 My English name is Julie Osamalgis, I'm here to help share some light on the Indigenous education on the Nokmis perspective. So I'll just share a little bit about myself. I grew up in Chikin, Manitoulin Island and so my first I guess formal education is I went to the day school in Chikin and as you know just probably maybe one year of that before heading to before sending me off to the Indian Residential School St. Joseph's in Spanish. So I was there for seven years and then so 1963 the school closed and I went back to the day school in Chikin or it was called West Bay at the time. So a lot of trauma happened in those schools. Children were harmed and I think some of the or I believe some of the children were very gifted you know with their minds but but many also suffered of trauma that hindered their learning and so I didn't complete grade 8 and I never completed high school and I left the island when I was 15 I started to wander looking for my place in life and so in 1967 I met Frank and so we were married in 68. So looking at you know what education is you know I I really didn't have much to offer but I remember in 1974 maybe even 75 I remember looking out my window and saying I said if I could help my people that's what I'd like to do but I said I don't have anything to offer that's what I said and so so a few years down the road my friend and I we we hung around the band office and so we told them we would help I said if you want us to do shredding or if you want us to do cleanup I said just tell us what we need to do and we'll do it. So you know maybe a year or so later they asked if we wanted to do some training and that we said sure we would do that so we took training and it was called band plan planning and so we took this training so and we did that for us so that took us into work starting to do our work with with with our First Nation and so it was a fun time but still in my heart I knew that just doing office work was not my forte so to speak but I had an opportunity to do more one-on-one sort of one-on-one inco at that time had a big strike and so they wanted to offset their wages through what was called Canada employment at the time or the EI office and so they wanted to compensate their their wages what they were getting on the EI and and through the Canada employment they were going to offset their their costs their employment costs or their living costs so we so we had quite a few inco workers so I took on I was gifted that that position to work with these guys and I had to explain everything about their reporting cards what was going to happen they had to be filled out they had to be submitted on a certain time and and I explained all that to them and I said once they were in I would go drop them off and pick them up so that they would have their money and I this is where I felt you know this is what I wanted to do to be helpful to to work with people and so that project ran for maybe a couple of months and and I just really enjoyed doing that and there were some hitches along the way and I you know I said to some of the guys got mad because their checks didn't come in and I just said you know it's it has to do with the office I said I did everything I was supposed to do and they said oh I'm not going to work and I said well you know that's your choice I said then I said but I will you know get it rectified I'll see what happened and you know they eventually got their checks but you know it's just I really enjoyed that and so so I continued to work with my first nation for the period up to 1984 but I knew in my heart that's not what I wanted to do so in 1983 there was a posting out at the for the Friendship Center that there was a position available so I applied and so just before the Friendship Center's closure for the holidays I got I get a call saying that I got the position if I wanted it and I was really stunned and I was stunned because the people from the band office here had said it was a formality they already have their person hired like why would you apply there you know you're gonna have to travel in the wintertime you're gonna have to buy new like they're putting lots of negative curves on it and then I just said you know what I says I'm gonna do it I said whether or not I get the job I said that's okay so when that they called that's why I was so stunned and and of course I I accepted and so in January of 1984 I started working at the Friendship Center so when I walked through those doors I just felt like a big blanket wrapped around me saying this is where I'm going to retire I was just I know I just felt so good working there so working there I I worked as an employment counselor and I worked in that position for a year so working with people getting them job ready meeting employers see what you know types of jobs they had available for for people and primarily you know Nishnabe people and you know what their qualifications they were looking for you know all those kinds of things so I I really enjoyed working there but the government had closed the the community-based employment counselors down and but at the same time the Indian and Friendship Centers had posted a position out of family court workers so I was laid off for a few days and then I applied and so again like I was like really stunned that I selected for this position and which I applied which I accepted so my time with the Friendship Center really helped me to look at you know our teachings the stories what elders and just looking at you know what our people are missing and what I was missing what I grew up with I grew up with with alcohol violence the different types of abuses the harm that was done to our people you know why some of our people you know left their formal education there were so many barriers of what our people went through and what I went through which I could relate to and so up to probably in 1989 I really started to connect in who I was you know away from from work I you know there was opportunities to go to other communities and to listen to teachings to sitting in circles and we went up to the Sioux to the Sioux-Saint-Marie at the Garden River they had a healer there and we really I really felt so drawn to the teachings these stories and and along the way I you know I I heard people talking about their spirit name you know their clan their colors and I thought like what does this all mean so listening to this healer in the Sioux-Saint-Marie that particular time I felt really drawn I felt this was my moment to to go and sit with him and talk with him and I offered him tobacco and I asked for my spirit name and my clan and he said he would help me and but he was from from Minnesota so he said he would call me so I gave him my phone number and I felt so good when we left there just listening to the stories so about maybe a month later or so I get a phone call and so he's telling me these things and I didn't know who was calling and he says so he says you love your you wear the pants in your family and I said what and then he says you're pretty you're pretty bossy I said who is this and then he says he says you're pretty organized you want things done in a certain way and I said I was just ready to hang up and I said who is this and he starts laughing he says it's Adam he says I have your spirit name in your clan he's your clan is the crane I said if you if you study the crane he says you'll understand why I said that but I reflected back on how I was and I thought you know and he was right on to the tea how I was and I thought oh my goodness and but I felt so grounded that day when he called I thought my spirit name and I walked around with that a woman uncle and I really really looked at it and then and then you know to have my clan was a bonus but I understood why I was the way I am today still so when we look at you know the education of our people in my generation I will speak that I mean the second generation where I will or maybe the third generation where I look at my grandfather his generation be I I will say his first generation then my mother's generation would be the second generation then I would be the third generation and then my children would be the fourth generation and my grandchildren would be the fifth generation. So when we look at those generations, so my generation, the third generation was, you know, predominantly we didn't have the teachings or we didn't understand, you know, we just lived, you know, we did what we had to do, we worked, we provided for our family. But I think that my generation was the awakening of the teachings of the ceremonies. And I think that's where I really started to really feel I belong, where I belonged was with, you know, in our spirituality of our ancestors. And Frank and I, you know, we I would come home and share those teachings or share some of the crafts that I learned at the Friendship Center. I just felt so whole and I felt so awesome would teach him and I would teach the girls, you know, these crafts. And as we journeyed, so when I reflect back on my grandfather's the first generation was they were hard workers, but they were also like lots of, lots of alcohol use, lots of violence. And it carried on to my mother's generation, the second generation. You know, there was residential school during those periods. I went to residential school, but she was very harsh. She was very, very strict, I guess, at that time. But in the period of 1974 with her, we reconciled and we we made peace with each other. And from 1974 moving forward, we had a very beautiful relationship as a mother and daughter, grandmother and great-grandmother. And she taught us lots about, you know, things and just watching her, you know, seeing her in a different perspective from when I was a young girl. But all of that it helped me to shape me who I am today when we look at the teachings and we look at, you know, the seven grandfather teachings. I look at those seven grandfather teachings that it's all in us, in our spirit, in our being. It's how we work with that, how we live it out. You know, it also has the dark side, the opposite sides of the seven grandfather teachings. But you know when we look at the education today, our children are housed in a square building, square rooms, you know, not much of interaction. So when we look at the third generations of my, of my art daughters, our children, there was no, the history was very negative about our people, our ancestors. A lot of the history was done with the European history. There was never any made mention of, you know, our ancestors, the, you know, some of the prominent chiefs, I guess, or people, individuals, you know, who might have made, you know, some high profile, you know, with, you know, of our own people. So when we look at the education or of books, of authors, it was all the non-native content throughout the schools. And I think that our Nishinaabe authors were starting to emerge around that time. So I remember when I was working at the Friendship Center, I was with the Alternative School from 1991 to 1997. I think it was in 95 that I made a commitment to get my high school diploma. So I started working on that. And so in the English credit, I had to read this book, and I can't remember what it's called, but I read it over and over that first chapter to find this one answer. I couldn't find it. So I thought, I must be pretty dumb. I can't even find the answer. So I brought all my stuff back to the school, and I said to the teachers at that time, I says, I cannot do this. I says, I quit. I quit this. I said, I read this one chapter over and over and over. I said, I just cannot find it. So I said, I quit. And I handed everything in. So what I believe, it prompted them that they really listened to what I had to say. And they did their research. They found native authors, Nishnabe authors. And so they asked me, they said, Julie, they said, will you do your, will you do your diplomacy? We found some different literature for the students to read. So I said, okay. So the book was called April Rain Tree. And I went through that book and I went through the English credit. And I got my credits and I, you know, and I graduated. So what I think it started from there that, you know, our learning is different. Our learning, we have a different style of learning. And I was so, so pleased or happy that the teachers that we had at that time, they saw what was lacking for our students, you know, and what they needed. And, and they, you know, they searched that out. So I think there are teachers who are very caring, who understand like, that we have a different way of learning or how we can relate to our own Nishnabe authors. So I, you know, I graduated that year. So when we look at, at education, I think education is not only should be in school. Our education is also outside because when you look at our ancestors of long time ago, when they, when they roamed this land, they hunted, you know, and they used the animal, everything in that animal was used. They never wasted anything. We looked at all the trapping styles, you know, we looked at what the women did, the creativity that they did in, you know, when they made the, when they made their garments, all of those things, their creativity. So when, when we look at today, now we move forward to where we are in 2019 is that our children don't even know what it's like to go camping. Our children don't know, like most of them, I'm not saying all of the children, but most of them don't know what it's like to go fishing, what it is like to lay, you know, under the stars to look at the stars. They don't know what it's like to maybe even have moose meat, beaver meat, any of those, you know, the wild game and fish. So I think it's time for our children to go back and experience that, you know, say maybe a week of, of outdoor land-based teachings so that they could experience that. And for all the seasons, because every season has its, has its gift in, in what they provide. So when our children could experience that, and then relate it back to, when they go back to school, to be able to carry on what it's like to maybe tan moose height, to, to skin a moose, to skin a beaver, how to cook fish, how to smoke fish, maybe even grow a garden, watch the garden grow throughout the, you know, the summer, you know, starting at home, do this at home as a home project with the school, to be able to make a report back to the school with pictures or video. We have so much technology today that, you know, there's so much that we could, the children could use to, to show, you know, what they, what they could make or, or do during the summertime. There's so much that, you know, that we could teach children, you know, how to sew, even the boys, you know, they could learn how to sew, they can do beadwork. You know, what does it mean to be in ceremony? What does it mean to be, you know, in pow wow ceremony regalia making? There is so much opportunity that our children could learn, you know, what, how it is to make, to make lots of different crafts, you know, to, to drum, to learn songs, to travel, you know, to understand what is a bundle, what makes up a bundle, you know, to, to kind of wave their, their preconceived thinking that, you know, that only certain people, you know, carry ceremonies, but we are all ceremony people. I think that's what I like to stress lots is that not only certain people are, I don't like the word traditional, but ceremony people or people who, who carry knowledge and ceremonies, you know, a lot of, everyone could be, you know, carry those in their own way. So I think, you know, to go along with the formal education of the school system is, you know, of the, if we could incorporate our way in communities, even in the cities, you know, what the ceremonies are, you know, what it is, you know, to bring in people who, who may, may know how to maybe cook mousse or fish or make scone, all of those different foods and, you know, to taste different foods that we have, you know, it's so much, it would be so much positive learning and so much pride in who they, how they would turn out to be also to, so when we look at in who they are, you know, what their, you know, once they have their nishinabe, nose, when they're clan, they would find their, their spirit so much lighter and, you know, how they would live their life would be much more clear. But everything that we do in life, it's, we do it in that good way. We do, we walk in that good way, you know, always to, you know, help others to, you know, to have a better understanding of, you know, this way of life of our ancestors. It's simple, but it's also very, it's also very struggling for people. It's, they might even find it hard in that way, but, but to balance it out in the way, in our lifestyle today, but we can also, you know, live our, the way of our ancestors as well. So, you know, the Indian or the nishinabe education perspective is, it's so, it's so broad. So many different people have gifts, have ceremonies and teachings, stories that I think in, you know, communities across the country, you know, we're so, today, it's really open to, you know, to bring elders in, you know, knowledge keepers. Like, there's so much avenues that our people could learn, rather from, you know, look at elementary, high school to post-secondary. It's very accepted. So a lot of that is indoors. Like I said earlier, you know, if it, they could bring it to the outdoor, I think it will enhance their learning. It would be able for them to experience hands-on, how to make a fire, how to make a teepee, how to make a lean-to, how to snare, how to go fishing, how to, you know, so many little things to identify medicine plants, identify the trees. It's like us, you know, when we have our nishinabe and those when everything in creation has a name. So when we get connected, our spirits get connected to everything in creation and that they even talk to us if we pay attention to them. So there's so much to learn. Learning is ongoing. Frank and I, we always learn from creation, like the wind, you know, the air, the sun, the trees, you know, they, we learn so much from them just by watching. Even the birds, they're even the birds tell us, you know, when things are changing, you know, we, even the earth, mother, mother, you know, Shikak Makwe, even she's telling us, you know, things are shifting. So all that type of storytelling, you know, for our children to pay attention to, you know, they would learn so much, they would have a better understanding of what they're learning in school, you know, when they have, if they could have that experience. So there's so many things. I can't even, I'm starting to exhaust, I guess, what, what I would like to say, there's so much I would like to share. But I think when we can teach them that, you know, that they're, they have a good spirit that, you know, that they're learning and that, you know, there are the ones who are going to be teachers in, you know, in the next generations to come and that our ceremonies need to continue on. So, you know, if we really teach them these things, that for sure we know that our ceremonies will be carried on, our language will be carried on, you know, all of that. So I think that when I expire, I'm going to expire happy because I know that our stories and teachings and ceremonies and our way of life are going to be carried on. You know, 25 years ago, 30 years ago, you know, I was very fearful that we were going to lose all of this, of who we are as Nishinaabe people. So I think, you know, that with all of that, that, you know, we still have a lot of work to do, you know, as Mishom Saka and Nukmesaka, we have so much work to do. And we have a lot of good young people, you know, the third generation of young people, you know, they have a responsibility to, you know, to pick up the teachings and the ceremonies and, you know, this way of life and then continue to help the next generations to come. So I have a very strong belief that, you know, we will never die as Nishinaabe people. Our spirits will live through our generations, you know, with everything that that makes up in who we are. And I think we make our ancestors really, really happy that that we will continue to be who we are as Nishinaabe people.