 So would you like to introduce yourself? My name is Dallas Abatom. I am from Sagma First Nation. I graduated Alcom University with my BA in the initial BEM1 and the Native Studies Certificate Program. Then I graduated from Nipissing University with the Aboriginal Teacher Certificate Program and my Bachelor of it. So would you like to tell me about your program? So I was working with the Algoma District School Board and I was hired on for, I was hired on to be the Native Language Teacher and I would have grade seven and eights for that program so which is 12 to 14, 13. So being the Native Language Teacher, I well being hired on at the Algoma District School Board, I wasn't just the Native Language Teacher, I was also what they call the Release Teacher. So I would have my grade seven and eight kids, two groups for half an hour each but would leave 20 minute teach time for the language and then I would travel to another school to teach arts, so drama, music and that they gave me more time with the arts program than they did with the language program. I didn't really like that just because I wanted more time with our Anishinaabe kids to teach them the language and give them more teachings and but that didn't happen. So what would the aim of their program be? Well for the language, well I was having them do their introductions like saying who they were, if they had their Anishinaabe name they would announce their names, if they knew their clan they would say where they're from, how old they were, who their parents were who their grandparents were. So I had them start off with that like themselves first and their family. Then I would gradually try to build up their language, like throwing more verbs like the doings, like if they're going to town or if they're going shopping or just daily routines. How do you measure the success of your program? With teaching the language through the Ontario curriculum I had to go through different levels. So level one would be like 50% where they were just they were there and then level two was they were there and once in a while they would participate. Level three, they were participating. Level four would be like they're participating and going beyond doing their own, taking their learning into their own hands and expanding on what they they already know. So I would do it that way but I would also kind of take it through orally, try to have them speak the language so I can hear them and can kind of converse a little bit more but it was kind of it was kind of tough because they didn't really have the language teacher for the whole first part of the year so it was kind of tough getting them to to where I wanted them to be. So what is Indigenous education to you? Indigenous education, it's for me it would be learning their teachings, well learning who they are themselves learning their teachings, knowing their surroundings like getting to know the land, learning their language is definitely one of them that's basically it and a nutshell for me anyway. Is the term Indigenous one that you would normally use? As of lately the past couple of years I've been using Indigenous because Indian just doesn't sound right to me. Aboriginal to me it just doesn't seem like we're not originally from here in which I know we are. So yeah now it's now we use it, I use it I should say. So I'm hoping that we can change the term for the Indian Friendship Center into the Indigenous Friendship Center. So how would you define education from an Indigenous perspective? I see it as well living in two worlds, walking in two worlds at once it's we have our original ways of learning which were way back when our ancestors were living from the land and that was a long time ago but through colonization through assimilation now like our education is the mainstream like the colonized education way they make it more complicated they make things so complicated when really we already kind of know the whole science of things we know we know the process we know the connections we have math we have we have all of those teachings within our teachings and the way that we originally I don't know I guess you can say the way that we were brought up way back then we had our ways of knowing whereas the educational system now it kind of it well not kind of it does overpower our education like our own knowing our own learning what is your vision for the future of Indigenous education in your community and then also throughout Canada? I would say a lot of culture-based learning and land-based learning so getting our kids out on the land learning from the land learning our language learning of who we are I've been kind of struggling with this too because I was going to go for my master's for master of ed and then going for my PhD later but to somehow come up with a balance from mainstream to us and kind of make that work for us but I've been doing a lot of research too and I don't know like it conflicts to me it conflicts right now anyways because going through teachers college having to take apart the curriculum and being able to see like the assimilation process that still happens within it the lack of knowledge of our people and it just that's what also pushes me but it's like I said it's kind of conflicting for me so like in the future I would like for our kids to know who they are and be proud of themselves but also know that you know we have to kind of live in both worlds and it's it's it's tough being an adult now it's just it's eye-opening but for our kids I think they need to know who they are first they need to know the importance of language they need to know the importance of the land the water their surrounding and having culture-based and land-based learning because they're they're two different things that they go hand in hand that's that's what I'm hoping for so can you think of any types of information that if you had now it would help to achieve your vision just get out on the land going through teachers college like I know different strategies and how to work work around that system I think that if there were enough indigenous people if we were to work together to create our own educational system I think that would help us out just getting all the indigenous teachers together educators together to create that system but in order to do that I feel that we need to kind of get away from that that way of thinking to the colonized thinking and get down to the root of it of what we really want