 Could you tell us about the program that you work with? I work with the Head Start program at Rupert Gottson. It's working with children and families. But the program that I'm in is the Head Start program. And we work with three and four-year-olds, some five-year-olds, but mostly three and four. And what is the aim of your program, or what are the learning objectives that you have for the kids you work with? Well, right now, we're working with a curriculum that's, I can't remember the name, but it deals with emotions and getting the children to have more control of their emotions, their feelings. And it's pretty good. We're trying to get them to learn more self-control. And we're not stressing the academic part so much, like the ABCs and that. And we also would like the children to start learning their first nation's language, which is Blackfoot in this area. So we are introducing, because most of them don't, well, all of them don't speak Blackfoot. And most of the parents, the families, don't speak Blackfoot. So it's sort of like an introduction to them so they can start hearing it and learn the basics, like they're counting in Blackfoot their colors and the weather, simple commands. Like if you want them to sit down, so we'll say sit down in Blackfoot. Whatever we want them to do, we tell them in Blackfoot and English so they'll know what we're talking about. There's also a Blackfoot prayer that Abogaz uses so we've been teaching them that. Yeah, so that's, I guess, basically what we're doing right now. So in your opinion, what makes this program an example of excellence in Indigenous education? Well, the fact that there are native speakers here, that we can teach the children the Blackfoot language, it's a place for the native families in Blackbridge to come to because it's like for the whole program, it's not just Head Start and Kindergarten. There's daycares here now. There's after-school programs for older children and there's another program for mothers and babies or fathers. So there's a lot of programs that are running out of this Abogaz to help the native families in the area. So that I think is because they're away from their reserves and a lot of them, it's their first time away from reserves so I think it's a good place for them to come to if they need any help in their transition of reserve. How would you measure the success of the Head Start program? Well, for me as being in the classroom, it's seeing the children progress from when they first come in. From little things as just being able to help the child with the separation issues because a lot of them is the first time they're away from the parents so it's kind of difficult for them to let go. So even seeing them break that, get past that and then working with them in the classroom, like they get their lunch here, just to get them to, some don't eat, just to get one to start picking at their food, eating, tasting to where they're eating. I think being an elder, just being able to sit with the kids, give them comfort when they need it. Some may not get that at home. Some may not have grandparents. So it's just being able to love these kids and give them lots of love. Yeah, seeing them, seeing them from when they first come in September to when they leave in June, just to see the growth in them, I think it's really good. So from your perspective, what is an Indigenous education, just in a really broad sense? Indigenous education to me is, first of all, introducing them to the language, to their culture, to just to learn about where they come from, I guess. As a Blackfoot elder, how do you think Blackfoot education should be? To have elders present so that they can help these children with their, for them to learn the language, to know their culture, to know that they are important. And to have the language introduced to them and their families so that our language doesn't die out, because I think it's getting close to that, I think. So how do you see that developing over the next 10 years? I think to have more native representation in the schools, not just here, but in the public schools, and to have more of the history of natives being taught in the schools. I guess what's happened to native people in the past to tell the native story, you know, how natives lived before the white man came and what happened after the white man came, the boarding school era, all the 60s scoop. I think all those things need to be told and learned along with other history in schools. So what kind of information materials or resources would be useful in advancing that vision? Well, I think to include, you know, this history in the school curriculums and to have native speakers to be in the school so that they can help teach the native language, whether it be, you know, Blackfoot here or in Saskatchewan or wherever, you know, their Cree languages and what other, you know, native languages are spoken, to have people there to help teach those. Yeah, and yeah, I guess to educate educators on the Blackfoot culture and language would help. Are there any materials or resources that would be useful to your program in terms of growing or developing the way you'd like it to? Well, this particular program, Obogacin, has a lot of resources. Well, I shouldn't say a lot, but they have a lot of books on native cultures and they bring in teachers or native speakers to teach the native language to the staff here. I think they've done a lot in teaching or doing programs that help native, to learn the native ways, the culture. And it's not just for the staff or the teachers here, it's for native people in the city that, you know, that can come and partake in this. So, yeah, I think Obogacin is doing well. They have information, like they have books on the native culture and... Honestly, I wish my tribe had something like Obogacin. Yeah, you know, like I really think it's a good program. I think it, you know, like the children are learning. Like, I've been here for, I think, five years now. And it just, like, just to see the kids grow and you can hear drumming, you can hear a little boy singing now. You know, just things like that, I think are, you know, real success stories. They, you know, they're not afraid to be native, you know, because they're all accepted here. It's just, no. Everything that they do here, I think, is helping these students and the parents. And you can feel that when you walk in earlier. I was sitting here and I was smelling sweet grass and I was like, oh, I'm home, it's so nice. Yeah, so, yeah, even that, like, every Monday morning we have a smudge for the whole school. I say a prayer, you know, for the whole school. All the children and teachers come into our classroom and we do this. And then on a daily thing, just in our classroom, we have a, every day we have a smudge for the morning class. And then when the afternoon class comes in, we have a smudge for them. And it's to teach them the importance of being connected to, you know, to our creator, because that's where all life begins. And just to see them now, like when they come in, in September, a lot of them, you know, don't know any of this. And then now we're into January, they're learning to sit quietly in a circle and to know what the smudge is about, who we pray to, why we pray to, you know, the creator. And it's just a really good feeling to see them advance in that way, too. Do you have any closing thoughts you'd like to share with people who are passionate about Indigenous education? I think we need to really encourage our young people to know their cultures, to learn their language, just for all of us to love our children. And help them grow in the right way.