 Hi, my name is Jerica. I am from Hamilton, Ontario. My program is the SHAY program. It stands for Strengthening Hamilton Aboriginal Education. It is a program between the Hamilton Regional Indian Center and the Hamilton Welfare District School Board, and it's a collaborative program that aims to provide education for ages 14 to 21 at the secondary level with the goal of students achieving their OSSD or their Ontario Secondary School Diploma with cultural support. We measure success in the program by collaboratively meeting every other month between the Hamilton Welfare Welfare District School Board and the Hamilton Regional Indian Center, and we meet to talk about student success. That could be in any area from credits and what they're achieving academically to what they're achieving in their own social, emotional, and spiritual goals, and we try to provide additional support to have students who are able to reach their goals while at the same time trying to achieve those credits, but we understand that students can't achieve academically until they're supported and nurtured in those social, emotional, and spiritual ways. So we track all of the services that students are referred to. We track all the credits that they received during the school year. We also ensure that they're getting all the necessary supports, and so we also have the students plan the timetable so that everybody's held accountable. We don't put them into kind of random credits. We make sure that it's thoughtful and it's meaningful to them, so this semester we're running Indigenous history. We're running and designing your future credit where they've asked for all the activities that we're doing from a rent smart program that the Hamilton Regional Indian Center offers to getting their CPR and first-aid training to have more of a competitive summer job program for themselves so that they can compete with other students in the city, and then they wanted to know more about history, so we designed a history course together, and then they do one independent study course. So we make sure that students feel like they're heard in order to get what they need academically out of the program and also to have a say in what they learn culturally. So we go to the Lodge on Mississauga of the Credit. We also go to Maple Syrup Tapping at Six Nations and we participate in what cultural events that we would find relevant, but also would motivate the students to attend more and to feel good about themselves, and we have students review at the before, during, and after a semester to see how they're feeling about their credits. So something like, let me actually grab it, this is how we would plan. So what do I want to learn about my culture? What do I want to learn about myself? What activities would I want to learn about the land and from the land, and what projects would I feel interested in building? And then we also provide students with like a blank timetable of our schedule for them to fill in, and then we combine all of the responses to create our timetable so everybody can kind of feel a sense of accountability that I'm not just doing this on my own and leading them into something that they don't want to do. And we also check in so if we transfer students to different programs, we make sure that they just don't drop off, that we make sure that they get to the next destination and help them with that transition. And usually myself and the shake coordinator participate in like that liaisoning between the two programs so that just because students identify as Indigenous doesn't mean that this is a program for them, we make sure we find the right program for them. I think we face a lot of challenges with funding. Right now we just lost our funding for our human nutrition program, which is a huge part of supporting our Indigenous youth in the program and making sure that they come to school hungry, not hungry, they come to school happy, and that they feel that they are taken care of and that they can learn today. So we face challenges with funding quite frequently. So from the student nutrition program being cut, we have to find other sources. That means us going out into the community and asking what grants and if we can work with our counselors and our trustees from the school board to provide that funding that we would have been receiving anyway. So I think it's a lot of extra work that goes into making this program a success. That if somebody, I guess, I feel that because I'm part of a community I have an ownership to do that for all the Indigenous youth in the program because I was them and that I have that kind of responsibility built within me that if I didn't feel that then it would be a very hard program to sustain and to have like that there's 18 students in this program and there's 18 students accounted for in it that we are meeting our goals by having students want to come to this program because it does provide all the things that they need. We're very fortunate to have a partnership with the Hamilton Regional Indian Center so they provide quite a bit of funding but also we've secured funding from the JW McConnell Foundation which this year has allowed us to take in more cultural experiences but also redesign our room so that it is thoughtful and that it's designed in a way that works with Indigenous spaces and places and also reflects our ways of knowing, being and doing that I think is really positive for the space because students complained a lot but they didn't feel that it was too cluttered or too it was unwelcoming because there was so much stuff in here so we renovated and they designed the room and we fulfilled it so I think funding is always our biggest challenge and also I think recognizing that 18 students in the class isn't just 18 people that there are so many challenges that we face as Indigenous people in education in our lives that for one student it sometimes can be like working with three because we have so much trauma and things that we're unburdening so as an Indigenous person working amongst trauma I have to learn to kind of work beside it and not take it home with me and burden myself again so I think that's always the challenging part and I think it creates a cycle of burnout for a lot of the staff but as long as we learn to take care of ourselves but we're also teaching the students to take care of themselves so that we can kind of go through this together I always say that I'm not necessarily their teacher but their mentor because I'm learning the same techniques and tools that they're learning now that I'm still learning as an adult but trying to teach them it early enough so that they don't go through the same process and that I think consistent staff is also the hardest thing that we face that I've been here for almost four years but before that there was two teachers in addition to me last two years before that so and we've gone through a few positions for our EA and our coordinator of the program that we have those we have those issues and that we need to find as much consistency as we can we have usually six grads per year so we have six Indigenous young people graduating when they were in a composite or community school that didn't think that they would ever get there we have students who are going to college we have students this year going to university from here and I think a lot of people assume that they can't do that from here and we kind of work to prove them wrong every step of the way because I don't mind changing my teaching and to make sure that everybody gets what they need in order to be successful and I think when we see those graduates at the end like they're they're happy they're content and they know that they've been supported every step of the way and that they've attended class that they've reached their goals and that they become I think more well well-rounded Indigenous people too because they have their culture and they have Western knowledge too at the same time when they're balancing those two things and they're ready to go into that next step of their life now I think the next step for us to evolve is to really work with post-secondary institutions to model what we have here there as well so that we'll have more success of our students who are going to college feel like they feel comfortable within the institution or if they're going to university to feel like they have someone to talk to and to express their issues too because it's not like you kind of transition and you just check your traumas and everything at the door when you go to the next destination that stuff's still caring with you so we have time and time again students who are coming back to access help and support back here when they've gone on to the next place so I think that that's where I'm going to work at next because we're not seeing that they feel comfortable enough in that institution to seek out help and assistance I think Indigenous education will always mean different things to different people I think that you know for me what I focus on is Geyong Geha and Geyong Geha language and culture as part of what I describe as Indigenous education because that's my perspective and where I'm coming from to each community Indigenous education looks differently to this bourbon Indigenous population in Hamilton being really close to Six Nations and Miss Saga's of the Credit we have kind of a large percentage of our students coming from these areas so you have to be mindful of that when you're teaching and represent the whose territory you're on is a big reflection of what your Indigenous education model you're going to work with so we model ourselves after the medicine wheel but also the two road dishes once the dish with one spoon wampum to make sure that students feel like they're what they're learning reflects their culture and things that they're involved in because they're tied into both of those wampum belts and they're still part of that medicine wheel to make themselves feel full so for me I think Indigenous education I wouldn't be able to tell someone who's in you at what Indigenous education is or who's Métis when Indigenous education is or Métis from Alberta versus Métis from Ontario there are really key factors about thinking about your local area plus the students you have in front of you so not all my students are from Six Nations or from Miss Saga's of the Credit so I have to be mindful about what they need if they're not from those territories to feel like they've got their cultural their cultural knowledge and that they've they've learned something about where they're from we have students who are Dene who are Blackfoot or Gonkwin that we have to be thoughtful about what we what we provide to them to and not make it seem like we are one pan-Indigenous kind of classroom so we try to be as specific as possible but also being as open as possible to give everybody what they need and I think it Indigenous education has to set value on Indigenous knowledge and not saying that Western knowledge is bigger better or you know more educated than what we offer I think we've been smart and we've done a lot for a lot of years since time immemorial on this land that we are our own scientists we're our own mathematicians we're our own writers and we are in every subject and I think when we exclude Indigenous education to a field it doesn't account for how prolific it is and in our lives and I think when I think about because of being a Young Ahaga and I think about Wampum as life and I think about um how we had to weave kind of stories in I think about the same thing with Indigenous education you're just really looking at weaving Indigenous history, knowledges, teachings, traditions, cultures into every single subject area that you talk about every day that you're living and everything that we talk about is about reflecting Indigenous life because we live it but it also is a chance for us to reflect on the past what we're doing in the present and then who we're going to be in the future I think language is an important part of who we are I don't think we can always fully understand our world and what all the cultural teachings we don't have language but I understand that somebody once said it to me that I'm not missing a piece because I don't have my language that I'm not whole because I don't have my language that's not that's not true we have to get out of that cycle of saying that we are not full people without having our our language until for me Geyong Geyha I have taken a couple of courses I feel more confident in my knowledge of it but am I a fluent language speaker no and I probably won't be until I commit myself to a program that is immersive and I don't think that there is the possibility for people to be fully fluent and also taking in all that cultural knowledge that's transmitted through language without being in that immersive experience and right now we don't offer elementary school programs in the urban center that focus on that so we do have to rely on reserve communities which in Hamilton we don't have access full access to I think language is essential I think it is everything but I also think that I could not tell students that they are nothing without it you know that we have to be focusing on all the positive and the assets that they possess without language and that we have to understand language was taken from us and yes it is ours to get back but we also have to understand we have so many barriers to even accessing it to get it back that we really have to say at this point maybe it's on other people to fund these programs properly so that we can give indigenous people the access to them if we want them to be accessible we have to pay people a living wage to access them we have to offer more spots we have to offer transportation we have to have incentive to go there and that people can't give up work or they can't give up a lot of different things and that's what we're at right now we're giving up something to take language so how do we create a language program that isn't about giving up anything but to adding to our lives and I think it's up to the government to properly fund these programs like French and English because those are protected through you know the languages act but we don't have protection over our languages and that is I think meant to that's you know meant to be they're doing that on purpose and that it's a problem that we've been seeing for a long time and that it's indigenous communities that are responding where's the response from the government to address these issues that we are very lucky that the people who are in these communities who are still fluent are giving us their knowledge and their teachings and their language but what could the government be doing to support those people who are willing to give everything to their community but we're not seeing that reciprocity right now we're seeing that we're very focused still on colonial languages I think that's that's hard it's hard to get kids who are in who are youth who are never taken a language class interested interested at 16 to take gay on gay hot which is a very difficult language to learn and they have no former knowledge of it we could do it but it's it's very hard and that's my personal experience with learning mohawk language but we offer night classes we offer day classes but that doesn't mean like a someone who's a fluent speaker so we have all these different limitations and to offer it in schools we have a couple people who are trained as Ontario certified teachers who can teach language because they have the language and there's a lot of people who are not certified as teachers that could teach language but aren't able to just because of the barriers so I do think that we live in kind of a system that doesn't appreciate community knowledge all the time or that it doesn't appreciate language fluency as being the priority rather than having a teaching certificate I'm lucky that I'm indigenous studies teacher with a teaching degree but I went to somewhere that I think helped me to do that I went to Trent and I think that that was a great experience for me to feel comfortable as an indigenous teacher going into this practice but it wasn't necessarily a safe spot all the time and I can't imagine as a language teacher it's such a very very fine discipline feeling alone and not having a program that's like meant for them or that they feel like they can go out and teach in right so we're having trouble finding instructors also the students to take the risk to take the program and what's the longevity of it right now because they're not seeing the next career opportunities and I don't think we're we're giving them that sometimes like we're not actively recruiting the people who could help us you know give back to our communities that are in the urban centers or who are in the reserve communities but we're doing all this legwork as indigenous people I'm just I'm ready for the government to do the next step so my vision for indigenous education is specific it's very specific to my own experience to Hamilton to where I'm living now I want to see a K to 12 school my city I think that we have these experiences of what I've seen in the last four years of working at Shea with indigenous youth that there's something that community schools and composite schools are not necessarily providing from those those years that we have a head start program here that is that immersive experience for students and then they're going into mainstream kindergarten grade one after but there's not that next step I do think that we have the population here and the interest to support like an elementary and secondary school my program is always thriving with people and with young people who are graduating who are moving on to the next thing but they stay here for two or three years there's an idea that when students come in from their school that this is only a stopping point that they will eventually go back to their community school but I've always said it's the destination for so many people I think they felt lost in that in that area and now they feel like this is home but it's the same way like sending them to post-secondary would also make them feel lost again but they felt lost through those elementary and secondary school years that they could have felt full and that we could have provided education that is culturally relevant you know the kid who's fidgeting in class who can't pay attention is the outdoor education student who would be a fantastic fit for teaching culture and learning a culture and learning about land-based education from elders from knowledge keepers from senators and then we're missing out on kind of this area where we could teach to students gifts for from K to 12 instead of just telling them that okay but now you have to wait till high school to feel finish this or to feel this or to feel included or to feel part of something because when they come to Shea this entire place is indigenous they are finally at home and they're on their own land which is kind of ironic because when we walk into schools we are kind of guests in an education system that is on top of the land that we love so we're I think that we are the mainstream education system is is changing it's definitely being more inclusive we're hearing conversations about indigenous histories indigenous peoples indigenous youth and change makers from and what's happened in the past I think people are learning now to be mindful and to actually teach our curriculum and then we've seen from the ministry too that it's mandatory to teach in grades four to ten indigenous history and that sounds kind of like it's I guess you would expect that already but in 2019 now it's it's begun to be mandatory and I think that when we that's just it's kind of like it's taken this long and I was lucky that I learned about it when I was in my undergraduate degree but I didn't learn about it in high school and so we're seeing that there is a change that I can ask kids in elementary school do they know what residential schools are do they know about indigenous people and they might be able to respond yes and I think the majority can now respond yes where before they just couldn't and it's a lack of knowledge from the students the teachers and then the failure of our the education systems we went through that we didn't know any better so we're seeing that change but we're not seeing indigenous students feel 100% comfortable in those atmospheres yet in those in environments in that there's something still missing and they can work on building it to retain as many students as they can and when you look at it most students stay in composite school and community schools they're not coming to Shea we are a small classroom but there needs to this is the home for 18 people who did not feel like they were going to graduate from those spaces so what do we need to do to change so those 18 people could stay in or it's the vice versa and we need to expand so that we can make sure that everybody feels included from the moment they they come out a head start or the moment they enter school and they feel like this is a place for them so that's my dream personally is that we will see more elementary and secondary schools at that level Toronto Toronto has been like kind of at the forefront of having urban indigenous education in elementary and now trying to expand a secondary but reserve communities have done it forever and I want to like you have to acknowledge all the how ahead of their time they've always been because they have they have elementary schools but they still know secondary schools why do people still have to leave so I as much as I advocate for urban I understand that reserve communities deserve a lot more and that they should have secondary schools so students still don't have to leave what's happening in Thunder Bay if you haven't read 7 Fallen Feathers like that those students who have to travel 300 kilometers 400 kilometers to get secondary education the that's where it starts like that's that's my bottom line where it's like my needs and wants are nice but that's way more of a need and want like that has to be done to secure student safety but that's where that's where we're still at so I think that I would like to fix those problems I hope those problems are solved in 10 years where students don't have to fight plead and beg for an education and that they feel safe to be able to go to one in their community every community should have access to education just like they should have access to clean drinking water and basic human rights and then urban we're always way more kind of fortunate to be have access to everything all the time and all those things cost money and we're seeing a lot of indigenous people who are in poverty especially like in my class I see it all the time that I want kids who come to school to want for nothing and that would be my goal is to have my K-12 school with kids who are happy who are fed and who get to go home and feel good that they learned something today that they are proud of their identity and their culture and their traditions but they feel strong enough to go on when they're when they're done there to the next level and feel like they're taking a piece of that school with them and be able to support themselves in whatever new environment that they be in.