationships of who we are today. And so when I work with educators and whether I'm doing a workshop or whether I'm doing a keynote or whatever it may be, having a conversation over lunch even is I want them to really reflect about their own journey in education and to think about if we were to remove their identity and their culture and their worldview from that learning, what's left and how do we include and be more inclusive to other worldviews, other identities and other ways of thinking and ways of being. How do we include that presence in that learning environment because being a culturally relevant educator means that you have to include other cultures and other identities in that learning environment. And so with professional development and with resources that we create, I would like to see my friends and my allies and my brothers and my sisters be able to access resources that are culturally inclusive and welcoming and reflective of indigenous voices and presence of today for tomorrow. So those are really important pieces to educator learning is to be able to provide them an opportunity to think about their learning, challenge their own assumptions and learn some things and put in some new information that is authentic and reflective of indigenous presence and perspectives. So when working with educators, one of the things that I include in some of the workshops that I deliver personally or in maybe some of the workshops that we provide for our members in general is the idea of social conditioning. As we have been, from the time that we were born, we've been conditioned to think certain things about who we are and how we fit into society, from the clothes we wear to our gender to what maybe other groups should be based on what we've been conditioned to think. And we're conditioned to think certain things through advertising, through the media, through old movies, through sitcoms, comedy, TV shows, through magazines, through books, children's books. And so all of this conditioning, and also including perspectives of our family members and their views and how they've been conditioned to think. So we're constantly being told what we should be or who we should be or what others should be. So one of the things that I do in delivering workshops for educators is having them to look at that aspect of their own identity and how they've been conditioned to think about themselves and how they've been conditioned to think about other groups such as Indigenous people. When people start to challenge their thinking and what they've been conditioned to think, that's when change can happen. That's when authentic, reflective, responsive change occurs to something that you can go forward and that is more inclusive and always checking in and seeing, okay, is this something that I'm just thinking or is this something that I'm being told to think that this is how things should be or what feels right for me and what feels inclusive? And what can I do to be more inclusive and representative of multiple diversities of Indigenous people but also people in our society and our system? Students need to see themselves reflected in their learning. That was one thing for me as an Indigenous person that really impacted my own identity, my self-esteem, my confidence, my sense of belonging in an environment that was meant to educate. And because I didn't see myself reflected in a positive way, it really impacted me in the way that I saw myself and the way that I saw my family because the stories that were told and my experience of going to school was really negative, the word savage and other words as well that were in books and textbooks and songs and movies and films and in stories, whatever they may be. There was always a negative connotation that came with that and that really impacted my interest in learning, my interest in being in the classroom, being in the learning environment, my ability to actually take in what I'm learning from a teacher. Because I didn't see myself reflected in a positive way, it basically had a huge impact on my ability as a student and my ability and confidence in learning about and sharing about who I am as an Indigenous person. One of the things that ended up happening was I ended up dropping out in high school and that really opened my eyes to what education was and once I learned about the residential schools, that really changed my view, my perspective of education and it also helped me decide where I was going to go in education because after dropping out of high school, I didn't go back to school until I was in my early 20s and at that time I already had a son, he was two years old and I needed something more for myself as an Indigenous person and really going back into education was something that I kind of feared because of my experience and not seeing myself reflected and experiencing racism in my learning environment and in the school community and in the community in general just because of my race and my identity. So for me going back to school was something that was really challenging and I'm really glad that I did and because it's really changed and has transformed me as a person and seeing my role as an Indigenous person in education and it wasn't until I got my GED that I decided to pursue more education and I went into a program that really helped me learn about the history that we weren't told about in Canada that included Indigenous experiences and perspective and the program was an all-Indigenous program it was called Aboriginal Law and Advocacy and it was through this program that really helped me understand the relationship between Canada and the First Peoples and Residential School was one of those areas that was just coming out in the 1990s through the Royal Commission of Aboriginal Peoples and that was the first time in my 20s that I ever even heard of Residential School and lo and behold, members of my family, my immediate and my extended family and other Indigenous peoples in Canada had experienced for over 150 years and once I realized and once I learned about that part of our history and that role of education that was really pivotal in myself reclaiming my identity and somehow feeling empowered because of the injustice that was done and looking at my role as an Indigenous person with someone who's gonna go into education and look into the areas that I could create change positive change where I can be an agent of change and sharing my own knowledge and my own experience but learning also of the perspective of other people and that journey included having to look at social conditioning and look at how I've been conditioned as an Indigenous person, as a woman, as someone in Canada and how the impacts of social conditioning have really affected my lens, how I saw myself and how I saw others. So I know that if that could impact me, I know it's gonna impact other people. So I take that and I apply that in the work that I do in education when I was a classroom teacher, I did the same thing. I became cognizant of the constant ways that we are being told to think about things and so told to think about other people. So I've taken that kind of self-reflection piece and I've applied it in the work that I do and understanding that everyone's coming with different experience and different stories and coming from different backgrounds but also understanding that we've all been conditioned to think one way and so it's challenging those notions of stereotypes that are projected of Indigenous people and looking at ways that we can create more inclusive and learning environments that are respectful and culturally appropriate to Indigenous people. So two programs that we provide for our members throughout Ontario is we've developed two workshops and these workshops are delivered at the local level. So we have over 70 offices in Ontario and we provide the trainers and the trainers who are the people that deliver the workshops, they are ATFO members. So they are ATFO members that have knowledge and understanding of the content that is being delivered. Most of them will have lived experience of the content because they are Indigenous themselves and they go into the local and they present on these two workshops that we provide for educators in Ontario. And one of the workshops is called Busting Myths and Misconceptions about Indigenous Peoples and the other workshops called Engaging Indigenous Communities. These are two really important programs, workshops that our members are provided because it helps in their unlearning of what they've been conditioned to think but it also helps them in their new learning in ways that they can become more immersed in the learning and more provided with more tools that will equip them as educators in the classroom working with Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. It's a way of being more inclusive of including ourselves in the community, getting out into the community and being a part of the community and going to public events that are organized by Indigenous people or it might include bringing elders or knowledge holders into the classroom or guest speakers like politicians, activists, musicians, artists, whatever it may be. Those pieces are really important in educator learning because it is a first-hand learning experience. It's not a book that you're picking up and reading even though books are good but it is a first-hand learning experience and is a first-hand experience of engaging with someone's perspective and how they identify and who they are and their experiences. So Indigenous education for me is two stories. One is the story of traditional Indigenous education. And so for me, traditional Indigenous education is where First Nations, Métis, Inuit communities and groups learned from each other, beginning from when you're a child to when you are an elder to the time that you leave this world. That learning continued and began, begins and ends and there is a really, I don't know. But Indigenous education for me from an Indigenous perspective includes the learning of having Indigenous knowledge and practices and customs and beliefs interwoven into the everyday lived experience of an Indigenous person. Whether they are First Nations, Inuit, Métis, they are learning about their culture and who they are from their own people. And so Indigenous education in that sense took place in the home. It took place and takes place in the community. And it also includes everyone else in the community. It doesn't just include parents, grandparents, extended family, it includes community members but it includes us interacting with each other and interacting with a natural environment. Because Indigenous education and our learning of each other and learning of ourselves and who we are, it becomes a collective responsibility that we learn for the sake of not just for our own knowing but we learn for the sake of the betterment of the collective good. So it's all encompassing of the other members in the community. So it's not just about me. It's about what is my responsibility here to ensure that my family and my community is still here, whether through our language, through our customs, through our practices, whatever it may be. Indigenous education today is something a little bit different. It's more focused on the inclusion of Indigenous perspective and presence in multiple ways. It would be through literature, through films, through media, through having people coming into the classrooms. It would be through attending events with your students or attending events on your own but Indigenous education in that sense is about people who don't or haven't learned about Indigenous people and it's about that engaging. It's about that engagement piece that brings those two groups of people together. There's a big responsibility here on the side of Indigenous people because in order for Indigenous education to be there, you have to have Indigenous presence and having that presence is essential in creating environments and creating resources and creating learning opportunities for educators or for students. That is authentic and firsthand and diverse because as Indigenous people, we are so diverse in Canada alone and from our languages to our relationship with the land because depending on where you are, you are going to be knowledgeable or you'll have a relationship with that land based on the group that you're coming from or the people that you're coming from. So Indigenous education in that sense puts a big responsibility on Indigenous people but there's also responsibility that has to happen on this side as well for Canadians, for non-Indigenous educators is to take the learning and be open to the learning and be open to challenging assumptions and preconceived notions that you've had or what you've been told or how you've been taught to think. So there's a responsibility on both sides and once that door is open, then that's when the learning can happen and then that's when educators and Indigenous presence can come together in the learning environment that is very Eurocentric but it's also looking at how inclusive that could be and how changing that could be for the students that are in the classroom especially those that are Indigenous and how they can see themselves reflected because students need to see themselves reflected and when educators provide more resources and more learning opportunities for their students that is focused on Indigenous education, the more socially conscious kids become and the more accepting they become and they become more open to the idea of equity, social justice, inclusivity and because we can really influence people in education, we have a responsibility as to how are we going to influence them and so for me, Indigenous education is something that is really essential in creating a different experience for learners and creating a different society for the future. Maurice and Claire, Justice Maurice and Claire had said that education is what got us into this mess and education is what's gonna get us out. So with that being said, education and people in education, educators, not just teachers and support staff that are there or the support staff that are in the schools or principals or administrators or managers, whoever they may be, everyone in education in those environments, in the schools, from right from the custodian to the principal, everyone in that environment has a responsibility to making that space safe and inclusive and Indigenous education is something that you can create and include in that environment that celebrates the people of whose lands we're on. But I would like to see over the next 10 years or my vision of where we'll be 10 years from now is I'd like to see more Indigenous educators in the classrooms. I'd like to see them in the schools. I'd like to see more presence of them in those spaces so kids can see themselves reflected if they're Indigenous but also kids who are non-Indigenous can learn from an Indigenous person that's there and learn about different world views. So having more presence of professionals that are in education, that self-identify as First Nation, you know, INEC or Métis, it would be amazing to have the presence there. Another thing that I'd like to see is, another thing that I'd like to see is having more educators that are culturally inclusive, that are culturally responsive in their instructional practice and their professional practice and more involved in the community and involving more of the community in the classroom and making sure that the diversity of Indigenous peoples is reflected in that learning environment and interacting and engaging with different world views and connecting that with the students that are in the classroom because some schools might have a predominant non-Indigenous environment but those kids still need to learn and whether there's an Indigenous student in your class or not, culturally relevant teachers, instructors, educators will incorporate and will include and will put in Indigenous perspectives and presence through that course of their instruction. So being culturally inclusive is really important in creating environments that celebrate and honour diversity of Indigenous peoples and our world views. Because we weren't taught about Indigenous people and the relationship between Canada and Indigenous peoples that included more information on treaties and agreements that were made and policies that impact or are overarching Indigenous communities of peoples and also looking at our history of residential school and the colonialism and looking at how it has ultimately impacted Indigenous people is really important. And I think that when educators are wanting to learn, it's a constant learning. It's not just gonna happen overnight. I've been asked a couple of times actually, I've been asked a few times by educators, in my experience of 15 years of working with educators, is if there was one resource that they can have and that would be the resource that they would go to. And it's funny when I hear that question because I don't really see learning as a one-shot deal and it's done. Once I open up a book and I read the book and it's done, that is not realistic. What's realistic is the idea that you want to learn and that you continue learning and that you know that it's gonna take many shapes and forms and many facets of interacting with different groups, even within one group, is interacting with the diversity of Indigenous people and continuing that learning and continuing that challenging of any assumptions that we have and relearning and getting new information and looking at ways that we could incorporate that in our personal lives but also in our professional lives as educators. The more professional learning opportunities and the more learning opportunities or access points that educators interact with and engage with, the more information they receive but they also become more comfortable. I know that with some educators, there's an issue of discomfort that comes with learning about Indigenous peoples and feeling like they're gonna get something wrong and afraid that they're gonna get something wrong that they might not include anything because of that fear or that because of that discomfort. So that learning is really important and constant learning and having opportunities to be able to further the learning provided by teacher unions or provided by the school board or provided by the ministries of education is really important but it's also important for that individual to go out into the community and to interact with the community and attend events and listen to the news and get multiple perspectives from Indigenous people whether it's through social media or whether it's going to a book talk or watching a film, whatever it might be. It's really important for Canadian educators, non-Indigenous education personnel and even Indigenous people that we constantly need to learn about the things that weren't taught to us. So when it comes to having conversations about Indigenous issues, this can become really uncomfortable for many people, everyone, including Indigenous people because there's issues of stereotypes, there's issues of racism that will come up, there's issues of other things that kind of have a negative blanket on us because of what we've been taught to think. So having those conversations about Indigenous issues can sometimes be a little bit challenging. As part of Indigenous education and working with teachers and educators, I've had to really look at ways that I could have those conversations and it's not something that you really get taught and how do you talk about Indigenous issues because it's going to make people uncomfortable and sometimes people will shut off if they, because of their discomfort. One of the resources that I've used in my own understanding and helping me understand how to have conversations about Indigenous issues to predominantly non-Indigenous people is a resource that was created by Glenn Singleton. And Glenn Singleton is an American Black author from the United States and he has written this book called Courageous Conversations About Race. And in the resource, he comes up with four agreements in terms of having ways that we can have those conversations. One of them is to stay engaged, experience discomfort, speak your truth, expect and accept non-closure. Those four agreements really tie in to ways that we could have kind of like a framework of ways that we can have that conversation but recognizing our place in that conversation as the person who's talking about something that's something that's gonna be hard or the person that's gonna be listening to something that's gonna be hard. Because when it comes to having those conversations, we're going to constantly be challenging the way that we have been told to think or the way that we have been thinking about ourselves or other people. So when it comes to the four agreements, we look at ways that how we've been influenced or impacted in our learning and what to expect when you're going to be having those conversations about racism or issues that impact indigenous people. And it's about recognizing that you're gonna be uncomfortable and it's okay to be uncomfortable because when you're in those spaces, it's gonna challenge many things. Another one is to speak your truth and just know that you don't have all the answers. And if you have questions to ask, you need to ask those questions because it will help clarify and it'll help you in that process of challenging some of those biases that you may have. And staying engaged in that process and knowing that this is uncomfortable but I know that what I'm experiencing is discomfort but I really need to continue my learning and understanding of this. And that also expect and accept non-closures that it's not going to just happen in just one fell swoop like a book. You're not going to get all the answers at once and that this is just the beginnings of something bigger that you're going to be learning and that you're going to be on a learning journey for some time. So we've used this resource in terms of developing programs but also my own understanding and helping me understand others when they're coming into that space because when we create resources and we create learning opportunities for educators, I want to know how I can best work with the material that I have and knowing that sometimes people are going to be uncomfortable. And how do I create activities that get them to engage with their thinking, their learning, their own worldviews to better understanding and being open to indigenous perspectives and education issues. So indigenous education can really capture a lot of thinking and indigenous education can really create change in a person whether they're indigenous or not. It's just a matter if they're just open to it and I think the being open to it is the first step. Once you open that door and once you start to look at yourself and you start to challenge your own worldviews or you start to challenge what you've been taught actually, then the learning begins. So indigenous education is ongoing.