 I'm with Albina Cardinal who is a community elder as well as a residential school survivor. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. So can you please describe your experience going into the school and just maybe touch on what the purpose of your visit was to that school? I was invited by one of the teachers to go in to visit groups of children from grades 1 to 3 and I enjoyed going there to share some of my experiences with residential school which came up as the children were asking questions about it. And I think it was interesting to see so many little inquisitive kids asking about residential school and why I was there and how old I was when I started and all this. It was quite an experience. So what age group were these students? They're probably a great age, 6 to maybe 8, 7, 8 years old. And were there teachers, was there also professional development things as well for teachers at another time? The teachers accompanied the little students when they came in but then I was also invited to a development program with teachers and educators that are trying to implement this indigenous education into the school system. So do you think that this specific reason for you being there was, do you think it was part of a healing journey or was it to pass on certain stories or skills? What do you think the objective was? Well I think it was part of a healing program that has to do with being a residential school survivor and also to pass on information to the children about going on in the residential school and what I got out of it and I think it's beneficial for them to know as this program is being looked at and to go into the schools about our indigenous history. When you went to the school, how was it laid out for you as far as do you remember the setup? Well we were assigned a certain room in the school where the kids came by groups, I think two grades to a group and I took in at least three groups and talked about the residents of school and how old I was that went in there and the kids had all kinds of questions so the time went by fast that they were asking so many questions that it was interesting for them to be asking these questions and I think they really enjoyed it as far as they said at the end of programs that they were happy to see me there. So you would say that it was sort of meeting maybe some of the program objectives for the curriculum and do you think it had an impact? I think so, I think so, I think the kids have to sort of get it first hand from some of the school survivors so then they can put it into the school programs and I think it's easier to listen to a person instead of trying to read out a book and what's written in the books and stuff like that. If there was some form of evaluating, what kind of feedback did you receive? I've had some good feedback, teachers have complimented me on things that the kids learned on a first hand basis and I think it's a good thing for schools to do that. From your perspective then, what do you think is Indigenous education? Like if you were to focus on a specific area that maybe you talked about in your discussion with the students what do you think is a good focus? Do you think it's history? Do you think it's language? I think it's both. I think it's good for them to learn the history and also to try and get the language back into the programs because when we went to school we had to learn French and I think the native language should have been included at that time but it wasn't so I think it's a good thing now that people are starting to realize that the native language should be taught in schools. If you were as an elder and if you were involved in passing on knowledge from one generation to another I guess from your perspective then, what knowledge is important that you would like to pass on to the next generation? Do you think there's one thing that's specifically important? You did mention language so is that what you stand by? Or the history? The real history of... I think the real history of the Indigenous people should be looked at more thoroughly because I think that's important because in history as far as I can see when I was going to school it was mostly history from the people that immigrated into the country we studied their history and how they survived and why the Indigenous people weren't included it wasn't right, they should have been looked at and included in the schools so people could learn how they lived and how they lived their culture and how they raised their family and how they survived. So then if you had a story or a teaching or even like something that you want to share maybe before you went into the residential school for example like maybe something you did with your parents or something in your family was there things that you remember that you would like to share that were important as part of teachings? I remember when I was younger before I started school we moved to the tropeline in the fall and that's where we lived for the winter my dad was trapping and then my mom used to hunt for squirrels as well and then we passed our time doing different things like we had a hill where we used to slide and then my dad had dogs and we had a dog team and when we were moving in the fall he used those same dogs and put backpacks on them so they packed our belongings and our tent or teepee whatever we had and we camped on the way and I think that experience I still remember and I really enjoyed it and another thing was when we were grown up the two months out of a year July and August when we were home we were taught how to go for wood, look for wood and chop it up and haul it to the camp and haul water and do different things like washing on a washboard like there was no running water and then we kind of watched my mom when she made moose hides and then in the end she was making moccasins and those were good times I didn't learn how to make moccasins or anything but I really enjoyed watching my mom doing that which was a good experience I think that's one part of our lives that we missed out So the moccasins did you ever get to have some for yourself like she made them for you guys? She made each pair of moccasins for all of us that were coming to residential schools so we could use them in the winter at the mission If you were to share some of this stuff would you share those stories with your grandchildren or your great-grandchildren or would you be more inclined to just share your experiences if at only vast? I think if they wanted to know, I think if my children or my grandchildren wanted to know that they could present the questions to me and I could answer them the best way I can So then my last question is what is your vision for Indigenous education over the next 10 years? What do you think could be achieved or what do you hope it changes over the next 10 years? I think the educators are on the right step trying to include Indigenous education into their education systems in all the divisions across Canada Hopefully they keep working hard at it I'm sure it's going to take off in 10 years It's possible that they will have made progress but I think it's going to take time because we've been here for so long the first people of the country and nobody knew anything about their history all throughout the school year I think it will be 10 years is a short time but I'm sure there will be a lot of progress